22:00 takeoff ; 22:05 take out SAM site with HARM missile ; 22:07 divert route to avoid launched enemy fighters ; 22:15 take out main target factory with Maverick Missile and turn back ; 22:20 take out two enemy fighters with long distance AMRAAM missiles ; 22:25 Damn I'm spotted by a SAM site! 2 missiles incoming ; 22:25:40 release chaff and flares ; 22:25:41 one missile misses! ; 22:25:47 Damn I'm hit! Check systems... flaps damaged and bay doors stuck on open. Gear, Engine Fuel OK, but the bay doors are going to make me more detectable :( 22:28:20 Enemy fighter at 2'o clock has a radar lock. Incoming missile! Return fire with remaining AMRAAM. 22:28:35 I'm hit!! Fuel lines severed! Enemy fighter destroyed but I can't eject - I'm still over enemy territory and will be captured. I'll try to reach friendly territory and then eject 22:33 Eject! Land in Friendly area, receive medal -schweet... (btw there is a fighter mode if you want to dogfight in the game)
Its like somebody decided to create a skyroads for the new millenium. The idea is simple - chase the setting sun with your solar powered vehicle while navigating the stationary, and sometimes not so stationary, structures on an alien planet. It is a simple idea that has been masterfully executed to create a strangely captivating experience. Without much pause you will find yourself steering a ship traveling at break neck speed on the surface of an alien planet and most likely you will atomize the ship against an 'adamantium'-solid wall while taking in the scenery within about 5 seconds. You can immediately retry (there are no lives to expire). After a couple of tries you'll find your bearings and start to map out routes containing several power ups and speed boosters. You'll start to notice ramps here and there and try to incorporate them into your routes to get the entire strings of elevated power ups. Playing around with these ramps might trigger you hitting an obstacle at exactly the right angle so that you catapult the ship 100s of meters into the sky revealing a whole swathe of the alien landscape as you seem to stare directly into the sun. (very memorable experience). If you travel far enough you will unlock successive levels which you automatically transition to. There are also ship upgrades, such as making the ship magnetic so that it attracts power ups from a small distance away. Of course there are also leader boards and achievements, which are quite standard.
This game was clearly created with tender loving care and spades of passion. Wonderfully smooth and responsive platforming mechanics with gorgeously handdrawn backgrounds and animations and and music that fits the mood perfectly and and and all of it through highly diverse locales! It can get a bit hard but this one game in which you mind the effort. For once the consoles did not exclusively claim an excellent platformer
