With my recent aquisitions I happened upon a Sega Dreamcast sans cables for around a $1. You read that right: A buck. I didn’t think it would work. Regardless, I plugged it in, inserted a disc I had acquired (not so recently) in a lot of Dreamcast discs, and voila! The Dreamcast fired right up. I now have a backup GD-ROM drive! The game I used: Airforce Delta.
Known as Deadly Skies in Europe, Airforce Delta is an aerial-combat flight simulator developed and published by Konami that was released almost 10 years ago in November of 1999. At the time, it was the only flight-simulator-combat-game on the DC. I suppose, given its age, one could easily consider it a “retro” title. Having never played Airforce Delta, I was pleasantly surprised by it’s graphics, sound and game mechanics. There is a story mode in which you are a mercenary pilot of types. The game description is as follows:
You are a mercenary pilot hired by a rogue organization to destroy “the enemy”. As you complete various missions that include taking out ground, air and sea targets while protecting others, you must engage in dogfights with air enemies. For each mission you complete–you are paid handsomely. The more than 20 missions vary (and increase) in difficulty as you engage in dogfighting with enemy planes. The credits you are afforded for your work enable you to purchase upgraded aircraft. 30 different aircraft are available to fly from the F-14 Tomcat to a top-secret, Russian-designed SU-47 pictured on the jacket of the game.
As you can see from the video, the gameplay is fairly smooth. You can even see the flaps on your aircraft as you fly! You have the choice of flying in the cockpit with a HUD (my preference) and flying in a 3rd person mode. The flight mechanics are good for a game of this vintage too. You will stall if you try to fly at the sun. I was kind of disappointed that I wasn’t able to get my plane into a flat-spin–but I’ve got other games for that trick.
The graphics are of course dated by today’s standards but they hold up surprisingly well for a game of its age. That said, the graphics simply blow anything the PS1 was sporting at the time out of the proverbial water. The Playstation 2 wasn’t to be released for almost another year. Airforce Delta was truly a cutting-edge title for the Dreamcast.
The techno music is a little redundant after awhile but it gives the game that special 90s flavor and creates a sense of high-tech adventure. After you complete a mission–by either success or failure–a replay of the entire flight path is reviewed complete with multiple camera views. It’s really fun to see where you may have gone wrong or pulled off an amazing dive during your assault.
Needless to say, I am very entertained with this title right now. I might even say it’s in my top 3 Dreamcast games of all time. After recently completing the 6th mission in the game, I decided I would write this piece to either:
- Remind people that have played Airforce Delta to try it again or…
- To give those who have never tried it a little taste of what the Dreamcast can do and introduce them to a great combat simulator that was ahead of it’s time in 1999.
Pick up a used copy and fly it today!
Madaracs
GC Press
