Agile Warrior: F-111X

Already being described as a perfect showcase for the new Sony super-console, Agile Warrior: F-111X will hopefully prove to be just as fruity and irresistible when it's released on the PC a couple of months following its d6but on the PlayStation.

Sounding distinctly Descent-ish, F-111X is a multi-player combat adventure game set above the ground. The player takes on the role of a top fighter pilot bloke who is part of an elite covert squadron which is despatched to deal with hot spots around the world. Equipped with high tech hybrid aircraft (based on actual top secret designs "obtained" from the US Government, or so it says here) the squadron must tackle missions ranging from bombing and ground assaults to dog fights and specialised surgical strikes (ooh matron).

The game reputedly boasts more than 20 minutes of cinematic sequences blended with live-action video and a real-time 30 texture-I mapped environment. It features numerous camera angles, and more I high-tech weaponry than you can shake a P-90 PDW at, including TV guided missiles, MK20 cluster bombs, various laser guided munitions, and a rather neat bomber cam. Agile Warrior: F-111X I will be published by Virgin and is due for release later this year.

Agile Warrior: F111X deftly snags a top position on the PlayStation charts with strong graphics, riveting action, and engaging missions. This aircraft shooter won't lure flight-sim junkies, but its frantic blasting will glue arcade shooters to the control pad.

Ace Combat

Agile's ten tough missions send you around the world to quash political crises like Burmese drug lords and terrorist SCUD installations in Libya. You preserve the peace with real-life hardware like Sidewinders, Maverick missiles, and napalm. In an awesome touch, you can switch to the Maverick's perspective and steer it into the target.

Agile takes a simple approach to flying by preventing ground collisions, restricting your altitude and flight path, and replenishing your stores via power-ups. Although less realistic, this style of game-play lets you and your adrenaline concentrate on the fun, glossing over the stress of flying in favor of intense combat.

Despite the sometimes-slow onscreen movement, you'll need to concentrate hard. The missions generally pit you against overwhelmingly superior forces, requiring you to swiftly penetrate the enemy's defenses, obliterate the target, then scramble out.

The button layout is perfectly manageable, but the plane's odd handling demands serious practice. Once you overcome that hurdle, you have a lean, mean destruction machine at your fingertips, though the throttle remains too twitchy for precise speed adjustments.

Other shortcomings? You can fly only one plane, and there's no two-player action, which mildly limits the fun. Gamers will gladly weave through Agile's rabid skirmishes on their own, though.

Kill Clean

Agile's missions open with nice full-motion-video briefings, then send you streaking through icy tundra and densely foliated jungles. You'll rocket by finely detailed buildings and enemy equipment, but the generic backgrounds lack detail, and the horizon occasionally scrolls up too slowly, which can be disorienting.

Decent guitar rock paces the combat, and the helpful mission control warns you of incoming bandits. The high-octane explosions and hilarious death screams keep the action both gripping and amusing.

Bag That Bogey

With better realism and plane selection, Air Combat may remain the first choice for flight-sim fans. All pilots, however, will relish kicking in Agile Warrior: FlllX's afterburners to cut a path through this fun, frenzied action.

With the PlayStation's vast abilities being shown with every new CD, it was only a matter of time before a barrage of flight sims was to hit the system. From Air Combat to Warhawk, we've seen different styles of gameplay.

Agile Warrior is a bit more realistic in its presentation. Fly a real plane into lifelike scenarios. For example, you can perform bombing runs in the Middle East and take out terrorist forces. AW gives you lots of targets to shoot at, but ' you'll have to conserve your ammunition. Remember, realism is the key point of this game.

To keep you glued to your set, there are full-motion cinemas that brief you on your mission. (Here's a hint: Try hitting a button during the cinemas to blow up whoever is talking!)

Agile Warrior's graphics are far from the smoothest when compared to the other games we've seen. However, they are fast-flowing, and after some time, you don't notice. Of course, this game is early so that could change.

As it is, Agile Warrior looks and plays well. Let's wait and see how the finished game is. Hopefully we'll receive a finished copy. It should be decent.