Top Gun: Hard Lock

When you think of the Top Gun series, you think of extraordinary dog fights, Tom Cruise and of course, homoerotic volleyball. However, aside from these well-known aspects, the series also produced a great story, a list of we’ll written characters and is a staple of the 1980’s movie scene. So when Top Gun was pitched as a title within the video game industry, many would have believed that it was a nailed on success for movie fans and flight simulator fans alike.

This game plays like games such as Heroes Over Europe, Blazing Angels 2: Secret Missions of WWII, Birds of Steel and Air Conflicts: Vietnam. This title aims to marry the action-packed nature of the Top Gun series with the brilliantly detailed physics of the flight simulation genre. So is this one soar among the clouds, or go down in flames? Here is our review of Top Gun: Hard Lock.

Earn Your Wings

The narrative for this title is very simple and mirrors the story of the titular film. The player will play the role of a new recruit named spider and will encounter all the iconic characters from the series throughout the game’s run. It uses that same cringy honour that is synonymous with eighties films, the jokes are cheesy and overall, the story may be pretty unremarkable, but it does enough to make this worth playing for fans of the series.

In terms of gameplay, you’ll have 15 missions to play through, each with their own objectives and tasks. The areas you’ll encounter look great considering the era that this game was released. However, we will say that the areas are rather like what you’ll find in fellow military-based title Conflict: Desert Storm. The game captures the feel of a military situation and the visuals are fine. However, the levels do feel far too spacious will far fewer points of interest than we would have liked.

Then as for the gameplay, we were pleasantly surprised with this game’s offering. The dogfighting is great with tight mechanics making this an authentic experience. Plus, the hard lock feature does add an extra layer of intensity when either evading fire or dealing damage to your targets. We could have done without the shameless and repetitive QTE inclusion here but of all the QTEs we have seen in gaming, this is one of the better one’s.

The Verdict

Overall, Top Gun: Hard Lock is a game that does the franchise proud. The story won’t blow anyone away but does enough to draw players in. The gameplay is fun and varied for the most part, the visuals are strong and the cameo appearances of all the iconic characters was a nice touch.

Pros:

• Decent visuals for the time of release
• Suitable story and nice cameo appearances
• Gameplay is solid

Cons:

• Level design is rather poor and barren
• QTE’s are never what you want to see