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There’s nothing like a simple and fast-paced airborne shoot ‘em up game to let us all live out our unrealistic ‘Top Gun’ fantasies. Heatseeker is just such a game, delivering non-stop dogfighting and aerial action that will get your adrenaline pumping. Unfortunately, it falls short on a number of critical areas, keeping this one from delivering the perfect high-G fix.

A Tale of Terrorism

The story of Heatseeker is simple and implausible yet effective in providing plenty of opportunity for carnage. You play the role of rookie pilot Mike Hudson, aka “Downtown,” who has just been stationed at Lord Roberts Island, a completely isolated and previously quiet paradise. Increased pirate activity in the area starts to become a problem and is quickly matched by increased terrorist activities around the world. Soon huge masses of supposedly decommissioned military forces are attacking worldwide and somehow you’re the one who winds up having to take care of it all.

All that of course doesn’t matter at all. It’s the combat that counts, and that’s the first place where this game comes up a bit short. There are 18 missions here, all of which can be completed inside of five hours if you’re serious about it. Each one is full of action, but that action is so spastic you never have a real sense of purpose. You’ll be sent out to destroy some ground targets only to do that and be told there’s a wave of fighters inbound. So you’ll take them down, plus the inevitable second and third waves behind, only to have to turn around and destroy a few more ground targets that have popped up out of nowhere, dashing back and forth across the usually small combat areas dozens of times before its through.

Missions just seem to drag on and on as objective after completely random objective get layered higher and higher, well past the point of tedium. Making it more frustrating is that the objectives are never similar, so if you enter into a mission with a jet ready for air-to-air combat you’ll inevitably be called upon to blow up some tanks or sink a few destroyers. Load up on bombs and air-to-ground missiles and you’ll find yourself embroiled in a swarm of pesky enemy fighters. The game would have been much more enjoyable to play if it delivered more missions that were shorter and better focused. As it is each mission feels like a completely forgettable series of chores.

Fireworks

Though the eclectic missions can get frustrating at times, they certainly provide plenty of opportunity for blowing stuff up, and the game gives plenty of great tools for doing so. There are about 20 aircraft included here, everything from boring trainers all the way up to the classic SR-71 spyplane, with stops along the way at modern favorites like the F-22 and Mig-29. Each is stocked with an infinite supply of magically regenerating missiles and bombs to help deal with those never-ending objectives. Aircraft must be unlocked by completing missions and bonus objectives, which also earn you updated versions and varying weapons loadouts for any given aircraft.

To unlock all the combinations of planes and weapons will take quite some time, and those who enjoy the game will probably want to do so. But, there are some problems. The first is that you’ll often find yourself unlocking a given plane’s weapon configurations before you unlock the plane itself. Frustrating. The other problem is that, to unlock many of these items you need to complete bonus objectives in each mission. They often involve finding and destroying hidden targets within a set time, and since you’re never told what the targets are or what that time limit is, there’s a lot of trial and error involved. Also frustrating. Thanks to this and despite the lack of multiplayer Heatseeker actually can deliver a lot more life than its 18 missions would seem to allow for, assuming of course you’re the patient type who likes to collect stuff.

One thing that will keep you coming back is the game’s controls, which are some of the best yet seen on the Wii. The game lets you fly your aircraft using either the Wiimote itself or the Nunchuck attachment, the Wiimote being the more precise choice. On top of that there are two control modes. The first, arcade, makes things predictably simple. You just move the Wiimote in the direction you want the plane to go and it moves there. Simulation controls go much deeper, effectively turning the Wiimote into a representation of the aircraft itself. Twist it left and right to roll, move it left and right for yaw, and tilt it up or down to bank up or down. It all feels perfectly smooth and responsive. Why can’t all Wii games feel this good?

Despite feeling better than most Wii games, it doesn’t really look or sound any better. There are plenty of flashy graphical effects layered over the action here that pump up the adrenaline factor a bit, but they can’t hide the generally simplistic graphics underneath. Terrain models are simple and blocky. The aircraft themselves are somewhat simple too, but are presentable. Highlights are the good looking sky and cloud effects. Lowlights are the voice acting, script, and heavy metal soundtrack.

Negative Ghostrider

Heatseeker is a very fun game to play; it’s just not one that you’ll want to play for long. The simple gameplay and tight controls feel spot on but everything else built around them fails to live up. With a little more focus and perhaps a bit higher production values this could have been ace. As it stands it’s more of a rental.

Article by: Tim Stevens
Video produced by: Michael Leffler