Reviewed: November 10, 2005
Reviewed by: Mark Smith

Publisher
Ubisoft

Developer
IR Gurus Interactive Ltd.

Released: September 30, 2005
Genre: Flight Action
Players: 2 / 8
ESRB: Teen

8
8
8
8
8.6

Supported Features

  • Dolby Digital
  • HDTV 480p
  • System Link (2-8)
  • Communicator Headset
  • Xbox Live Features
  • Multiplayer
  • Voice
  • Friends

    Screenshots (Click Image for Gallery)


  • The flight combat genre has certainly evolved over the years. I can still remember playing F-15 Strike Eagle on the PC back in 1985 in blistering 3-color CGA; stone knives and bear skins compared to recent marvels like Ace Combat and Crimson Skies.

    For whatever reason the Xbox doesn’t seem to get the same attention as the PS2 when it comes to fighting in the unfriendly skies, but Ubisoft wants to change all that with Heroes of the Pacific, a unique WWII fighter that explores the events around Pearl Harbor while offering a fun and challenging combat experience without too much realism.

    Heroes of the Pacific manages to mix up 26 missions around a fairly involved storyline and some reasonably accurate historical references. In fact, there is a lot more realism in the settings than gameplay, but that’s okay. We aren’t looking for another Microsoft Flight Sim here; just a chance to splash a few Zeroes and sink a few ships.

    The game is presented with some nice historic flavor including stylized visuals and diary-like narrative that recounts the death of your brother in the attack on Pearl Harbor. This dramatic turn of events inspires your campaign of missions that covers much of the Pacific Theater including Pearl Harbor itself, Wake Island, Marshal Islands, and even the battle at Midway.

    The missions are accurate and the maps, briefings and other intelligence data all comes off like something you might see on the History Channel. It really helps immerse you in the story and pumps you up for the challenging gameplay.


    The flight controls are a nice mix of sim and arcade allowing you to adjust the physics and flight model to your liking prior to each mission. Arcade physics is pretty lenient and synchs the rudder with your aileron controls, while Pro controls will give you full independent control over the rudder so you can whip that tail around.

    You can play from several camera views including chase and cockpit, although there is no instrumentation in the latter. This works well with the targeting system that lets you visually lock and cycle targets then open fire with the primary and secondary weapons. Since we are dealing with an era before lock-on missiles you will need to rely on piloting skills and old-fashioned dog fighting to shoot down your targets.

    There are more than 30 planes in Heroes of the Pacific and you will get to fly most of them on your tour of duty. I was thankful that these planes offered some interesting control nuances rather than just new weapons and a fresh skin. Each new plane had anything from slight to severe handling variances, so there was a modest learning curve each time I climbed into a new cockpit.

    Combat changes along with the physics and there is a bit of mastery involved in learning the subtleties of dropping a torpedo in the water or landing a bomb on the roof of a building as you are speeding at the ground. The enemy aircraft is also getting mixed up throughout the game, so you can never underestimate their maneuverability or firepower.

    The squad AI is pretty good, but as with any game like this I found myself doing most of the work. At least the computer planes seldom crossed my line of fire or tried to steal my targets. You do have some limited control over your wingmen ordering them to form on your wing, disperse and attack, or defends a target or area, all with the tap on the D-pad.

    Mission design is also really good and rooted in historical accuracy and specific events. You’ll always start with a specific goal but that almost always explodes into a wild sequence of events and dynamically generated objectives that get radioed in mid-mission. Some missions even feature boss-style encounters like an ace pilot or large ship that require some additional strategy.

    As you progress further into the story you will earn points to upgrade your planes and even assign various ammo types prior to the mission. This, combined with the vast assortment of aircraft and the varied mission design gives Heroes of the Pacific a far greater depth than you might expect from the casual pick-up and play game design.


    Once you leave the historically-themed menus and briefings you take to some of the best looking skies of recent memory. While we don’t have all those fanciful locations we explored in Crimson Skies, the Pacific Theater is captured with stunning detail from the cloud-specked skies to the rolling whitecaps on the sea below. Heroes has some of the best clouds I have ever seen in any video game to date.

    The highlight of the game, as it should be, are the stunning plane models, all of which are totally accurate in shape, design, and authentic insignia. These models all show off a wide range of damage and are designed so they break apart and explode in fiery pieces of wreckage. On more than one occasion I found myself ducking as a enemy propeller or section of wing came whipping by my canopy. And nothing is more intense than unloaded into a Zero then flying through the smoky wreckage hoping you come out unscathed.

    If there is any weak aspect to the graphics it would have to be the terrain and low-detailed landscapes. You can tell this game focused on air combat and that is where all the detail is. The ground is simple and blurs together with simple trees, buildings, and boxy models for vehicles.

    The framerate holds up for the most part unless there is a lot of stuff happening on screen, and with up to 150 planes on the screen at any one time it can get busy. It gets more problematic in multiplayer with more severe drops in the framerate, but it never got unplayable; just annoying.


    The soundtrack for Heroes of the Pacific is downright majestic, which is a perfect match for the feeling you will get soaring through those wispy clouds. The menus and briefings all have that stirring and appropriately emotional war music.

    Sound effects include all the accurate sounds of machine guns, bomb blasts, and the sounds of bullets tearing through the metal fabric of your plane. There is also loads of radio chatter including mid-mission briefings as well as surprisingly accurate wingmen chatter and congratulatory remarks. I was impressed that the designers used restraint on the radio content so it seldom repeated, at least to the point where it got annoying.


    Heroes of the Pacific is easily a 15-20 hour experience just to get through the solo campaign and despite the linear nature of the missions, there is some good incentive for replay since you can tweak your planes differently and try various battle tactics, unlock historic missions, and even go split-screen for some mini-game challenges with a friend.

    There is a strong multiplayer component and a surprising amount of people playing this game online. Considering the limited number of copies I have seen in most retailers I was sure this was going to be one of those sleeper hits, but apparently people are finding this game and playing it.

    You can choose from various game types when setting up or joining an online game, and the online play is challenging and fun, perhaps a bit more than the solo game when you factor in the human versus AI element. Regrettably, there is a bit of lag that can make it troublesome to keep a target in your sights long enough to destroy him, but it’s not consistently bad.


    As long as you don’t enlist in Heroes of the Pacific thinking you are going to play some amazing flight sim you are going to be in for a real treat. This is the perfect marriage of fun and historic realism with a flight scheme that can be tweaked for those who require a bit more control over their planes. Plus, the added flexibility of commanding your wingmen will appease those who favor squad-based games.

    Considering we don’t have that much of a selection when it comes to flying games on the Xbox, it’s always nice to see one that comes along that I can recommend, not just because it’s available, but because it’s good. Heroes of the Pacific is really fun, challenging, and even a bit educational at times. Great job!