Section: iPhone / iPod touch / iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, iDevice Apps, Features, Appidemic
I enjoy a good flight combat sim. I have since the days of Red Baron on my old Mac LCII, and perhaps even all the way back to Blue Max on the Commodore 64, if you can call that a flight sim. WWI flight sims appeal to me the most, I think because of the whole stick and rudder system that allows you to focus solely on the combat. In other words, the fun part. The developers of FokkerSkurge apparently feel the same way, as they’ve brought us a flight combat sim that is pretty much nothing more than shooting stuff down.
What is it?
FokkerSkurge is set during WWI, placing you at the controls of a SPAD XIII or Sopwith Camel F1. You don’t actually get to fly the titular Fokker, but you do get to shoot a lot of them down, along with five other types of enemy aircraft, including the triplanes and airships, etc.
Unfortunately, there are only six missions in which to do this. Hopefully, the developer plans to release more, either as free updates or at least as in-app purchases.
How does it work?
FokkerSkurge takes an arcade style approach to flying, meaning you simply have to tilt your iPhone or iPod touch to turn and to adjust altitude. You can stall, so you need to watch your speed when climbing. You can also crash into the ground, and this is a bit of a problem. Although the graphics are pretty good (muddy, but attractive), I found it nearly impossible to gauge altitude by simply looking at the horizon. Numerous times, I crashed when I thought I was thousands of feet in the air. You’ll need to pay close attention to your altitude gauge to prevent this from happening.
Your only action button is the Fire button on the bottom right of the screen. The game seems somewhat forgiving in that regard, as you don’t need to be terribly accurate to score a hit. This is good, as the controls seem a bit off. Moving the plane is easy; doing it with precision is not. It’s far too easy to overcompensate, causing you to quickly lose sight of your target. Some more refinement in this regard (or allowing the player to adjust sensitivity) would go a long way towards increasing the enjoyment of this game.
Also, the Fire button needs to be bigger. I often missed potential kills because my thumb was slightly out of position.
Is it contagious?
For a little while, yes. Six missions aren’t much—more like a lite version of a bigger game. So, the $3.99 price tag is a little too high.
Still, FokkerSkurge is a good looking game with some solid flight combat action. It’s easy to pick up and start flying, although gaining the proper control of your planes will take some time. But hey, nobody said shooting down the Red Baron would be easy.
| Category: Flight combat games Developer: PAL Games, Ltd. Cost: $3.99 Download: FokkerSkurge |
Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »
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