Aces of the Luftwaffe

Developer: Handy Games
Steam Release: May 2015
Hours Played: 3
Similar To: Platypus / Steel Empire
Rating: 1/5 Parsnips

GAMEPLAY
This is a simple side-scroller that has you taking command of one of three aeroplanes and its accompanying pilot. Each pilot has slightly different movement and firing mechanics. Much like Jamestown, but travelling horizontally rather than vertically, you fly over war-torn countryside while shooting down foes; in this case, German enemy planes. As you spray the enemy with gunfire you pick up dropped crosses or medals and use these outside the levels to buy upgrades for your three planes. The screen can get extremely busy with enemy planes generally appearing in small groups but with some large and more numerous batches thrown in. It's a satisfying blast to gun these down by anticipating their pattern of movement but you'll be spending most of the time in a brainless trance-like state.  
  

BALANCE & PACE
Unlike Jamestown the game simply lacks variety and depth. Sure, you get power-ups to increase firepower and other such drops to repair your damaged plane but you're not really motivated to play levels optimally because the game doesn't keep score! Yep, Aces of the Luftwaffe does not keep any score and it does not award 1-3 stars based on performance. You simply collect dropped crosses and medals, use these to pay for upgrades and then attempt to complete the game's 20 missions with your improved aeroplane as you go. Fail a level by losing all health and it's no problem; simply grind earlier levels by farming those crosses so you can improve such things as the plane's special ability or its fire-power - and rinse and repeat. Consequently, the game lacks challenge and starts to feel more like work than play. 

PRESENTATION & DESIGN
As a pixel-art game designed by GameMaker Studio and a port from mobile to PC with just 100MB needed on your hard-drive, production values are kept low with this one. However, the menus have a slick colour scheme and, with sharp and clear illustrations of planes dogfighting in the skies to bring the WW2 theme alive, is quite pleasing on the eye. A quiet click accompanies each press of a button and motivational military movie-music plays in the background to stir you up. One shortcoming while battling is that with the lack of a heads-up display (save for a meter telling you that your super-power is ready) there is no damage meter to keep you informed of hull integrity - just a few cracks on the screen and a few bullet holes to show you've been hit and need a repair power-up.
 

PROGRESS SYSTEM
You're greeted with the choice to enter one of five chapters presented as scrollable thumbnails. Each has 3 missions (indicated by a star) and a boss battle (a winged skull). Click a chapter, choose a pilot, upgrade, click Take Off and then choose the mission to grind, farm play. Collect crosses, use to upgrade your plane and keep doing missions. Each plane/pilot has three types of upgrade. Freshman, for example, has plane speed, super power or bullet speed to improve on but you'll soon find out that he's the weakest of the three and you'll likely end up ploughing more effort into leveling up Tyler or the Beast. As well as seeing how many missions you can unlock, progress also comes in the form of unlocking chapters and seeing what hidden delights await. 
   

CONCLUSION

To sum up, Aces of the Luftwaffe is a mobile game whose transition to the PC has not really been thought through properly and which has not treated PC gamers with enough respect. For one, forcing the player to grind earlier levels to such a degree has turned the game into a bit of a slog and what could have been a little bit of work and effort on the part of the developer has meant lots of work for the player. Secondly the game cries out to have some sort of score system which is another feature that could so easily have been implemented to make farming levels a little more fun and meaningful. For some, the grind may be a decent way to pass the time but for many, as is, the game will probably feel too much like a run-of-the-mill, going-through-the-motions affair. 

 
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