- Authentic 'Strike' series spiritual successor
- Highly enjoyable gameplay experience
- Exceptional early access polish
- Intuitive and responsive controls
- Robust helicopter and combat mechanics
- Limited game content and variety
Emotions
Players found satisfaction in the game's polished state, fluid controls, and engaging core gameplay, which often included satisfying combat, physics, and a good variety of missions. Many expressed contentment with the game's technical performance, visual/audio quality, and its success in meeting or exceeding expectations as a worthy spiritual successor to classic titles.
Joy stemmed from the game's ability to deliver consistent and often frenetic fun, frequently enhanced by humorous dialogue, voice acting, and satisfying destruction physics. Many players also experienced joy through nostalgic elements that brought back childhood memories of similar classic games.
Excitement primarily originated from the game's addictive and fun combat, coupled with strong anticipation for future content such as new chapters, updates, and the full release. Players also felt excitement from the game successfully acting as a modern spiritual successor to beloved classics and from the dynamic, physics-driven gameplay.
Nostalgia was a powerful emotion, driven by the game strongly reminding players of classic 'Strike' series titles from their childhood, such as Desert Strike and Jungle Strike. The game successfully evoked memories and recreated the spirit, look, and feel of these beloved older games, fulfilling a long-held desire for a modern spiritual successor.
Anticipation was directly tied to players looking forward to the game's full release and the promise of future content. This included awaiting subsequent chapters, planned updates, and potential improvements to the game.
Verdict
Mostly positive
Summary
Positive 99% · Negative 1%. Score: 1 / 100
Positives:
- The game is widely celebrated as a faithful and modernized spiritual successor to classic 'Strike' series games like Desert Strike. Players appreciate how it captures the original's essence while introducing improved controls, modern graphics, and enhanced gameplay, fulfilling a long-held desire for fans of the genre.
- Players consistently praise the game as incredibly fun, addictive, and a source of stress relief, often noting its excellent replayability and challenging gameplay. Many also highlight its exceptional value for money, considering the high level of polish and content even in Early Access, making it feel like a steal.
- Reviewers are consistently impressed by the game's high level of polish and stability, especially for an Early Access title. Many note it feels like a finished product with minimal bugs, smooth performance, and high production quality, setting a new standard for early releases and indicating strong future potential.
- Players consistently highlight the game's excellent control system, describing it as smooth, intuitive, and responsive across both mouse/keyboard and gamepad. The flight mechanics feel natural, making the game easy to pick up but offering depth for mastery, significantly enhancing the overall gameplay experience.
- Players enjoy the diverse selection of helicopters, each with a unique feel and robust upgrade options. The combat is dynamic, fast, and highly satisfying, with impressive destruction physics and creative ways to engage enemies, including a standout grapple mechanic for tossing objects.
Negatives:
- Players frequently cite the game's short length, estimating around 3 hours to complete. With only a few missions and a single chapter, many feel the current Early Access price is too steep for the amount of content provided, leading to uncertainty about future additions.
- There's a noticeable absence of variety in missions, enemy types, and level design, leading to repetitive experiences. Players also feel that having multiple helicopters is pointless if their core functionality and mission impact remain largely the same, and desire more exploration and diverse enemy threats.
Gameplay:
- The game features a robust progression system where players can unlock and upgrade multiple helicopter variants (up to 8 mentioned) and various weapon types and models. Missions can be replayed to earn cash, facilitating the acquisition of new choppers and weapon customizations.
- A distinctive gameplay feature is the 'sling' or 'winch' mechanic, which allows players to pick up and creatively fling objects, including enemies, across the map. This adds a unique and often humorous dimension to combat and environmental interaction.
- The game includes a variety of authentic helicopter models, such as the Mi-24V Hind, and features both Western and Soviet/Russian weapon systems. Players are keen on unlocking specific choppers (like the 'Sky Wolf' reference) and desire more iconic models like the Ka-50/52 and Comanche.
- While the overall difficulty might not be overwhelming, specific enemies such as SAMs and AA gunners are highlighted as very dangerous. Critically, getting shot down means restarting the entire mission, which adds a significant consequence to failure.
- The helicopter controls are noted for requiring a thoughtful approach, reacting to gravity and momentum, with the physics engine described as 'interesting and mysterious.' This suggests a distinct handling experience that blends arcade action with a touch of realism.
Performance:
- Players generally report solid performance, stability, and no crashing issues on PC, including good compatibility with Linux and ultrawide displays. However, some users noted occasional frame rate drops or minor stuttering, especially during Early Access.
- The game is functional on the Steam Deck, but significant optimization is needed. Players describe performance as inconsistent, experiencing stuttering and frame rate dips, often averaging around 30 FPS. A cross-save feature is also a highly requested addition for Steam Deck users.
Recommendations:
- While currently recommended, one reviewer noted that future content, specifically Chapter 2, could potentially alter their recommendation depending on its pricing. This suggests a minor watch point for future monetization.
- A single reviewer suggested playing the game on maximum volume to enhance the experience. This hints at potentially good audio design or immersive sound effects that contribute to gameplay enjoyment.
Miscellaneous:
- Players are highly engaged and eagerly anticipating new biomes, missions, enemy types, weapons, and helicopters. Many express excitement for future updates, the full release, and features like co-op, a level editor, and modding capabilities, often referencing the game's promising roadmap and Early Access status.
- Players noted noticeable stuttering during gameplay, suggesting a need for performance optimization. Additionally, requests were made for more realistic helicopter physics, more interesting explosions and effects, and overall improved graphics to enhance visual fidelity.
- Players express appreciation and positive sentiment towards the development team. They acknowledge the developers' efforts and express confidence in the project's ongoing progress and future direction, reinforcing support for the game's journey through Early Access.
- A variety of minor suggestions were made, including specific helicopter paint schemes (camo for Hind), the addition of certain helicopter models (KA or more MI types), a low-cost water-surface effect, a radio system for custom music, and more opportunities for picking up/transferring goods.
