Arcade on Pearl Harbor

Thanks to its shameless detachment from reality, Attack on Pearl Harbor is saved from being a Red Baron-style “fly about for an hour and get shot down immediately” realistic combat flight sim and pushed immediately into the Rogue Squadron territory of “shoot down fifty enemy planes to win a medal”.

Players are given a limited number of aircraft per mission (individual mission locations are based on real South Pacific WWII missions) that effectively act as lives. Aircraft saved can be carried on into future missions, until you’ve got an abundance of extra lives to make it through later missions. The issue that arises from this is that you’ll soon accrete more planes than you could ever find a use for.

The controls are in keeping with the arcade-styled play, it’s nice to see the usual array of checks and balances replaced by a nice friendly, “Press Space to Take Off”. Most planes will fly comfortably in almost any orientation, directly up or down, upside-down etc.

Realism hasn’t been completely abandoned though; enemies moving at range require players to lead their targets. This is remedied somewhat by the fact that the targeting reticule turns red if firing will result in a hit (unless there’s a direction change). This gives dogfights a fast paced, easy action that could have been lost quite easily.

Bombing runs are as well managed; bombs are infinite, but after dropping a full load the bays must be given time to reload. It’s another simple and forgiving mechanic that allows beginners to progress through missions without needing to preserve ammunition. Primary weapons too never need to be reloaded, though they occasionally overheat if you don’t stop firing from time to time.

The Dogfight option gives customisable scenarios, allowing players to set the number of enemy fighters coming in waves, time limits, locations etc. Given that the campaign missions are so specific, it’s likely that Dogfight will be the most popular option in the long-term.