Aerial Strike: Low Altitude -High Stakes - PC

This game comes from a German game known as Yagar. The PC version was adapted from an X-Box version and has given me some problems. The format reminds me of the Comanche 4 game. You have missions that you must complete in order to progress further in the game. You can not save the game at a certain point in the mission but if you crash and burn it allows you to return to achieved checkpoints within the mission.The graphics are like the quality you find in Comanche four except you can pass through the foliage. Like Comanche 4 you are confined to a certain square space in the game play. Unlike Comanche 4 you cannot go beyond the borders.The game follows a storyline of a mercenary who is contracted to rid the government- Proteus of marauding pirates. But the game development goes beyond that as another element is involved. Each mission starts out with a "intro cinematic" and concludes with a cinematic scene. This is where I have run into problems. The audio controls reset to some predetermined value when the game goes into a final cinematic scene. I have to reset those levels on the music and effects. When this happens I don't get the audio on the voices when the characters are talking, so I have to rely on subtitles. I am using the built in motherboard sound system- RealTek ALC655. The game configures from 32 to 64 channels and the Motherboard system only supports 6 channels.Another problem with the game is the lack of documentation on the game. You learn the controls from the configuration menu which supports the keyboard, mouse and multi-button joystick. I have the Logitech Extreem Digital flight stick and was unable to configure the stick outside of the game through the software utility interface. Another annoying problem with the game is no throttle control on the thrust. The craft you use has two modes: hover and jet flight. You switch between the two. The view controls are toggled trough one key interface so that you have to cycle between them. Arg the mother!The most aggravating thing about the game is it provides no hints except though the game itself and some are hard to fathom. There are still some I haven't got a good clue on. There are objectives and bonus rewards to achieve that aren't necessary to progress further in the game.The overall experience of the game is enjoyable. The characters show where the game came from as they are European in flavor but they are interesting. The game has a easy to hard setting in the configuration. I found the easy mode still quite challenging to where I had to play some missions about 7 to 10 times to figure out the correct approach or strategy. The game is about 40% shoot-em-up 30% skill, 20% strategy and 10% puzzle.With further development this can be a really good game. Also they should get away from the cinematic takeovers and have more interaction. This is also a good engine to expand upon. Maybe with enough input Yagar or Dreamcatcher will take me up on my advice. Anyway I got it for about $17.00 via Amazon and it was worth at least that. Cheers. }:>)

Install was decent game it's self is ok to play, on time, I was very pleases with how quickly I got the product. Will do business again.

A little history: Aerial Strike: Yager was originally released as "Yager" for Xbox and PC in Europe and Japan, but not in North America. So it remained mostly unknown in the US...until now. As far as I know, it's the same game with a new title. Though it's now two years old (ancient in video game years) it still deserves attention for it's all around excellence.Aerial Strike: Yager is a futuristic FPS combat flight-sim. The Earth has been divided into huge trade zones by maga-companies and competing factions fight for control of territory and trade routes. You play Magnus Tide, wisecracking, freelance pilot for Proteus, who's trying to recover his reputation after he crashed his ship on a routine delivery -- causing Sarah, a communications officer at Proteus (the good guys) and now former girlfriend, to be demoted. Magnus' attempts to win back Sarah is a subplot.What sets this game apart from the typical FPS is the combination of a FPS with action-adventure. You interact with 20 characters (in varying degrees) and the story unfolds according to how you play.The graphics, though not up to the lastest technology, are still stunning. Swoop down to view the surface in beautiful detail then fly up to see intricate, animated crafts. Water and sky are rendered especially well. In the first few missions I found myself mostly flying off to gawk at the gorgeous graphics. There's movement everywhere with assorted other crafts crusing around, as well as birds, dolphins, even grazing buffalo.There are 22 free-roaming levels with an engaging storyline and variety of locations and settings, from the idyllic Free Zone Coast to the dark and foreboding Bitterfeld. The cinematic cut scenes provide a good continuum between missions and are some of the finest I've seen in any game.You fly a futuristic jet craft called the Sagittarius using a great physics engine allowing you to make radical moves, though I found the controls a little too sensitive at times. In addition to the jet-mode, there is a VTOL (Verticle Take-off and Lift) allowing hiding in the varied terrain, making stealth attacks and quick stops if you're about to hit a mountain! The ship is well-equipped with weapons, including lasers, machine guns, missiles, a rail gun and in some levels a napalm gun. Except for the lasers, which are powered by the Sagittarius's engines, the weapons have limited ammo, but there are glowing pickups scattered throughout the expansive levels that provide extra ammo and speed boosts. The HUD is effective and uncluttered, providing all essential info, i.e. friend and foe locations on your radar, hull shield condition, direction and weapons status in a clear format.What I especially liked about Yager was the character development and interaction. Voice-acting and scripting are well done. Magnus gives you commentary and hints throughout and I often found myself chuckling at his sarcasm and wisecracks. If you manage to piss-off an enemy they will make you aware of it in no uncertain terms on your ship's comms! The AI is quite good. Enemy craft work together in coordinating attacks and do a good job of trying to out maneuver you when pursued.No game is perfect and I have a couple gripes with Yager. The first are the height and side boundaries. On a few levels the height ceiling seemed a bit low and I had trouble going over some mountains and some of the side boundaries extend well within the maps. If you fly into one your ship is turned around, often directly at the enemies! And on at least two levels the boundaries allowed the enemy crafts through but not mine.The other is the inability to save game at checkpoints. If you fail a mission you can either restart it or continue at the previous checkpoint as long as you stay in the mission. If you exit you have to start the level over from the beginning. However, this does lend an urgency to the missions and there's a high satisfaction quotient when you finish a level, as some of them are difficult. But I'd prefer to have the ability to save in the longer missions.Yager is intelligently laid out and there are usually ways to strategize your best options to complete a level by doing some exploration and testing the enemy. In fact, the entire game shows an attention to detail in all aspects, from the stunning graphics to great character development to exhilarating dog fights.

Despite the demo(I whimsically downloaded) this is not the "Chuck Yagar" influenced flight dynamics(his are the training realism missions in real air missions). Yagar was the german titled(and rightly so) name for Arial Strike, what it is, is "Strike Commander" in a more sci-fi environment. It reminds me of that old game(with much better graphics) because of the plot-based elements and cut away movies. It takes place largely on your "ship" but is heavily dialgued. The "flight" dynamics are not based on real airplanes but on a unique form of futuristic hover/jet(and well done to for what point refererence we have of it which is nil plus two white mice...;). the point-of-attack/impact tracking is always required to gain a target lock and so hovermode is quite frequently needed even agaist light fighter pirate ships. Jet mode is sort of a persuit mode for fleeing ships. Used right it can be the difference between taking damage and completely negating it through speed. Larger frieter-types you must hoover in 6 cardinal directions to attack between, beneath, and behind)as the saying goes. Rarely do your "comrads at arms" help in the fight and are mere distractions for your point-of-impact missile system and some "witty" dialogue. you have four wheapons(and only four with no upgrades at all) through out the entire game. the most effective is our wheapon#1 rapid fire mode and missiles for large freighters(you in hovermode beyond backing off firing range of them). Great fun, but not a serious combat game.