Official Website

Platform: Playstation 2

Genre: Action

Number of Players: 1

Action games that center around air combat and that are also well diversified are few and far between. Although they seem to hit the PC in droves, the home consoles are left going without for the most part. Granted, we had the amazing Ace Combat 4 from Namco, and then some other titles there were far from being blockbuster hits. Fortunately, Sony CE of Europe has heard the demand from gamers and is set on bringing Dropship to North America. However, Dropship isn’t your typical flight simulation.

The year is 2050 and the United Nations and NATO have disbanded and out of the ashes has risen the United Peace Force (U.P.F.) It is their job to maintain peace worldwide and end threats of terrorism where ever they may arise. As one of the U.P.F’s newest recruits, it is your duty to join in the fight and uphold the same level of commitment. However, Dropship isn’t your typical military combat title. Through the games 30 levels you’ll participate in operations such as the deployment and retrieval of military vehicles, participation in land-based assault and rescuers missions, and provision of air support for starters.

If you plan on walking into this expecting another Ace Combat, you’d better think again. While Dropship may have some similar attributes, the two games are as different as night and day. Much of the action is low flying, and not the high flying daredevil dogfights of the AC series. This adds a great deal of challenge and flying precision to the game. That coupled with time being an enormous factor, don’t expect this to be a game that you can just breeze through. Fortunately, you have the option to hover as opposed to do numerous fly-by sweeps.

The air combat is quite similar to what AC has to offer, with a few exceptions. One thing I noticed a lot when playing Ace Combat was I had the tendency to tilt my head a bit to keep in the action. This isn’t the case with Dropship however. The action may be intense at times, but the turns aren’t so much that they create vertigo. The on-screen-enemy detection is quite easy to follow and your fellow pilots and ground forces actually assist you quite a bit, one department that AC lacked in quite a bit. The highly detailed backgrounds also are not a bit distracting. It’s easy to take in all of your surroundings without getting too lost trying to see everything.

Flying doesn’t make up the lion’s share of Dropship. There are quite a few missions that involve driving an armored assault vehicle as well as a tank. Each of these comes with its own armaments, but there are times when your co-pilot will take over the driving and leaving it up to you to blaze a trail of destruction. Land based vehicles have the same type of targeting as the Dropships, but there are even more obstacles to worry about on the ground. Trees and buildings are the least of your concerns as tanks, SAMS, and enemy troops will take every effort to make it a short trip for you.

There are a few drawbacks to the game however. Some of the animations could have been a little better, especially concerning the human character, but the game is so fun that it really doesn’t take away from it at all. In fact, most of the time the surrounding areas prove to be enough to take away from that slight downfall.

Some of the missions though are downright touch and can quickly become frustrating. There are some missions where staying low to the ground to avoid enemy radar or just in general result in unintentionally running into trees, landscape, buildings, etc. Since time does play an important factor at times, it can also add to the amount of accidental armor damage your vehicle ends up taking. Quite a few times I did more damage to myself than the games AI did.

Regardless of its minor shortcomings, Dropship is still quite a well-put together game. There are enough elements of other popular military type action games to make it appealing to a wide audience. Fans of Ace Combat will definitely appreciate the game for its attempt to be something different than just another AC clone, while gamers looking for a challenge will find plenty of reasons to cheer. Go ahead, Ace, give it a try.

  -mike-