Game Review #248: Air Conflicts Collections (Nintendo Switch)
Updated: Mar 22, 2020
Reviewer: FrankieW
Developer: Games Farm s.r.o.
Publisher: Kalypso Media Group
Category: Action, Simulator, Dog Fight
Release Date: 03.26.2019
Price (at time of review): $19.99 (digital/each) | $39.99 (physical)
Buy Air Conflicts: Secret Wars from the Nintendo Switch eShop here.
Buy Air Conflicts: Pacific Carriers from the Nintendo Switch eShop here.
Buy Air Conflicts Collection from Amazon here.
Flying High
The Air Conflicts Collection is two games recently ported to the Nintendo Switch that can be bought separately digitally, or together on a physical copy. These games originally came out last generation and were a multi-platform title in this series that features other games as well. Air Conflicts is an air simulator that has you controlling various fighter planes, bombers, and more as you participate in wars and secret ops across the globe. You will be dog fighting, doing stealth missions, taking down carriers at sea, and more when you play either of the included Air Conflict games. The games included are Air Conflicts: Secret Wars, as well as Air Conflicts: Pacific Carriers. These titles have many similarities, but their mechanics and visuals are each unique and tweaked, as well as having different planes and weapons available. Let's get a little bit further into these titles!
Attention to detail
Visually, we are indeed dealing with graphics from last generation, but thankfully because of that we are blessed with a nice stable frame rate due to it, weather in handheld or docked mode! Nothing is particularly impressive from a visual standpoint, but that's what you get with a port like this; a lot of the cutscenes and such make an effort to have them appear more period appropriate, by either adding film grain or filters to make things appear more sepia-toned. This actually is a really nice little touch and had me looking at the screen rather than listening to it and not really paying attention to the visuals. Both of the games have a similar look, being on a similar or perhaps the same engine, but tend to portray very different locations. Pacific Carriers has a lot of naval battles, or fights that are on the coast due to its focus on fighting off of a carrier as a base, while Secret Wars takes place in a lot of varied areas because it has you taking covert op missions all around the world!
Tons of options
If you love Planes, these games are going to do it for you! Between both games there are SO many different planes you can use, and you can even customize your loadout! Heck, in Pacific Carriers you can outfit your whole squad the way you would like! You will want to get familiar with these options, as all of the various mission types will have you hopping around various loadouts a lot. From fights that are purely dog fights to stealth runs, patrol runs, defending coastal towns, or defending your home base the Air Conflicts games will keep you on your toes with all of the available mission types. It keeps the gameplay varied and fun! I always found myself looking forward to the next mission just to see what kind of spin it was going to put on its formula next.
Personally, I found myself REALLY enjoying Pacific Carriers specifically, as it really made you get GREAT at bombing which is a tricky, yet satisfying mechanic to learn. I found myself executing some pretty crazy maneuvers in order to outfly my adversaries, and every time I did a fancy loop-de-loop or stalled my engine to drop and start it again in mid-air I just felt awesome. Things I saw in movies worked and every time it felt awesome. There are occasional moments of clunkiness but they pass quickly, and generally don't sour the experience. My favorite is a good dog fight; there's just something about landing those shots and taking down planes that is so satisfying!
Flying at another plane and emptying your machine guns at each other as you play chicken to see who will change direction first is just a great feeling that I found myself seeking out for the thrill on the regular. Bombing will have you flying above the clouds only to dive bomb towards your target waiting for that perfect time to drop your payload and pull up, and the option to focus your camera on your target is nice as you watch with bated breath to see if your bombs hit their mark. If they did, the target is destroyed! Anyone who watched my stream of Pacific Carriers knows some of these ships can take A TON of bombs!
Wrapping up
These games will have you playing through battles that really happened throughout World War 1 and 2, as well as fictional conflicts. Both games features a ton of gameplay, and I think anyone who loves these kinds of flight simulators will have a blast with either of the titles, and the amount of content within makes it a good buy as well! I personally preferred Pacific Carriers to Secret Wars (stealth missions make me want to die, yes, plane stealth missions are a thing) but I would recommend both of these games if you enjoy this genre! If this is your first outing for this kind of game, I might try just grabbing one title to see if it grabs you before you get the collection. This is not Ace Combat speed dog fighting, but a more realistic look at the technology of the past we used to fight wars, and it does a great job doing that! I give Secret Wars a 7/10 and Pacific Carriers a 8/10!
Scores: Secret Wars (7/10) & Pacific Carriers (8/10)
Buy Air Conflicts: Secret Wars from the Nintendo Switch eShop here.
Buy Air Conflicts: Pacific Carriers from the Nintendo Switch eShop here.
Buy Air Conflicts Collection from Amazon here.
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*Review Codes Provided by Kalypso Media