Airforce Delta Strike

by Konami Studios

Product Features

• Exhilarating arcade-action flight combat with realistic fighters, in this latest installment of the hit combat series
• Choose from over 20 pilots, each with their own personalities and skills
• Fly the deadly skies in 60 squad-based missions inover 100 planes -- from WWII fighter to futuristic aircraft from classic Konami games
• Missions and storylines are non-linear -- the choices you make will affect the game's outcome. You'll have a different experience every time you play!

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0000AI1KH
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches ; 4.8 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: February 3, 2004
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #23,201 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

Game Informer Review

As I rocketed through the clouds down into the eye of a tornado, I suddenly realized that my heart was racing, I had been holding my breath for the last 20 seconds, my hands were tensing up, and perspiration was forming above my brow. If this tautness persisted any longer, I'd likely keel over within the next minute or two.

Now, you're probably sitting there wondering why I'm giving a game that I claim to be a white-knuckle thrillride such a mediocre rating. As it turns out, tension-filled moments like the one that I've just described are spread apart by hours of mindless aerial combat that will likely lull you to sleep.

It's not the prettiest game in the skies, either. In fact, saying that it resembles an airborne flaming garbage heap isn't too far off of the mark. Where the assortment of craft show intricate detailing in their designs, the texture of the terrain, and effects accompanying explosions can most accurately be termed pixelated abominations.

To this day, I still find myself floored by the fact that the game has over 130 different playable craft. It's like the Pokémon of the friendly skies! Many of these vessels are similar in design, but the majority of them either control differently or feature different armor types and payload sizes. Old-fashioned World War II craft, new-age stealth fighters, and even vehicles from Konami's classic arcade shooter Gradius can all be unlocked and piloted. In this regard, the game simply radiates replay.

Given how shoddy the controls in the previous two entries in the series have been, I actually like how this follow-up plays. The Novice control set is a little too tight for my liking, but the Expert scheme proves to be very precise and intelligently mapped to the controller.

Since this story is set in the future, you never really know what to expect from the missions. Mind-numbingly dull dogfighting is usually involved, but you may find yourself combating a battle station in outer space, locating the weak spot on massive ground vehicles, or escorting a train across a sea of elevated tracks. To rattle gamers' nerves and generate a false sense of excitement, NPC characters are constantly yelling commands in your direction. Constantly is the key word here. They never shut up! It drove me nuts!

Had the enemy AI been better, the speed not so sluggish, and the combat a little bit more on the arcade side like Secret Weapons Over Normandy, this game could have been something special. For the third consecutive time, however, it falls right in line with the series' track record of being simply average.

Concept:
Exhilarating dogfighting with science fiction themes and over 100 playable craft

Graphics:
The aircraft modeling is respectable, but nothing else really jumps off of the screen

Sound:
For the first time I find myself saying that there's too much spoken dialogue. Just shut up and let me fly!

Playability:
Decent controls, tons of missions, and great variance in planes round out an enjoyable gameplay package

Entertainment:
Loaded with noteworthy bonuses

Replay:
Moderately High

Rated: 7 out of 10
Editor: Andrew Reiner
Issue: February 2004

2nd Opinion:
Although I often speak of my undying love for the Super Nintendo, saying that a title reminds me of an SNES game is not always a compliment. Airforce Delta Strike, while not a terrible game, reminds me of some of the mediocre flight sims that appeared on my cherished system. Much like those forgotten games, Delta Strike lacks any sensation of speed whatsoever, and while the graphics are superior to the SNES, they are still far from impressive. The skies of Delta Strike have an overall blandness that's inexcusable in this day and age, but what irked me more was what came between missions. Let's have no more generic anime characters jabbering endlessly between flights, shall we? This title does have some creative missions to fulfill once it gets going, and I don't want to have to spend five minutes skipping text to get to them.

Rated: 7 out of 10
Editor: Jeremy Zoss


Subscribe to Game Informer

Product Description

AirForce Delta Strike - Join a highly skilled team of pilots and fly into uncharted territory, as you defend the skies in a futuristic military adventure!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The worst flying game I've ever played., July 28, 2005

By 

Fyrelore (Jackson, MS) - See all my reviews

= Fun:1.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Airforce Delta Strike (Video Game)

A while ago I rented this game and found it to be one of the worst games that I've ever played in my life.

To start things off I'll talk about the graphics. When I played the game I noticed that the screen, while in a dogfight, would start to blur somewhat or get really choppy. That can be accepted over time... Not in this case. As I kept playing it just got worse at times. While playing in the cockpit view it was hard to see what was going on around me as the control panel came up too high. While playing in the third-person perspective was where most of the graphics problems were.

The characters in the game were all annoying to listen to. I hated the voice of the main character most of all. Most (if not all) of the voice acting was pretty bad. The mission briefings and cut scenes were also dreaded because they showed (dare I say it?) the "Paper People." The characters here were all flat and had no emotion to them and only two were on the screen at once. When one of the two people was done talking they'd just scroll right on off and the next person would just scroll right on.

The planes and weapons were also quite dull. The aircraft had decent looks. That's the only good thing I can say about the entire game. That's not my gripe here though. The thing about the planes that really turned me off was the fact that they all felt the same. When you'd get into an Su-47 "Berkut" it felt the same as if it were the starting F-5 or a P-31. The missile lock-on and the missiles themselves were also quite irritating. With the lock-on it usually locked-on too slowly if it did at all. And when you'd fire a missile at a target in the air or on the ground it was just boring. The machine guns were also prety much useless all the time.

The sound was another thing that I had a problem with. The radio chatter mixed with the various sounds and music only came out to be a tool for developing a quick head ache. The music sounded more like techno out of the 80's. The sounds from the planes and everything else sounded like they came out of something that the coyote would use to try and trap the road-runner. And the radio chatter was useless and gave nothing to the game.

Though this game was released almost two years after Namco's Ace Combat 4: Shattered Skies, it is still the lesser game. Konami could have looked at AC04 and, seeing what made that such a great game in it's time, used some of that for this game. But they didn't. Since then Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War has come out and has dwarfed what AC04 was. And Konami's AirForce Delta Strike has really shown itself to be a failure.

So if you're looking for a good console flyer then check Namco's Ace Combat 5 or go and play Ace Combat 4. Just don't touch this one.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not Up to Modern Standards, December 31, 2006

By 

Lisa Shea "medieval swordfighting enthusiast" - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

= Fun:2.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Airforce Delta Strike (Video Game)

We love air combat style games, especially the Ace Combat series. We were really keen on trying out Airforce Delta Strike. Unfortunately, this game is rather poorly made.

First, the graphics. We have many PS2 games which blow our socks off in terms of graphics and visuals. This is NOT one of them. You get bland skies, repetitive aircraft, and cookie cutter characters.

The vocals aren't much better. The voice acting is almost computer generated, it is so lacking in emotion. Sometimes the voices come on top of other voices so you can't tell what either one is saying. They go off on endless discussions that you really wish they'd had somewhere else.

They do have a ton of aircraft available in the game, from old style fighters to modern crafts. Unfortunately, you just don't have a lot of incentive to work through the missions to play with them.

If this had come out five years ago, I might have been thrilled in what it offered, as far as dogfights and combat options. Unfortunately for the Airforce Delta Strike makers, I have a collection of Ace Combat games in my library and I can replay these endlessly if I want to enjoy involving gameplay and storyline. There just doesn't seem much reason to pull one of those out of my machine and to put this one on.

4.0 out of 5 stars Airforce Delta Strike, February 27, 2009

By 

J. MCKENZIE (Pittsburgh, Pa) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Airforce Delta Strike (Video Game)

The missions in this game can be a little confusing but once you play them several times they become pretty entertaining, especially if you like flight simulator games. The briefings and time in between missions can be very dull which is why I gave it 4 stars. Besides that the game is a classic.