Based on the name you can probably already guess what it is – it’s a flight game. That alone was enough to pique my interest – I love me a bit of flight – but what sealed my interest was seeing that it’s coming from peripheral maker Mad Catz. The company has dabbled in software publishing before, most notably with Rock Band 3, but this title is a little different to Harmonix's rhythm title.
Most interesting of all, it's set to ship with one of the company’s flagship flight sticks included - and that made sure that the interest I had was retained.
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While we’ve had a few decent ones, I’d say it’s fair to say that this generation has been pretty rough on the flight combat genre. While this isn’t a simulation game, Damage Inc. Takes one of the best-known periods of aerial combat in history – World War II’s Pacific battles between the USA and Japan – and injects arcade-style combat that reminds me of titles like Blazing Angels and Crimson Skies.
It’s a strange mixture, as the setting is accompanied by what are described as realistic recreations of 30 different World War II aircraft. That makes it pretty authentic, and the missions on offer connect back to real-world events during the war from Pearl Harbour onwards – but the gameplay takes a different, less realistic tack.
This isn’t a game where you can spin out and crash with the slightest mistake in how you handle the stick, and though care is still required if you’re quick enough you can quickly and easily pull off ridiculous spins, loops and other over-the-top movements that would’ve been nigh-impossible in the actual WWII-era aircraft.
The arcade gameplay is fun, mind, and Damage Inc. knows that it isn’t realistic and fully leans into it. There’s a “Reflex Mode” that turns everything slow-motion at the flick of a button – one that I’m pretty sure doesn’t even exist in the cockpit of today’s ultra-futuristic and complicated fighters.
Reflex mode is handy for lining up shots and blasting enemies out of the sky when their speed is making it difficult to get the reticule in place. There’s other things to help you, too – such as a red dot which shows you where you need to be shooting ahead of an enemy in order to correctly ‘lead’ your shots.
Bullets realistically track, so just shooting at the enemy isn’t enough – you need to take distance into account. On higher difficulties the rather helpful dot will disappear, meaning you’ll have to eyeball your shots.
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It won’t be all about shooting, and the missions will include more variety in their objectives than merely ‘shoot that guy’. One mission I played had me turning off my engines and gliding in low to an island to try to take reconnaissance photographs of the equipment stationed there. Simply flying past was enough – there was mercifully no need to line up an actual photo.
As well as various types of Gatling guns the aircraft can come equipped with missiles, bombs or other equipment to give a better variety in combat. There’s a multitude of toggles to flight including a number of camera views and a fully analogue throttle playing on both stick and controller.
Long flights from one objective to the next have been eliminated by an optional super-speed throttle that basically works like a WWII-era hyperspace. It does the job, so if you’re the type of player who wants to focus on shooting you easily can.
If shooting down fellow humans is more your speed the game will ship with a few different online modes including the traditional head-to-head dogfighting modes in both free-for-all and team-focused arenas. There are objective-based modes too, including one which has you trying to sink the enemy team’s aircraft carrier – thus eliminating their spawn point.
My scant few minutes with the game felt good – the planes handled well, and I think there’s something to be said for developing a game with a specific peripheral in mind. While Damage Inc. is playable on a regular controller, a special edition of the game will ship with a specially coloured version of the Saitek AV8R flight stick on all three formats.
The AV8R is a cheaper entry-level stick, but that feels perfect for the kind of arcade gameplay Damage Inc offers. The features of the game are designed to work best with stick, making use of the toggle buttons on the front and the button layout on the yoke itself, which has been given a WWII grip makeover just for this game.
Better still; the stick is still compatible with other games on the market, giving you a reason to dig out that copy of HAWX once again. Both the game and stick will also be available standalone.
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The only negative I can really level at Damage Inc. is how it looks – it does look like a cheaper title, and no matter how good it feels the first impression of how it looks is hard to shake. Being in the Pacific Theatre means flying over a lot of sea, and the water in the Xbox 360 build I played wasn’t exactly great looking.
The actual gameplay feels good, though, and if there’s one thing we definitely could do with some more of this generation, it’s flight games. Bundling the stick in for under $100 only makes the existence of another flight combat game all the better.
