Dropship was one of the first games on the PS2 that I was dying to play. Previewed and shown publicly around launch time, I had real high hopes for this interesting looking flight-sim. After a few delays and an abnormally long translation period, the Bam! Entertainment published, Sony Studio Camden developed shooter is finally here. While it isnt the exact game I was expecting (earlier it appeared as a flight-sim/RTS, now its more just flight-sim), its still a very competent flyer, albeit with one major flaw.

Dropships graphics are actually a bit dated, due most in part to its numerous delays. It isnt quite up to Ace Combat 4s standards, but it still holds its own in most areas. All the ship designs and ship models are well rendered and detailed, consisting of high-res textures and fairly high polygon counts. The explosions and various weapon effects are very impressive as well, and the game sports the best water Ive ever seen in a flight-sim. The framerate is solid and any slowdown that occurred was quick and incident free. What I didnt find impressive was the tiny color palette (mainly brown and well, more brown), which tends to make everything look eerily similar. The landscaping isnt the best seen in the genre, but it isnt the worst either. It needs to be said that the replays that can be viewed after each mission are unreal, and have to be seen. The camera angles and the way the explosions are displayed is almost poetic.

Dropships play is what keeps it good instead of great. There are a couple of tiny flaws that might have been overlookable had it not been for the games one main drawback. This could possibly be the most difficult game ever conceived. It ranks up on my list alongside the Genesis Ecco the Dolphin. The main reason for this insanity is that at times, youre so ridiculously outnumbered, you have to wonder if youre the only pilot in the whole friggin army! Not to mention the incredibly complex control scheme, which will take the average player a couple hours to get used to. Mid-level checkpoints would have really helped in this regard. The balancing is off on the missions as well, while most are insane, some are actually quite quick and easy. Little quirks I had included missile lock-ons breaking off too easily, auto-landing your dropship was too slow while manual landing was too hard, and the dog-fighting isnt at the same level as others such as Ace Combat 4. One aspect that helps redeem most of these faults is the absolutely brilliant mission variety. Consisting of both air and ground missions (the ground vehicles dont control that well though), the objectives in Dropship are continuously different and unique; you never have to do the same thing twice. The atmosphere, story and presentation are also top notch, and make you want to continue on despite the frustrating difficulty level. Had the developers eased up on the difficulty and not required you to do a billion things per mission, Dropship would have easily been one of the best flight-sims of the year.

If there was anything I absolutely adored about Dropship, it was easily the games sound effects. Everything from missile explosions to the roar of the VTOL engines of your dropship is spot-on and had me drooling all over my speakers. The music, while not in the same league as the effects, is still very competent and fits in with the epic missions well. The voice acting from all characters (especially your wingman, Eva) is very well done, and the chatter during missions rounds out the superb sound package.

Dropship has a pretty decent amount of value for a flight-sim, and its 20 missions will last you quite some time. Be wary though, that a lot of the value you get from this game is due to the amount of retries each mission requires. Different selectable craft for each mission would have been a welcome addition, and I dont know why it wasnt included. There are scoring charts for each sortie and doing well can open up a few bonus missions. Though chances are with Dropship, once you complete a mission, youll never want to see it again. Bottom line, the more you can take the difficulty, the more playtime you can get.

I really, really wanted to like Dropship. With a team (Studio Camden) consisting of former Psygnosis developers (specifically guys who worked on the Colony Wars series) I wanted this game to be super fantastic. I cant in my objective mind say that it is though, even as much as I want to. Its a really great game that is extremely hampered by its difficulty level. Only the most hardcore of hardcore flight-sim junkies need apply; the difficulty will just turn off anyone else. I strongly, strongly recommend renting this title first to see if you handle the difficulty. Closeso close but no cigar.