Project Sylpheed [360]

Even though it was also developed by Game Arts, and shares a similar name with Silpheed: The Lost Planet for the PlayStation 2, this game moves from 2D shooter into 3D space battle territory. In the 27th century, some of Earth's colonies are fighting for independence, against the Terra Central Air Force, who are Earth's defenders. The game starts with a training mission of seemingly raw recuits to the T.C.A.F, during which, the enemy attacks. The characters are revealed to be fairly typical anime-style stereotypes, and after engaging the enemy for a while, you figure out that Katana Faraway is the main character and that you assume his role.

The action mainly alternates between mission briefings and heading out to dogfight in your fighter. Completing missions earns you new weapons, as well as points toward developing more powerful weapon options. While in combat, the gameplay consists mostly of finding the nearest bogey and dispatching them, usually with lock-on missiles. It's definitely reminiscent of games like Ace Combat, although you won't have to hunt as much here, since the enemies are usually a lot closer and often leave huge light trails on the screen making them easier to spot.

While the game does have a good amount of action, there just isn't a lot here thats new. Sure it's in space, and younger players who perhaps aren't as interested in the plotlines and relative difficulty of the Ace Combat series, or who are new to the genre will have some fun here. More experienced players will likely yearn for a meatier story and more diverse missions to motivate them though. Even the graphics, while not particularly bad, have a generic style to them. It's surprising this game wasn't released on the PS2, with its larger, younger installed base, since there's nothing really "next-gen" here, and Ace Combat 6 is coming to the Xbox 360 in only a few months.

6/10