In the near future, pilots battle for control of a war-torn planet. Lethal Skies II puts players inside the cockpits of a vast array of sleek and deadly fighter planes as they battle-opposing forces for control. Players have 19 planes at their disposal and over 20 missions to plane ion both solo and linked play ability.
Each craft has its own strengths and weaknesses such as speed, firepower, and agility and players will soon find themselves realizing that firepower is not always the key to success.
Missions usually follow the seek and destroy variety and are varied by the settings and types of enemies that a player will encounter.
Graphically, nothing in the flight simulation genre can touch it on the console. In fact, at many of the stores in the malls the game is used to show the graphical capabilities of the PS2. When people first see the game from a distance, they assume it is running on a PC, which perfected the flight sim-type genre a long time ago. Many people are surprised to find such a detailed-looking game running on a console.
For the detail in the game, it nonetheless flies pretty smoothly. Not to be a frame-rate jockey, but when you turn and dive and whatnot the entire process is very smooth, even when you are flying by some gorgeous-looking terrain outside or chasing down enemy craft.
The sound is also very nice. The aircraft sound pretty much like I would expect them to, plus all the weapons have a distinctive sound as well.
The biggest issue I had with the game is that despite the nice graphics and sound, I quickly had the sense of been there, done that. Despite the numerous planes, I found myself becoming bored with the same experiences over and over. You just change a few set pieces and fly basically the same type of mission over again. Flight sim fans might like this, but most general gamers probably want a bit more spice, which granted is difficult to do when you are building a realistic flight simulation.
Fans of flight sims will like the game, but it lacks the quality narrative of such genre classics as the Wing Commander series. I found the action fast and the sound and graphics first rate. Lethal Skies II proves to be an enjoyable diversion that will delight fans of the action flight
4/5
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