Top Gun
PS3, this is Ghost Rider requesting a flyby.
Posted August 26, 2010
It’s always interesting to me when a publisher wants to develop a new game off an old franchise / brand / movie that new gamers may have never seen. While a game like Epic Mickey will likely flourish regardless of that stigma, a game based off a single movie that’s nearly 25 years old is going to be hamstringed immediately. Based of the events in the film, Top Gun for the Playstation Network puts the player into the role of Maverick and essentially allows you to hit all the memorable moments.
The single player campaign is broken into 11 missions, the majority of which take place over the Indian Ocean after you escape flight school. You are tasked with chasing down enemy fighters and avoiding anti-aircraft fire from the ground. Battling the enemy AI can get pretty darn repetitive, especially due to the simplistic targeting system. It’s very simple to line up a shot on a target and take them out within seconds. Before the mission, you can outfit your plane with different missiles. I found the midrange missiles to be the most effective, perhaps too much. The machine guns, on the other hand, are pathetically weak.
You can also earn planes along the way and gain new abilities in those planes. The missions themselves are pretty unimaginative though. Either Maverick is trying to kill all the enemies to end the mission, bombing the ground or escorting other planes. All in all, the campaign is definitely on the short side and the way the story is told harms the game rather than getting someone interested in an old Tom Cruise movie. It does, however, hit all the high (and low) points of the Tony Scott film.
However, the multiplayer modes are pretty phenomenal when you get 10 or more fighters racing around the sky. The game supports up to 16 players in a match and there are a variety of standard modes to choose from. I did have trouble finding people to play with except for one time when I came across about 12 other players in a match. We did a couple sessions of team deathmatch that absolutely rocked. This is the type of game that lends itself to organizing matches outside of the game, then hopping in to play. Based on the high purchase price, it would be difficult to see the player base grow substantially any time soon.
The best part of Top Gun is the multiplayer and it only comes into its own when you have a lobby full of players ready to dogfight. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of people playing the game, likely due to the high price. The very brief single player campaign (knocked out in about 4 hours) doesn’t help the situation either. That being said, there is a certain 80’s charm to playing through the missions that occurred in the movie; assuming you are still a fan of the film. Unless you are a multiplayer junkie that’s obsessed with Tom Cruise movies, it’s probably safe to leave this one alone until the price is dropped on PSN. At $5 to $10, a purchase is more justifiable for the amount of content in the game and it would expand the number of players for online multiplayer.
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The single player campaign is broken into 11 missions, the majority of which take place over the Indian Ocean after you escape flight school. You are tasked with chasing down enemy fighters and avoiding anti-aircraft fire from the ground. Battling the enemy AI can get pretty darn repetitive, especially due to the simplistic targeting system. It’s very simple to line up a shot on a target and take them out within seconds. Before the mission, you can outfit your plane with different missiles. I found the midrange missiles to be the most effective, perhaps too much. The machine guns, on the other hand, are pathetically weak.
You can also earn planes along the way and gain new abilities in those planes. The missions themselves are pretty unimaginative though. Either Maverick is trying to kill all the enemies to end the mission, bombing the ground or escorting other planes. All in all, the campaign is definitely on the short side and the way the story is told harms the game rather than getting someone interested in an old Tom Cruise movie. It does, however, hit all the high (and low) points of the Tony Scott film.
However, the multiplayer modes are pretty phenomenal when you get 10 or more fighters racing around the sky. The game supports up to 16 players in a match and there are a variety of standard modes to choose from. I did have trouble finding people to play with except for one time when I came across about 12 other players in a match. We did a couple sessions of team deathmatch that absolutely rocked. This is the type of game that lends itself to organizing matches outside of the game, then hopping in to play. Based on the high purchase price, it would be difficult to see the player base grow substantially any time soon.
Graphics
- For a Playstation Network title, the game’s graphic engine is average. The developers did a great job with explosion effects and the detail of the actual plane models, but the bland environments don’t bring anything substantial to the table in terms of detail and variety. Also, while high speed movement is represented well, the textures on the ground seemed to have a hard time keeping up on the loading end.
Audio
- I don’t understand how the developers, and more so the movie studio paying for the game, could have put together such an incredibly terrible cast of voice actors. Jack Epps Jr., one of the writers on the Top Gun movie, did the writing for the voiceovers, but the delivery is unenthusiastic, lacking emotion and quite laughable. It doesn’t do a thing to capture the feel of the movie.
- What does stand out in the audio is the musical score. The driving rock music puts the excitement into chasing down enemy fighters. You will find the original Top Gun theme in the game as well as a version of “Danger Zone” (not the Kenny Loggins version). The music really helps offset the boring voicework.
Conclusion
The best part of Top Gun is the multiplayer and it only comes into its own when you have a lobby full of players ready to dogfight. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of people playing the game, likely due to the high price. The very brief single player campaign (knocked out in about 4 hours) doesn’t help the situation either. That being said, there is a certain 80’s charm to playing through the missions that occurred in the movie; assuming you are still a fan of the film. Unless you are a multiplayer junkie that’s obsessed with Tom Cruise movies, it’s probably safe to leave this one alone until the price is dropped on PSN. At $5 to $10, a purchase is more justifiable for the amount of content in the game and it would expand the number of players for online multiplayer.
Discuss This Game on Our Official VGT Forum