Myviewing

User Score
8.2

Presentation - 8.4
Gameplay - 8.0
Value - 8.2

Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces is a game based on Mamoru Oshii’s 2008 anime film.  With that in mind, you’re probably already walking out on this review with the idea that a game based on a film isn’t really worth giving any attention.  If I told you that Project Aces, the main developer of the Ace Combat franchise, was the developer for the game, would you regain any interest?  If you like flight simulators at all, then hopefully you’ve got some interest in giving Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces some chance.  Innocent Aces is after all a game that anyone who is a fan of the genre or the developer that anyone should give a shot.
                The plot of Innocent Aces is based on the notion that corporations fight wars in order to keep people under the idea that they have it good because there are people who have to fight in the name of profit for their respective corporations.  Though Optimus Prime would like to say otherwise, this is a stalemate that cannot be broken since the corporations keep this with the intent of enforcing world peace.  However there is a new twist in development that may soon change the entire course of war as we may know it.  New pilots called Kildren, seemingly immortal children who can only be killed in battle and having much more refined piloting and combat capabilities than the average human. 
                The plot is definitely worth writing home about, though the story is more focused on the combat than it is on deepening the concept it’s built on.   Just like many other Project Aces games, you assume the name of a protagonist who never speaks and has no characterization.  Obviously this is done in order to make players feel like they are actually in the seat of the main character instead of just watching characters react to certain events.  The secondary characters do manage to satisfy your need for characterization though, their fractured relationships and pasts, twists, questions of loyalty, all add to well done characters.  All of these factors in mind, it’s possible that these concepts may make players interested in checking out the animated film that the game is based on, I know it did for me.
                Graphically, Innocent Aces manages to portray itself quite well when it comes to the in game visuals be it from the planes themselves, the landscapes, anything else that takes up screen time.  There aren’t any real frame rate issues to take note of and everything runs smoothly as you continue to shoot down enemy after enemy.  The cut scenes are also very well done, and probably taken from the actual film itself just to show how far Japanese animation has come.
                If you’re looking for good sound factor, Innocent Aces is not one to disappoint be it in terms of sound effects or the soundtrack that Project Aces fans would know was going to be great in the first place.  Be it the explosions, the engines, the guns, there are no sound issues or anything of the like.  The soundtrack for all intents and purposes simply soars in terms of how well it’s done.  When you finish playing for the day, you’ll be humming the game’s epic soundtrack in your sleep, especially BGM 10 or whatever the real title is, just another given when you’re looking at a Project Aces game.  The voice acting is there, but it doesn’t really reach the same heights as the musical score or the sound effects for that matter.  There’s nothing that will make your ears bleed, but there’s nothing there to give the voice actors A grades for.
                Finally onto how the game plays, you might be wondering if a flight simulator can actually be done successfully on the Wii, if you really need an answer Sky Crawlers is good enough to give a solid yes to anyone wondering this.  The gameplay consists of holding the Wiimote in your dominant hand and the nunchuk in the other.  The Wiimote is used as a throttle to accelerate and decelerate your plane’s speed while the nunchuk is used to control the movement of your plane and trigger with the Z button.  The setup might sound a bit awkward on paper, but in practice it actually works pretty well and you have the option of using the classic controller or the Gamecube controller if the setup doesn’t work for you.  The game also has a new element for a flight game, the maneuver bar that appears once your plane starts to chase down the enemy plane and the more it fills up, the more killer moves you will be able to pull off to get behind your enemy.  All of this is done with the simply press of the A button, and as a result it may make some players feel as though maneuvering in this game is a tad too easy.  Overall, for a game based on a film focused on flight battles and dog fights, Innocent Aces has the right stuff in mind in order to make sure that you feel that you’re living the feel of the concept behind it.
                Innocent Aces clocks in at about 9 hours or so, and once you manage to complete the game there really isn’t much reason to go back to play it again unless there are specific missions that you really enjoyed playing and want to play again.  This might not sound like such a good deal, but at the budget price of $30, this isn’t a very bad deal at all.  The factors that put this game out into existence will most likely put off a lot of potential buyers, be it the game only being available for Wii owners or the notion that it’s a movie licensed game to begin with at a $30 price tag.  If you do manage to come across this game at all though, it is worth playing at least once, and with further price drops, there’s very little reason that flight sim fans shouldn’t pass up on this gem.