|
Okay gentlemen,
it's time to face a fundamental truth. Something you learned from
the age of five, and remains just as true today as it did then; Fighter
jets are totally fucking awesome. Top Gun knew this. The Discovery
Channel knows this, which is why they show those specials on them
all the time. And the designers of this game knew this. The question
is not "will you like a game about jets," the question is
"will you like THIS game about jets?"
For all odds,
you really shouldn't. Tomcat Alley is a FMV game following almost
the exact formula as the gargantuan disaster that is Midnight Raiders. In fact, it's made by the same company. The jackoff
CIA operative from that game even makes an appearance in this one,
seemingly tying the two together. Luckily, it seems like a different
and more clever team is behind Alley, and the two games play very
uniquely, despite being essentially the same game about two similar
subjects.
Upon
loading the game, the first thing you're treated to is a grainy
introduction video of your pilot arriving at the super-secret
air base Tomcat Alley. I guess Miramar wouldn't let the crew film
there, so instead your base is a giant mesa in the middle of the
desert, complete with a styrofoam wall painted to look like rock
that grinds back to reveal a keypad and scanner that allow stealthy
entry to the base. The mesa itself holds a storage hangar full
of the game's namesake - the F-14 Tomcat, which really isn't secret
enough to require hiding it in the fucking
Batcave. Your role in the game appears to be that of a
faceless Radar Intercept Officer (RIO), or that guy who sits in
the back of the plane and does everything but fly it - from finding
targets to launching missiles to answering the radio. The video
also introduces you to your wingmen - one is a greasy mustached
man who looks better suited to a season on HBO's Oz, the other
is one of those blonde, barely attractive women for budget films
where the script calls for a knockout hottie, but Vanessa Marcil is too
expensive. It's sort of the same
case as when a bogusly attractive relative becomes a local furniture
store's "poor-man's gorgeous model" for their TV commercials,
or when Gary Busey gets a role because he's a "poor-man's
Nick Nolte." |
Hot radio-answering action!
|
The plot is only
as deep as it needs to be, which apparently isn't much. The back of
the game's case told me more about what was going on than the videos
did - a Russian general has gone rogue and is threatening the US with
an assortment of MiGs and bombers with viral payloads. Just where
you are is never explained - it seems like you're flying over the
western US, but the tone of the game is not as rushed and serious
as it should be if the Commies were flying missions over our backyard.
It doesn't really matter though, as any plot they could come up with
would just be an excuse to shoot down planes, which is what you do
like it was going out of style.
You'll spend the
grand majority of the game in the plane's cockpit, watching videos
of flying, launching missiles, or taking evasive action. The game
will switch over to a first person HUD when you're required to make
split-second decisions, like dodging missiles or answering the radio.
You'll also fire missiles from this view. Regardless of the mission
given to you in the video briefing, every engagement will break down
like this: You take off and select the first waypoint from the HUD.
Video of plane flying and detecting bogeys. Back to the HUD to pick
a target out of no less than five contacts. Video of plane flying
to meet bogey. Fight bogey. Repeat until you reach goal.
Ba-da,
ba, ba, ba ba ba ba BA, ba-da, ba, ba, ba ba ba ba BA.....baaaaaaa.....
ba-da! Take it riiiiight in tooo tha danger zoooone!
|
The game's
randomization elements kick in here. Essentially about ten scenarios
have been pre-baked before the show, and the game randomly pulls
one out of the oven. Five of these involve you coming up behind
the enemy and getting a chance to shoot first. Five of them involve
the enemy getting the drop on you and you having to take evasive
action, which simply involves selecting the countermeasure icon
and watching the plane do something neat to dodge the missile.
Every engagement WILL be somewhat unique, but they're all pulled
from the same ten edited scenarios. Yet they're general enough
that it won't be a huge distraction. One thing to note though,
and one of the only real flaws of the game, is that when you're
not shooting the enemy, you're always being fired upon, and you
always must release a countermeasure in this situation. You'll
always be saved if you do, but you only have a few of them per
mission, and when you run out, you can't do a single thing
but take a sidewinder up your ass. Where it starts to get unfair
is when luck is against you and you're fired on by the same plane
three or more times in a row. Since it's all random, you could
theoretically run right out of countermeasures before getting
the opportunity to launch a single missile. It would be nice if
the missiles could randomly miss, or your pilot could do some
of those neat tricks he's paid to do, but alas, when you're out
of countermeasures, you're done. |
Controlling the aircraft is greatly improved over Raiders. The plane
is controlled through a small HUD of icons, with an aiming cursor
moved by the D-pad. The B button selects an icon, and is how you select
waypoints, change missiles, and answer the radio. The only other time
you need the HUD is to target and destroy an enemy. This is
a challenge, and involves chasing a fast-manuvering enemy with your
comparatively sluggish crosshairs. The A button shoots, and unlike
Raiders, if you shoot early then you actually miss. Though also unlike
Raiders, if you can line up the crosshairs with the plane for even
a second, they will "stick" to the plane briefly and turn
red to indicate a lock. Release the D-pad, tap A, and watch the fireworks.
It's a harder system to get used to, and actually more difficult than
Raiders, but the locking system makes it manageable, and the challenge
of it all makes a kill much more satisfying.
|
All
that's left to talk about are the graphics, which are your typical
Sega CD quality. These are lit well, however, and its much easier
to understand what's on the screen. The cockpit shots, of which
there are many, are actually believable. It looks like the actors
are actually in a jet up in the air, instead of in a mock cockpit
in front of green screen like in Raiders. The planes are a similar
story, and look like original footage instead of expected military
stock (unless the Navy just did a better job of filming their
F-14s). Everything is also smooth when fighting planes, despite
being fast and disorienting. The planes in these sequences seem
to be hand-drawn instead of actually filmed - you rarely will
be able to tell, but it would explain why the sequences are
so visually well-controlled. The sound is dead-on, with the famous
sounds of F-14 engines flaring, radio chatter, and warning alarms
coming through with perfection.
|
mmmm..... fighter jets.....
|
Tomcat Alley is
actually enjoyable, despite tackling subjects and methods tried and
failed by other games. You are just watching splices of virtually
plotless grainy video, and you are just moving a cursor over
a green box and pressing a button, but it just doesn't seem to matter
here. Maybe it's because of the fighter jets, but whatever the reason,
if you're looking for Sega CD games, then this is one worth checking
out.
-reviewed 5/12/03 - game copyright 1994 Sega of America
Hey, it's actually
fun, despite not being much different than certain other CD games
(we don't name names here at JGR, but it starts with an "M" and ends with
a "idnight Raiders").
That little countermeasure
issue, and take this advice: answer the radio immediately or you'll
get bitched out.
MobyGames - Tomcat Alley
Tomcat Alley at the 1994 CES on YouTube
Trailer on YouTube
TV commercial on YouTube
|
