Some time ago Codemasters released another flightsim for the PS2 called “Heroes of the Pacific”. This was worth nothing more than a bag of dog-poo. Heatseeker seams to be the opposite of that though. The game offers enough action and variety to make it rise way above its predecessor. The elements providing this action and variety are all nicely packed in the one and only game mode, the singleplayer. Here you can go through a campaign or replay all the separate missions you’ve completed. The story goes like this: “You’re a fighter-ace which is being transferred to a new base where you have to go and protect the region from an aggressive group of rebels (which posses enormous firepower: battleships, fighter planes, …)

Although the game doesn’t have a multiplayer, just like the Ace Combat games didn’t have one (at least not a decent one), it’s no real problem. The solo mode offers enough to keep you going for a rather long period of time. We can thank the replayability and the earlier mentioned variation for that.

The variety is mostly caused by a number of extra objectives you get for every difficulty level you rise. As an example, every mission has a set number of targets to complete, but on top of that you get bonus objectives (one for every difficulty level). So, when playing the easy mode you’ll get one extra target, while in medium you’ll get a second and hard will give you a third. Let’s say you start playing the game set to be easy and you complete all bonus objectives in every mission. Now you’ll want to play the game again but on medium level and, luckily, won’t have to complete the extra targets you tackled in easy all over again. On the other hand, when you start on medium, you’ll have to complete both the easy and medium bonus objectives.

Now what’s the use of these extra tasks? Well, when you complete them successfully you receive an unlock. These can be new planes or a new set of weapons to mount on one particular type of jet. The more bonus objectives you complete, the easier it’ll be for you to finish future missions because the stuff you unlock is much better than the gear you get standard. You’ll become stronger offensively, fly faster, can bear more hits and become easier to control.

Since we’re talking about controls, they’re a real beauty (I would even call them better than those in Ace Combat, but I could get kicked up my ass for that by other crewmembers). The biggest plus about them is the way you increase and decrease your throttle. Instead of using the classic R1 and L1 buttons, you use the right analogue stick. This does come at a cost though, you can no longer look around. This “flaw” does get compensated with an easy press of the triangle-button. It can make your camera follow your enemies. Another cool addition to the game is the Impact Cam! It shows you a slow-motion image of your rocket making its impact on the enemy. In some cases this can form a magnificent way to increase the feeling of power you get while playing, a great way to add a little something to the atmosphere. What you’ll find yourself into after this Impact Cam sequence is something very different. While you’re watching the fireworks, your plane keeps on flying and when you’re in bad luck, you might find yourself flashing back to the cockpit with your nose 2 inches from a mountainside. It does remain a cool idea though, that Impact Cam.

The controls and gameplay are very okay, the graphics aren’t (getting used to seeing that from Codemasters…). Square-shaped textures, great plane models though, but still… Those squares again. Too bad. The first minutes of playtime are really being spoiled by that little flaw in the graphical design. On the other hand, once you’re actually playing the game (without constantly looking for details) you won’t mind that much. Then again the sound is exactly what you may expect from Codemasters. Great sound effects!