Reviews

Posted by: jkdmedia

World War II hasn’t received a fair shake with presentation and quality titles the last few years. It may be a case of over-exposition or the lack of popularity that has lead to the lack of interest in WWII-themed video games. Whatever the case is, Heroes Over Europe doesn’t help in the revival of the Second World War within the video-game medium. If anything, Heroes Over Europe further stalls progress and innovation that the industry needs to bring back WWII to the forefront of gaming.  

Following 14 missions that revolve around three different pilots, Heroes Over Europe isn’t the most unique flight-combat title in recent memory. It’s rather bland in its storytelling and narrative, but then again, Transmission Games, the developer, didn’t exactly win anyone over with their story in their last flight game, Heroes of the Pacific for the original Xbox, PC and PlayStation 2. Instead of a compelling story, Heroes Over Europe offers up a typical plot that involves three pilots that hail from the United States, England, and New Zealand on their conquest to rid the world of the Nazis. The lack of a decent storyline could’ve been acceptable if the gameplay was worthy of anyone’s time; sadly, it isn’t.

There’s a system in place called the “Ace Kill” system that doesn’t feel authentic for a WWII title. The reasoning behind adding in the “Ace Kill” gameplay techniques was probably to grab the attention of the younger generation of gamers who want to blow things up as if they were recreating their favorite Michael Bay film. Allowing players to slow down time and target “weak” spots on a rival airplane, such as the fuel tank, the “Ace Kills” remove any authenticity from Heroes Over Europe when it comes to all things WWII related.

Transmission Games might as well have added flying zombies and the ability to ride the giant eagles from The Lord of the Rings if all they were concerned about was providing “Oh my gosh, did you see that?” moments for gamers. Instead of intelligent gameplay, players are treated with the ability to slow down time and shoot enemy pilots right out of their plane as if it was an everyday occurrence. Not only is the “Ace Kill” mechanics not fun, but it eliminates any sense of difficulty from the campaign. The game becomes ultra-easy with the aid of the “Ace Kill” ability and players should end up becoming bored within the first 30-minutes of gameplay.

Another downfall of Heroes Over Europe is the lack of realism with physics. Chaining kills of enemy planes is overly simple with the help of over-exaggerated controls that allow for impossible flips, spins and dodging of enemy attacks. It’s one thing to present an arcade flight-combat game, but to do so in this manner is unfortunate. Heroes Over Europe is seemingly lost in-between the arcade and simulation genre with a lack of an identity. The missions are ridiculous with their objectives, the controls are too user-friendly to the point players could close their eyes and play, and game mechanics are unsuccessfully implemented.

On top of all this, the graphics suffer a worse fate. Compared to the recently released IL-2 Sturomoviki: Birds of Prey, Heroes Over Europe is disappointingly ugly and bland. The planes aren’t a sight that is beautiful to behold, the environments aren’t exotically detailed and the graphical effects don’t have that flair to grab anyone’s attention. All in all, Heroes Over Europe is a last-generation video game pretending to be a current-gen flight-combat game.

If there’s one thing to take away from Heroes Over Europe, it would be the somewhat sensible multiplayer that should hold the attention of its audience. Online dog fights have always been a special attraction that always serves up entertaining moments and Heroes Over Europ is no different. Allowing 16 players to gun each other down with over 40 authentic planes, the game modes – such as Dogfight (free-for-all), Team Dogfight (team-deathmatch), Survivor and Team Survivor – aren’t half bad.

Gameplay: 5.0
The missions aren’t entertaining, the controls aren’t fun, and the story is not very good.

Graphics: 5.5
Heroes Over Europe won’t wow anyone with its lack of polish and detail.

Sound: 5.5
Poor voice-acting ruins any credibility the story may have had.

Difficulty: Easy

Concept: 4.5
A World War II-themed video game is nothing new in today’s society. Furthermore, the lack of any originality with how the story is presented and how the gameplay unfolds is even more uninspiring.

Multiplayer: 6.0
If there’s any reason to play Heroes Over Europe, it would be take the dog fighting to the air with your friends and family.

Overall: 5.4
Nothing more than a weekend rental, Heroes Over Europe is a disappointing title when gamers look back and take notice at how well Transmission Games handled their first flight game, Heroes of the Pacific.