Publisher: Midway Developer: Midway
*This review is based on the PS2 version of the game.
Freaky Flyers looked kind of interesting in the store, so I decided to pick it up. It's a racing game, but instead of cars, you're flying planes. This opens up another dimension of racing, and you're not glued to the track, so I was immediately interested.
Gameplay: 6
The game plays like any other racing game, except for the fact that you can go up and down in the air. This tends to make things terribly difficult, as there are many things to do at different levels of altitude. There are targets and power-ups everywhere, so knowing where to go is confusing. Besides that, there are all kinds of other planes around, so when you're firing at them they're always able to dodge easily with so many other places to go.
Freaky Flyers plays pretty straightforward, as in easy. It's a pretty repetitive game, and you're just flying to the goal every time. While completing the laps, there are a number of unknown sub goals to accomplish, although I'm not sure what good that does. Usually, if you spend too much time working on other goals, you're likely to lose the race entirely. I usually just stick to the course.
There are a variety of characters in the game, only a handful of which are unlocked to begin with. You have to complete the missions with different characters in order to unlock more. They all seemed to have different attributes, but they played very similarly.
In reality, the game is a lot of repetitive action. Fly around, shoot at some planes, wait for the gun to recharge, shoot again, crash into the wall, get going again. Same old stuff. While this is fun early on, it does get old after a few hours.
Graphics: 7.5
The graphics were pretty good looking during the cut-scenes of the game. They were cartoony looking characters, each of which as their own set of scenes while playing story mode. The in-game graphics were normal looking, but they were nothing to write home about.
Sound & Music: 6.5
The music wasn't memorable in Freaky Flyers. I know it was there, but I can't recall any of it. At least it wasn't annoying, I guess. The voice-overs were decent during the cut-scenes, but the voices seemed to be cut from a very standard stereotypical style.
Story: 8
Each character has their own storyline, and some of them intertwine with one another. They're all pretty basic stories about nothing, but I did think it was nice to include several stories.
Replay Value: 7
The game is fun to play for awhile, but I wouldn't spend all day playing it. It's got good replay value if you're trying to unlock everything, but it does get repetitive. If you don't mind that, then play away!
To buy or to rent?Well, I'd definitely rent this title first. It's a little frustrating to play at times, and that doesn't sit well with some people. If like it, then pick it up right away! It's a budget title after all!
Overall: 6.5
Overall, the game has some neat ideas, but things could have been done much better. I like the idea of adding dimensions to a racing game, but this one caused a bit of confusion. It's worth the $20 if you're interested in something that's a change of pace from the standard. I wouldn't necessarily run away from a sequel, but I would hope that they'd tweak things a bit first.
Additional Information:
Genre: Racing/Flight
Players: 1-2
Memory Required: 64K (PS2)
Rating: T (for Teen)
Extras: None
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