I seemed to be the only person on the planet who liked 3DO's earlier attempt at vehicular combat, the much defamed WDL: Thunder Tanks. Maybe it just reminded me of Battle Zone arcade goodness, but I liked the crazy characters, each with a suitably silly background and a customized battle machine. The graphics weren't great, but the action was sincere and some good multiplayer modes rounded out the game. The PS2 version seemed to fulfill the promise of its first-gen predecessor, and had a shot at grabbing some attention (and dollars) from the Twisted Metal crowd before that franchise moved to the new platform. Better graphics and a smoother engine made for a better game, but the actual gameplay was relatively unchanged. So, all that said, it pains me to take a serious dislike to WarJetz. On just about every level, it is the drop-in replacement for Thunder Tanks, with planes instead of tanks. The graphics are not improved from WDL:TT, and nothing about the total package would indicate that much development time went into tweaking the engine to make WarJetz look better or run more smoothly. If anything, the freedom of motion here really exposes all of the weaknesses in 3DO's engine. Instead of single characters, we now have teams, and the characters are all designed well with nice voice acting and funny personas. The sound tends to be constant explosions and gunfire, but not much feedback from announcers or opponents. In the few CG cutscenes between stages, we see some funny moments with one of the old anchors from WDL:TT and a new face, usually fighting over wild predictions as to who will win or just plain bickering. Nice, but it can't save this game from itself.

Unlike the strict arena combat we saw with Thunder Tanks, the Campaign mode in WarJetz has a very different flavor, as if people wouldn't just want to fight in arenas with jets. The problem may be that flying in arenas can't convey the sense of speed we expect in a plane without building a big arena which might be confusing. So, the answer was to offer some arena combat with a mode that looks more like your typical flight combat game, a la Ace Combat. Since each gang has an area they control, you'll need to beat them on their turf to face off against them in single combat later. Also, the planes you earn are in the hands of these rival gangs, so beating them also opens up new flying machines. If you think about it, without me saying anything else, the danger here is that 3DO seems comfortable walking the line between a mission-based flying combat game and the unabashedly multiplayer frag fest that was Thunder Tanks. And, I think that while this Campaign Mode doesn't ruin WarJetz, it certainly comes close. Why do a game like this if you can't pull off the format? The transition to arenas with these planes feels like a cheapened version of Thunder Tanks, and the freedom to move in two more directions (up and down) really just means that level design had to get smarter. And it didn't. I imagined arenas with a lot of vertical space, and airborne obstacles or AI enemies, such as the bots and traps in Thunder Tanks. What we get is lots of enemies on the ground that seem to have impeccable aim and the impression that you're flying over WDL:TT's levels. And that's not good.

Campaign is interesting for a while, but not enough to keep someone who's had a taste of more serious, mission-based air combat games. Other modes, some brought over from Thunder Tanks are Ace, Airlord, Cash Frenzy, Bomb Fest and Family Ace. Ace and Family Ace both center on shooting a quota to win, but Family is simplified to make up for more inexperienced players. Bomb Fest and Cash Frenzy are also quota modes, either for racking up total points in a timed bombing run or collecting Cash that appears after you destroy objects or just floats mid-air. The Airlord Mode is classic Capture the Flag, and is even duplicated in some of the Campaign missions. Each of these makes for a good romp with a friend, against as many as 3 AI opponents, and the weapons available are fun. Missiles, bombs and an assortment of shields, powerups and guns round out the arsenal.

Unreasonable amounts of cheapness seem to creep into the Multiplayer modes when facing off against an AI opponent. Sure, I don't expect the computer to play like my friend down the street, but almost routine 1-hit kills pop up, which are hard to duplicate yourself. Special weapons can be especially devastating, but the clear differences between vehicles in Thunder Tanks didn't carry over to this chapter. The lack of easy control for throttle and even remotely 'real' plane handling doesn't help the feeling that the only reason to pick a different plane is to get different default weapons and maybe see a neat cut-scene if you win.

Driving a tank is one of those things that I find kinda cool, especially that independent tread action that lets you turn 360-degrees without any forward motion. Flying a plane is also very cool, and should be more fun than driving a tank, a car or anything else on the ground. When I think of Sky Odyssey for PS2, it shows us how flying can be enjoyable all on its own, without any combat at all. So, it's more than a little disappointing when the flying action doesn't measure up and there's no way to even select a more advanced control method, like flight-sim reversed 'push up-go down' stick over the traditional orientation. Most people would view this as a pretty basic part of a flying game, since there were flight simulators long before driving games were the rage. Unless you count Pole Position, which I don't... ;) So, these failings along with the lack of analog throttle bugs me, as does the lack of any ability to bank and accelerate into turns without turning like a car. Really, these planes feel like cars in the air, and that takes away from any shot WarJetz had a being unique and different. We've had jets in racing games, jets in combat games and jets in adventure games, but they always felt like jets. So, trying to combine all three flight game styles is just begging comparisons, and WarJetz comes up short. As with most flight games, the HUD you're offered shows current weapon choice, and also the health of an enemy next to your remaining health. If a mission is timed, you'll see a countdown, and you'll always see a radar screen showing the enemy's position. What doesn't work about the engine is the fact that it makes flying feel very flat and 'left-right, up-down.'

I like dogfighting as much as the next guy, and shooting down planes or making bombing runs is fairly simple to learn in the game's quick tutorial. Weapons, both regular and special, are mapped to the buttons along with the button to switch between normal targeting and bombing. A crosshair takes the place of radar targeting, something that would have been nice. Again, it's important to realize that nobody really took the time to make this a true flying game. The piloting aspect is about as far from what flying a plane should feel like as I've ever experienced in a videogame, and the combat aspect just can't redeem WarJetz. If you're looking for arena combat, and don't have a PS2, there are still 5-10 candidates I would recommend before WarJetz, and even in the Flight Combat category, there's a shortlist of 3-5 games that provide a much more engrossing experience for PlayStation. Take a pass on this one, either to rent or buy.