Heatseeker

That's before you start really getting into it, though. Heatseeker, whilst undoubtedly and unashamedly a port, has just enough going for it to completely absorb you in the gameplay. It doesn't matter if a truck looks terrible if you're raining down missiles from 2000 feet above it

 

The game itself revolves round a fictional world conflict, mainly set in the Pacific. As such, the majority of the game sees you cruising over oceans and islands, allowing the developers plenty of empty space in which to throw wave upon wave of enemy fighters at you. This they do, and the dogfights, in general, are very well executed and excellent fun. There's a plethora of planes to choose from, and each one handles slightly differently and can be equipped with different weapons, including air to air missiles and ground attack weapons. All of these weapons are used at some point during most missions, and it feels incredibly involving to simultaneously have to balance weapon selection, altitude, angle of attack, and gun fire all at once. Despite the arcade nature of the game, it's bloody hard.

The control system doesn't help matters greatly. The Wii remote is used to control the attitude of the plane, with the nunchuck used to control acceleration. This works fairly well, but rather strangely the developers chose to implement an on-screen pointer as well having the Wii remote simulate a yoke

 

Another problem is the apparent lack of buttons on the Wii remote and nunchuck. Due to the complex nature of the game, many buttons are mapped twice with controls, making it very easy to accidentally reverse the viewpoint instead of send an order to your wingman. This has been a concern of mine before with Wii, and it's personified here. It takes some getting used to before you can competently fly a jet in the game, and even more before you're capable of taking on some of the harder missions.

Once you get the hang of the controls, however, it feels great. An 'impact cam' shows your best kills in slow motion as you play, and it looks and feels great to be cruising through the skies at over 800 miles per hour. The frame rate is consistent throughout, and as such it's generally a pleasure to play, unless you crash due to a control glitch. There's a variety of enemies to fight against, including submarines, tanks, jeeps, assault boats, enemy fighter jets, and more, and each one requires a slightly different strategy to take out. For such a seemingly arcade-inspired game, there's a surprising amount of depth and strategy required, even if the gameplay is repetitive.

 

The audio is of fairly decent quality, with the explosions featuring small details like breaking glass and roaring flames. It's particularly good fun to play the game with the sound ramped right up, although the terrible voice acting begins to grate against your skull after a while. Unfortunately, the developers seem to have given in to some kind of bizarre inclination to put clich