Instead, Crimson Skies is more like an adventure game where the player just happens to spend a great deal of time in the cockpit of a plane. Many of the missions require vast amounts of dog fighting followed by bits where players must successfully navigate key "danger zones", such as threading the needle by flying through a tunnel in a mountain or making a pass through a movie studio sound stage. These bits can be quite analogous to those 1930's serials where the hero was a jack-of-all-trades that could pull off daring stunts in the most cinematic of ways.
Zachary and his fellow pirates, as well as his rivals, also fly planes that clearly push the limits of physics. They are a mixed bag of art deco inspired aircraft that seem straight out of the mind of Hugo Gernsback, the utopian technophile and futurist – complete with open cockpits and fantastical design configurations. Nearly all of the aircraft are propeller driven, but with a diverse selection of engine setups. Everything about them is clearly meant to be comic book-esque, and they have oversized engines and guns (one aspect that is not Gernsbackian). There are 11 flyable fantasy aircraft that help drive home the adventure theme of the game while also reinforcing that real world physics and flight dynamics are only loosely recreated.
This makes Crimson Skies quite an enjoyable game to play, especially as novice players won't feel that they are playing a dumbed down flight simulator, while more experienced sky jockeys can just sit back and appreciate the dog fighting action. The game's damage model is also quite impressive, and the designers clearly meant to make it completely over the top. Players can attempt to fly planes that are totally shot up – well beyond what a real aircraft could handle – or what most simulations would ever allow. The developers also put in an invisible safety feature that will push planes upward and away from the ground during certain aerial maneuvers. This comes in handy since much of the daredevil flying takes place very close to the ground. But don't expect this to be a totally forgiving game, impacting with other aircraft or those New York skyscrapers will still result in the most fatal of air crashes.
And because the action takes place so close to the ground, players should expect to see some truly beautiful rendered and diverse ground terrain from the Rocky Mountains to Manhattan to Hawaii. There are multiple camera views including full screen first person, cockpit view and the ever-popular third person chase view.
When taking to the sky players can expect to run into some fierce competition from enemy sky pirates and various territorial militias. But players also count on their fellow Fortune Hunters to watch their backs and serve as wingmen, but without needing to give them specific orders or worrying that they'll take too big a slice of the glory. In the single player game the wingmen serve to make Zachary look good, and they do an outstanding job of doing just that!
