Whilst the game starts as an enjoyable experience some missions are pretty challenging which leads to plenty of frustrating moments. Thankfully with missions broken down into the smaller sections this means that you do not have to revisit full missions time after time due to a missed shot or error with the hit and miss controls.

 

 

With the game broken down into the aforementioned two different styles to suit all abilities it all comes down to the controls which do take some getting used to.

 

 

Most buttons and both analogue sticks are used in the game and this challenges the players co-ordination particularly working the two analogues simultaneously. The left stick is used to control the direction of the aircraft whilst the right stick is used to set speed and altitude. At first this can be very confusing although can work well once the player becomes used to it. However one can expect to make numerous mistakes even after you think you are used to how they are used.

 

I have heard from several gamers that in certain games they can suffer from motion sickness and I had never experienced this until I had played Heroes Over Europe. The controls lead at times to the aircraft moving and rolling wildly which and this sees the whole scenery and sky flipping around which at first saw me sitting back in amazement at just how much this threw me and made me feel rather uncomfortable.

 

Although the player can become accustomed to this particularly when more used to the controls it still means that I cannot play the game in long bursts. Whilst this may not affect all gamers it did just amaze me that I had had my first gaming motion sickness experience.

 

 

It would be fair to say that Heroes Over Europe is not going to win any awards for it’s graphical presentation however the aircraft and scenery are perfectly acceptable and the action moves along at a steady pace with very little glitches and there are some very satisfying explosions.

 

The aforementioned news report style cut scenes are probably where the game stands out and although many gamers tend to skip these, in this game they do add to the authentic feel and play an important part in giving the game a true World War 2 feel.

 

 

The same can be said for the sound with other pilots keeping radio contact throughout and this is done well and actually sounds like they are in true radio communication and this can give the feel of actually been sat in the cockpit. Despite this the bullet, missiles, bombs and explosions never excel with how they sound and this is a real shame and could have been done so much better.

 

 

In addition to the single player mission mode there is a very welcome online multiplayer mode which allows every man for himself dogfights to squad based affairs over any of the games locations.

 

The multiplayer can certainly be enjoyable particularly when in well populated lobbies however the major downside is that these seem hard to find. Whilst the multiplayer does have some life there often never seems to be any games available and even if you create your own game then it seems to take an age to attract any players. Admittedly this is no fault of the game however it is hard to be able to fully judge how good the multiplayer actually is without having constant games available.

 

 

"Heroes Over Europe" on the whole is a fairly enjoyable game backed by a decent story seen through the eyes of three pilots. If you can look beyond the inconsistent multiplayer and the fact that the controls take some getting used to then you may just enjoy the game despite lacking that certain something that makes the game an essential purchase.

 

 

 

 

+ Story broken up into three pilots is a neat touch
+ Bullet time effects works well
+ Cut scenes in the form of news reports adds authenticity