Heatseeker

With the drought of summer games that plagues the industry every year, new title is worth taking a look at. To help fill the void, Codemasters delivers Heatseeker on both the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo Wii. But does this summer title warrant more than rental?

When compared to a next-generation title, Heatseeker definitely looks dated. Most of the graphical effort seems to have been placed on the clouds. They are really nice looking especially when compared to the bland buildings that appear throughout the spacious levels. The planes look fairly realistic but you are shooting down the opposition with such speed that the player really will not have time to notice them.

Gameplay revolves around a simple concept: blow up stuff. Players are given an arsenal of unlimited ammo to shoot down an endless sea of enemy planes, ships, an assortment of land vehicles and more. While shooting down enemies can get a bit tedious, Codemasters tries to mix it up by giving the players the occasional task of scanning the surroundings for "bad guys." But ultimately this leads to shooting them when you find them. You are also given the task of protecting various planes and ships by blowing up everything in sight. If the idea of blowing up appeals to you, Heatseeker will be right up your alley.

To assist you in blowing up the endless number of enemies that appear on-screen, players will eventually gain access to an assortment of planes like a F/A-18 Hornet, F-16, F-22 Raptor, F-15, and more. Every plane controls and handles differently and offers some slight variety. However, you will have to wait until later in the game to gain access to all of them. To cater to both the casual and simulation fan, there are two different control options: Arcade and Professional. When using the Arcade setting, the planes become much easier to control. However, the Professional settings will make things slightly more complex and make targeting much more difficult.

Heatseeker takes place over eighteen missions in locations. The first several missions will hold your hand as you go through learning how to play. But before you are thrown into the middle of the action, you will be given a tutorial on the mission objectives by a screaming commander. No matter if you succeed your objectives, you will still get yelled at during these mission briefings. Regardless of this, to succeed you just need to blow everything up.

Heatseeker is identical on both the PS2 and the Wii-except for the controls. However, with a $29.99 price point on the PS2 and a $49.99 price point on the Wii, the price of motion sensitive controls is sure steep. That said, Heatseeker is ultimately a title you probably won't get much enjoyment past a weekend rental. Hopefully Codemasters can revisit this series in the future--improve the graphics, voices, and some multiplayer options. Until then, this is just a forgettable summer title.