Secret Weapons Over Normandy

Secret Weapons Over Normandy takes WWII in a fresh new direction with riveting air combat.

With the spectacular Secret Weapons Over Normandy, the creators of the renowned X-Wing series prove that the skies of World War II can deliver gameplay as compelling as the era?s popular first-person shooters. There hasn?t been a console air-combat game this good since the days when Colony Wars ruled the genre on the PlayStation.

Battlehawks
Secret Weapons Over Normandy soars to great heights because of a powerful combo of accessible, ingenious controls and absorbing, well-varied missions. If you can manage the controls of a first-person shooter, you?ll be instantly at home in this cockpit, and several innovations neatly solve the obstacles that often limit the appeal of this genre. An L2-activated camera prevents the repetitive, spiraling pursuit of off-screen targeting cursors, while ?reflex time? lets you slow the action when it gets too furious or accelerate it when commuting across large gaps.

In each of the more than 30 missions, you?ll tackle new and engaging challenges. Playing as American pilot James Chase, you travel the globe to beat back the Axis, undertaking operations like covering escaping spies in North Africa, sinking Japanese convoys in the Pacific, or flying captured German bombers in surprise attacks on occupied France. Some are official sorties, some are optional challenges that are anything but the mini-games they sound like, offering exciting battles that fill in the story and provide useful instruction.

Flying Tigers
You?ll fly more than 20 planes ranging from the P-38 to the Me-163, sometimes even manning anti-aircraft guns from the ground or from the ball turret of a B-17. And although the screen shows only airplanes, Secret Weapons? creators did a great job of personalizing the characters and story in a meaningful way?they actually start to grow on you.

The mission structure is gripping in a way that will feel pleasantly familiar to X-Wing vets. As each operation begins, you?ll face an almost daunting array of possible targets. You?ll quickly get caught up in devising and executing the best plan of attack, ordering wingmen to handle one target while you zip off to dispose of another. Helpful radio chatter ensures you?ll never be clueless, and juggling all the priorities makes you feel like you?re part of a bigger battle and a living world.

Ace
Secret Weapons? deep multiplayer support gives this already-big game more staying power. In two-player split-screen action, you can play cooperatively or head-to-head in the challenges or in instant-action dogfights. Some might wish for online play, but regardless, Secret Weapons deserves top marks for delivering such a captivating take on a genre that had grown stale with disuse. It?s truly one of the best action games of the year.

Also on the Xbox and PC

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