Snoopy’s On A Mission – Success Or Failure

by Belgavion

© 2010 Gav Ross

Snoopy: Flying Ace is the spiritual successor to the 1983 Atari 2600 hit Snoopy & The Red Baron. This time, rather than sitting atop his trusty kennel and shooting down oncoming planes, Snoopy is manning the aircraft himself and putting a new spin on the term ‘dogfighting’.

The Peanuts license is something that is no stranger to video games, but it’s also something that hasn’t been exploited and done to death over the years.

Coming along for the ride with Snoopy are a heap of his Peanuts friends (including lesser-known characters such as Peppermint Patty and Rerun) and although it isn’t a game set in the Peanuts universe – which really doesn’t consist of much more than backyards and baseball fields anyway – it’s a fitting, light-hearted use of these beloved characters.

Puppy Training

The initial main menu options open up as ‘Enlist Now’ and ‘Xbox Live’. By enlisting, players are led into a single player campaign that generally acts as a tutorial for the multiplayer more than anything else.

The vague storyline sees Snoopy and company given certain character roles during the first World War, with Snoopy being of particular importance as he’s the ace pilot readying himself to take down the infamous Red Baron.

Each level lays forth a particular goal, whether it be defending against hordes of enemies or simply getting used to the controls.

With primary and secondary weapons assigned to each of the triggers, pilots are able to speed up and slow down with the A and X button as well as perform acrobatic feats such as barrel rolls and loops by simply flicking the right stick.

It really is advisable to spend an hour or so playing through the campaign to get used to the feel of the game before stepping into multiplayer matches on Live.

Why do you keep losing, Charlie Brown?

Many purchasers will no doubt jump straight into multiplayer and wonder why they’re constantly being handed the ‘Blockhead Award’ – which is accompanied by a graphic on the lower half of the screen of Charlie Brown’s bemused face.

There’s a great chance that, unless you’re naturally skilled straight off, you’ll be getting your canine behind handed to you over and over again. As is usual with new multiplayer games on Live, it didn’t take long for many disgustingly-skilled players to reach an expert level, even only a few hours after the title hit the marketplace.

The two main multiplayer modes are Dog Fight and Team Dog Fight, and they’re both equally frantic fun. Levels take place in varied locations, such as an ocean scattered with small tropical islands, or a large ice-laden cavern with several blind corners, and self-preservation is key.

If your plan is to boost right on out into the middle of the map, machine guns blazing, then it won’t be long before you’re on the bottom half of the score list.

After getting to know each map and remembering where certain power-up items pop up, it simply becomes a matter of strategically gunning down any enemies as they come near and knowing when its time to high-tail it to safer skies when shrapnel starts hitting your cockpit.

Weapons of Canine Destruction

A huge armory of various guns, mines, bombs and rockets are at the player’s disposal and can be reset each respawn. It doesn’t take long to get two types of ammo that you’re comfortable with and then it’s a matter of rising in rank.

There’s a levelling system that goes all the way to 100 and a few humorous killstreak rewards thrown in for good measure: manage to gun down 6 enemies in a row and your little yellow pal Woodchuck will perch himself on the back of your plane and take down anyone coming up on your rear with a pair of pistols, Western style; reach a killstreak of 9 and your plane suddenly transforms into Snoopy’s legendary doghouse, letting all those around you know that you’re not a pooch to be messed with.

On the surface, the game probably comes across as an arcade flying game aimed at a younger audience. However, players that delve into it will find a deeply rewarding control system that’s reminiscent of Crimson Skies on the original Xbox and unrivalled multiplayer madness that only gets better the more you play.

Snoopy: Flying Ace could easily find itself as one of the most popular multiplayer releases on Xbox Live, ever. Good grief!

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8.5/10

© 2010 Gav Ross

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Filed under: 3rd Party Games, Console gaming, New Xbox 360 Games, XBLA News-Reviews, Xbox 360, Xbox 360 Game Reviews, Xbox 360 News, Xbox 3rd party exclusives Tagged: | 1983 Atari 2600, Blockhead Award award, Crimson Skies, Peanuts, Peppermint Patty, Red Baron, Rerun, Snoopy & The Red Baron, Snoopy and The Red Baron, Snoopy Flying Ace, Snoopy Flying Ace Review, The Red Baron, Xbox 360, xbox live, Xbox Live Arcade Review