After seeing some stellar previews, screen shots, and PSM Online's review
of CW, (and since I had $60 in Geoffrey Money lying around), I RAN to TRU
last night after work to look for CW. Judging from what I had seen and
heard, I just couldn't wait the 2-3 weeks it would take my Blockbuster to
get this game to rent it first. So far I am not disappointed! I got to
play for about 2-3 hours last night, and look forward to some serious
flight-time tonight and this weekend.

INTRO/PLOT/FMVs
I won't go into too much detail, it's been mentioned a lot. The intro/cut
scenes are your standard FMV, nothing too flashy or amazing. And the
plot, while it adds to the gameplay, is pretty much a rip off of the Star-Wars
plot. Unimaginative? Yes. Boring? No. 
Rating 7/10

GRAPHICS
HEY NOW!! Simply amazing...the best visuals since Wipeout XL. No pop-up
or seams, huge suns, galaxys, and other stuff in the backgrounds. When
flying directly towards a sun, you almost need sunglasses! And if you're chasing
an enemy towards a sun, all you can see is the shadow outline of his
ship...very realistic! Lasers and missles have great lighting and
explosion effects. Ships range from small simple fightercrafts to huge transports
and prisons. Explosions simply rock! When you destroy a fighter..not that big
of a deal, however my first time through I was not doing so well, and
some large vessels that I was supposed to be defending, well, they didn't
quite make it. WOW! I jumped out of my comfy recliner! When the large vessels
are destroyed, the entire screen will flash white, with a THUNDEROUS BOOM!
sound effect, the vessel explodes nto 5-6 smaller pieces, then these pieces
will all explode (not with the same intensy of the first) independantly
of one another. Fantastic, I was jumping or joy each time one of my
friendly's went down...just because it was so cool. The ultimate stoner game!
Rating.. a no-brainer.. 10/10

SOUND
Equally as impressive as the graphics, I just need to adjust the levels
to my liking. The background music is nice and sets a good mood, but it is
often overshadowed by engine hum and laser fire. The explosion sounds are
intense. Wingman cheers and offers praise when you take a baddy down.
Nice touch. Sound won't make or break a game, but good music and sound 
effects like these never hurt!
Rating 10/10

GAMEPLAY
Let's get down to the nitty-gritty! Eye-candy is nice, but this is where
it's at. I am using the DAP, CW offers several configurations for it.
Control is tight and responsive, but I'm still pretty low on the learning
curve, it'll take some time to get used to. Also, I find the radar
confusing and have problems locating enemies and friendly's. I am sure as
time goes on, these 'problems' will be resolved. There are 3 views to
use, in cockpit, first person, and third person just behind your ship. L1 is
reverse thrust, R1 foward thrust, L2 roll left, R2 roll right (I haven't
found any usefulness to rolling yet either... if anyone does..let me
know).
Depressing L2 & R2 will switch to a rear view. IMPORTANT TIP! I actually
read the manual, if you get a message that says INCOMING, quickly press
L2 & R2 to switch view, and then O to release a mine that will attract the
incoming missle. You will need quick reflexes to accomplish this, I was
peppered by several missles, wondering how the hell was I supposed to
shake 'em in such little time, and then I read the manual. X fires your primary
weapon (lasers), O changes it. Square fires your secondary weapon
(missles), and Triangle changes it. So far missions have been basic,
either a) destory this or b) protect that. It's early, I'm sure more involved
and varying missions await me. 

I like the concept of Anti-shield (AS) weapons and standard 'damage' (for
lack of a better word) weapons. You need to use AS lasers and missles to
remove the target's shield before your weapons will damage the craft.
Several missle types, all with different pros/cons, and efffectiveness on
different targets. Chasing targets is not easy, I am still getting the
hang of it. When you release either thrust button you will soon come to a
stand-still, in the heat of battle I sometimes stop thrusting which is
usually bad. Again, I think I just need more time. Large targets are not
sitting ducks, they fire lasers at you from all directions, so you need
to fly-by and attack and repeat. The EMF weapon will disable it's defense
systems, so it's good to use first, it makes things easier.

If your craft is destroyed, you escape via your escape pod to saftey and
continue to the next mission. Your path through the story depends on the
outcome of the missions, I managed to F-up enough times to reach a 'bad'
ending where the League loses the battle. At which point I was offered a
screen showing the branches of the story that I had come across and which
path I ended up taking. The game packaging says there are 70+ missions,
you will not complete them all in one path, however by showing the branches,
you can go back so you can complete all of them and see the different
outcomes. This adds to replayability. Saving can only be accomplished
after each 'act' consisting of 3-4 missions. You can save anytime, but you will
start back at the beginning of the act you saved on.
Rating 9/10 (a 9 only because at this early point, control is difficult
to master, and missions are somewhat repetetive)

Do yourself a favor, rent this game, even if you hate these type of
games, just to check out the great graphics. If you like Wing Commander, Ace
Combat, or similar you will probably LOVE this game. Two thumbs up to
Psygnosis!


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