Sammy Studios is in a bit of a pickle when it comes to Lethal Skies. You see, on one side of the spectrum you have Namco's Ace Combat series, a balls-to-the-wall arcade shooter. On the other side you have games, such as Konami's Air Force Delta that are all about making the experience of flying an aircraft as close to the real thing as possible. Lethal Skies II is sandwiched in between both types of games, borrowing aspects from each to create something that's not totally realistic, but not unrealistic. That said, it's no surprise that Sammy Studios and developer Asmik Ace have strived to utilize the best parts of both sub-genres when putting together their latest flight combat game.

As in the first game, Lethal Skies II is set in a fictional world where Earth is attempting to cope with the melting of the polar ice caps (which has resulted in the massive flooding of some cities). Players join up with Team SW, an elite squad that is called upon to defend the planet against a new enemy force. The sequel boosts the number of planes that were playable in the first Lethal Skies by seven, including some experiemental aircraft that haven't been in actual service. While many of your missions will involve some fierce dogfighting, that's not the only thing you can do in this game. In many missions you'll be forced to destroy several land-based targets as well as engage vehicles such as tanks, battleships and even mechs!

While still in development, the game is looking mighty good from our hands-on impressions. The graphics are solid, especially when it comes to the detail on the aircraft. Some of them look eerily close to their real-life counterparts. Although the landscape in many of the missions can be kind of bland, that doesn't always ruin how good the game looks. More often than not, you'll be engaging land targets from afar anyways. The special effects on missile trails and the afterburners when your jet kicks in into high gear are pretty lovely, and it's definitely the game's strong point when it comes to visuals, and the massive environments that you fly in are the other visual highlight. At the end of each mission you can also watch replays of yourself from various angles, an extra that is always appreciated in this type of game, particularly if you managed to pull off a flashy trick. The soundtrack isn't too special, but since this is a flight combat game, I suppose hard rock tunes are pretty much in order. You can’t exactly shoot down fighter jets when listening to rap, right?

As far as how the game handles, it's pretty much what you would expect from a quasi-realistic game. You won’t be able to execute 200 barrel rolls in a row without stalling your engine, but the game is far more forgiving when performing any sort of complex action when compared to realistic flight sims. Your weapon allotment also favors realism, as you won't be able to carry dozens of missiles all at once. Furthermore you'll have to watch your fuel gauge so that you don't accidently crash and burn. Basically, the game evenly divides certain aspects so that some favor arcade-style play while others opt for more realism. It's a nice mix that works very well, since you're not intended to fly perfectly each time out, yet you can't go Kamikaze on everything.

The missions have been pretty straightforward as far as flight games go. In some missions you'll be asked to escort another aircraft to a certain destination while fending off enemy craft, while others will give you a specific target to blow up. My favorite mission thus far was to fend off a squad of fighter planes and then travel back to the city that I had taken off from in order to shoot down several missiles that were headed straight for the downtown district. This ended in a climatic moment where one missile just made it past my attempts to stop it and blew up the city. Oops.

While it doesn't have the production values of Namco's flight combat games, Lethal Skies II looks to be another solid title from the creators of Guilty Gear and Seven Samurai. Among the features it will include are two-player dogfights (both split-screen and via iLink cable), the ability to play missions as enemy aircraft, and movie galleries. Look for it to hit stores in early September.

· · · Reno