Heatseeker

The infinite weapons make Heatseeker more fun than "Ace Combat" and the 3D environment makes it less arcadey than After Burner, but it feels like Codemasters couldn't decide which way to take it, and as such Heetseeker sits uncomfortably on the fence. [Issue#153, p.74]

The product as a whole feels uneven and rather low-bugetish, but as promised it delivers aerial combat which is both exhilerating and explosive.

Heatseeker's main problem is that all this action, however it's presented, remains much the same throughout the game. The jets and locations change but the tone and intensity do not. And that makes Heatseeker a rather predictable experience. [Mar 2007, p.90]

The game’s presentation is very 5 years ago complete with cheesy CGI footage of newscasts and over acting characters that take this serious in tone style of game, to the brink of a comedy.

Heatseeker is certainly not a game for everyone, and even the flight sim enthusiast may be a little turned off by it’s over simplification of aerial combat. But, for short bouts of intense and mindless arcade action, this game definitely fits the bill. Because unrealistic as it may be, Heatseeker is not a game that tries to be.

Its problems come far more from having not much else to show once you get behind the mask, no depth to engross you or rewards to entice you than through any real technical fault with the game that's actually on display.

Maybe Heatseeker would be more fun if we weren't already so darn spoiled by the Ace Combat series. [July 2007, p.84]

Heatseeker is a decent choice for fans of aerial combat who don’t want to have to monitor 20 different gauges at once. There are plenty of fighter jets to unlock, and it’s nice that it’s accessible, but it also has its share of issues, and fails to doesn’t bring anything new to the genre.

Hits the target like a laser-guided missile...for an hour or so. Then it crashes and burns. [June 2007, p.82]

It's nowhere near sexy enough...Heetseeker just doesn't have the quality to deliver on its premise. [May 2007, p.111]

More typical of the PS2 (so knock a point off), but more suited to the Wii – if only for the short-lived novelty value – Heatseeker is definitely a game for the already initiated into the genre.

It's not a very deep game; it's kind of ugly, and the voice acting is atrocious. But Heatseeker can be fun in small doses--especially if you don't mind taking down wave after wave of enemies, level after level.

I had high hopes for some real rock em' sock em' aviation action, it never happened.

With Ace Combat already in the skies we have to wonder why would bother with this below-par in-flight entertainment.

We're left with a very empty feeling after playing Heatseeker for even a few hours. It starts off entertaining but loses all its appeal and fun factor very rapidly.

Heatseeker feels like a step back, a simpler, uglier, dumber but friendlier jetfighter that plants you firmly in the role of the one man army. To put it another way, "Ace Combat" expects you to be upset at the scripted, drawn-out death of your wingman and Heatseeker lets you fly into the ground and bounce off with a bit of damage.

It'll be happier on PSP, where competitors and attention spans are in short supply, and the more energetic interaction offered by the Wii should play to its drop-in simplicity and haphazard dogfights, but on PS2 it's too obviously anachronistic and quickly exhausted. [May 2007, p.93]

When it comes right down to it, Heatseeker just isn't a good value for the money, compared to what else is out there for the PS2.

Heatseeker isn't a horrible game, it's just very, very average, and when there are games out there that do everything this one does better, there's really little reason to check it out. If you're absolutely plane crazy it's a rental, but that's it.

With Ace Combat firmly established as the jet fighter series on the PS2, Heatseeker really needed to be something special. Sadly it isn't, and although it's fun for a little while, the target for this missile disappears from the radar long before you've reached the end, making it a game that Ace Combat could blow out of the sky with a single shot.