Review: F-24 Stealth Fighter
Score: 42
As far as I can tell, there isn't really a fighter known as the F-24, the shot on the cover of the game is from an F-22 Raptor. Not that I'm being picky or anything.... Unfortunately, the problems continue in spades throughout the rest of the game. Read on...
F-24 is a good idea of how not to do a flight sim on a handheld. This isn't a PC with mammoth screen, so why try and shoehorn the same amount of info on? The end result is text which can't easily be read and confusing icons.
The frame rate, once you're airborne, is decent enough, but there's no real sense of altitude and dog-fighting is reduced to the usual circling around until you see something to shoot at and then try and roll through 180 degrees. With the limited screen real estate I can see why altitude was taken out of the equation, but it still grates.
Mission statements are dished out at the beginning of each sortie, but you'll need to write them down on paper since you can't go back to check them once you're airborne.
After each mission there's a carrier landing to get right. Unfortunately, it's almost impossible to get this wrong, since the game takes over and auto-pilots you in the last few hundred metres. No spectacular crashes here....
The main reason for the low, low score here is that F-24 isn't actually any fun - it's more an exercise in frustration.
(What I'd like to see in a DS flight sim is a back-to-basics Cessna, with realistic flight model and a clutch of airports and islands to fly around...)