Battle Engine Aquila

As you may have noticed from the videos of the game circulating the Web, Aquila is all about action.  Long story sequences slow things down only a small amount (and can be skipped for those of you who prefer to leave movie-watching at the theater).  Most missions are short in length and have very few objectives, but there are more than 40 to conquer, with varying paths leading to each one, ensuring that you'll want to play through the game at least twice.  Some of the missions are so entertaining that you'll want to play through those additional times as well.

Aquila's moderately high replay value is caused by every gamers' favorite disease: action-itis.  Each mission suffers from it, giving gamers more than enough of a reason to play the game.  Studies show that action-itis is very contagious and should be embraced with open arms.

In this severe case, action-itis has taken the "protect your allies by shooting every enemy in sight" form.  It's a common, perhaps over-used form of the disease, but is a bit more complex in Aquila, with added depth through clever level designs.  One of the most challenging (and frustrating) takes place entirely on water, and guess what?  Your ship can't float!  It can move smoothly on the ground and swiftly in the air, but only for a limited time.  Then it must land to regenerate some energy before it can take off again.  The mission is typical: protect your allies.  But to accomplish that task, you must land frequently or risk crashing into the water.  Where do you land when there is no land?  On large pieces of debris, ally ships or, if absolutely necessary, you can always take a rest on an enemy tanker, blow it up and fly away before it sinks.  Very exciting, to say the least.

By far the coolest, most memorable aspect of the game is the ships' ability to transform on-the-fly.  As mentioned above, they can either move on the ground or in the air.  The transformation is quite cool, and the transition is very smooth.  The controls change without any annoying disruptions, and after a few minutes of play, everything becomes second nature.  This concept is not new; it has been done in anime and video games for as long as I can remember.  But anime can only be watched, and most of the games didn't feel all that interactive.  Aquila, however, is the complete opposite.

It should be noted that above all else, Aquila is a good game first.  The developers clearly concentrated on creating good gameplay while in flight, as well as while on the ground before worrying too much about how they'd be connected, or how important the two aspects would be to the final product.  Not only are they fun, but believe it or not, they're actually important to the game.  Nearly every mission in Aquila requires you to transform frequently to get from one area to another quickly; to attack enemies more efficiently; and as with the level I described before, to enter an area that was otherwise off limits.  The game forces you to land and regenerate power, so you can't just fly through the game (which would have been cool), but I did enjoy the ground combat segments a lot.

Battle Engine Aquila falls somewhere between "must-rent" and "must-buy," making it a must-play game for all fans of the action genre.  Aquila has a lot in common with the Star Wars Starfighter series, so if you like those, you're bound to enjoy this one.  It is repetitious at times, and certain aspects could have been more perfect (like the level design -- it's good, but not always balanced).  But it is still very, very entertaining.

One final note: I must compliment the developers for making it fairly easy to land the ship after taking flight.  This removed a lot of the inevitable stress that would have occurred otherwise. 

Gameplay: 7.5
Fast action, lots of enemies and the unique transforming ships make Aquila one of the season's standout games.  The missions could have used a bit more variety, but they're a blast to play, so instead of worrying about what the game doesn't have, you'll kick back and enjoy what it does have.

Graphics: 7.5 
Most PS2 games have great animation, and Battle Engine Aquila is no exception.  What Aquila doesn't have is the polished look, the gorgeous water effects and the smoother textures of the Xbox version.

Sound: 6
Laser blasts, explosions, cheesy voice-acting and average music round out Battle Engine Aquila's unimpressive sound.

Difficulty: Medium
Battle Engine Aquila will challenge you with its hordes of enemies.  In some cases, your enemies will add a time limit to the mission by invading your territory, and if you can't save the day in time, the mission will be over.  Not an extreme challenge by any means, but it's definitely a game that'll knock you down every now and then.

Concept: 8 
Vehicle transformations have never worked quite right until now.  Battle Engine Aquila demonstrates gameplay mechanics that developers have been trying to achieve for years.  Now someone finally has.

Overall: 7.5
Aquila is a must-rent action game.  It's worth the purchase price, though I'd rent it first if you're money cautious.  If not, buy it -- the gameplay is great, the graphics are pretty cool (especially on the Xbox version) and most of the missions are worth playing over and over again.