Aces of the Luftwaffe Review

Aces of the Luftwaffe puts players in the pilot seat during World War II and sends them straight into bullet-hell action. This vertical shooter offers plenty of challenge with its short, three stage campaign. Each stage features 3 missions and one boss battle, and I have to say, it's the fairly enjoyable bosses that make the game worth playing.

Challenge is what Aces of the Luftwaffe is all about. Yes, it’s possible to fly through all three stages fairly quickly, but I don’t see many people being able to accomplish that goal. Most of the missions are pretty easy, but it's the boss battles that stand out. I played the very first boss battle a few dozen times until I finally beat it; the same goes for the second and especially the final boss.

As players go through each mission, they’ll collect medals to upgrade one of their two planes. They’ll need these medals to unlock the second and final stage, as well. It's not necessary for one to make such a purchase; players only need to replay each stage a few times to unlock the next.

Replaying a shooter should be a welcomed task, especially for high score hunters. However, there is no scoring system in Aces of the Luftwaffe; players only play to beat the game. This makes replaying for medals a bit tedious even though there are achievements to try and accomplish.

I don’t mind that this shooter’s main purpose is to simply complete the game and enjoy the tough boss battles, but I would like to see more stages available at launch, especially since they are asking for money beyond an initial purchase.

The gameplay can be a lot of fun and does have a decent amount of features. There are a good number of enemies with a variety of attacks for players to dodge. Also, players will be able to shoot down enemies to collect bonus items such as repairs for their planes, wingmen to fight alongside them, and weapon upgrades to increase firepower. Additionally, players have a charge meter to fill up giving them the ability to launch a special attack.

Aces of the Luftwaffe is a game hardcore players will like strictly for its three boss battles, especially the final one. It is, however, hard to recommend this title until it receives more content, because easily flying through 9 missions to just play three difficult boss battles isn't enough. It’s not a bad purchase for $.99 cents, but don’t buy in to purchasing medals when it only takes a few replays to earn them.

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