Secret Weapons Over Normandy (PS2) - Mission 5: Flying Tigers [Hard]

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Louis B

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Published on April 8, 2024 11:00:18 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_u_TfKOSFI

Game:

Secret Weapons Over Normandy (2003)

Duration: 27:22

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In compacting this introduction, Secret Weapons Over Normandy is often compared to Ace Combat. Is it fair, is it unfair? Maybe.

LucasArts' World War 2 flight simulator has origins that date further back than Namco's legendary series, and by some years. You are James Chase, an American ace positioned as part of a secret crack squad of pilots and engineers – known as the “Battlehawks”. Your squad gets sent on missions across the globe, participating in battles at Stalingrad, Dover and Midway, in a sort of “highlights reel” of proceedings. You’re given a brief historical outline of events, helping piece things together more tastefully than perhaps some later World War 2 computer games.

The expansive, and sprawling, nature of missions makes Secret Weapons Over Normandy feel something of an anomaly on PlayStation 2. Levels are littered with goals to be conscious of, as well as featuring bonus objectives for those inquisitive players who dig a little deeper into the nooks and crannies of the background scenery. You are rewarded with requisition points for your troubles and can upgrade the planes you unlock throughout play including prototypes like the XP-55 Ascender and XF5U "Flying Flapjack”, both of which are playable during the singleplayer missions. Although, outside of this, cutting edge Axis planes such as the Ju 390 and Me163 Komet are similarly represented, and are presented as a genuinely real threat to the player as well.


I can respect that the villains in Secret Weapons Over Normandy, like the game's antagonist "Nemesis", are not villains by being bad people per say but by simply being formidable opponents. It goes a long way to humanise an otherwise potentially demeaning depiction of the most brutal conflict of the twentieth century. That said, there is a little silliness to some of Secret Weapons Over Normandy’s structure. It falls foul of the “RAMIREZ, DO EVERYTHING” syndrome often plagued in titles of this nature. In the canon, it is established Chase is an ace above anyone else, in gameplay you can even slowdown time to make certain your shots land successfully – a very useful ability when going up against ME262s later into the experience. However, what is expected of you gets ridiculous and it is easy to get overwhelmed by this without getting unfairly trounced as well. Mission 7: Midway, has to be the worst since you are forced to fly very awkward planes, with no option to upgrade them, against absurd odds. No amount of slowmo soothes the pain of trying to throw A6Ms off your tail, in a piddly Dauntless no less, while your AI squad mates scratch their collective bums and watch you get slaughtered, regardless of what battle commands you give them. Alas, this is a bit of an outlier since most adversity can be bested through patience and solid plane choices. To have a Mosquito help decide the outcome of D-Day for instance is undeniably satisfying to witness.

Secret Weapons Over Normandy does have some top notch presentation, the music is up there with the best in the medium with the roaring spectacle you’d come to expect from the cinematic classics that influenced it. Weapon sounds feel appropriate and authentic sounding radio chatter goes a great distance in making the experience that much more immersive in all. Visually, it does look a little basic, some UI choices are a little odd too which can make targeting enemies or landing aircraft uncomfortable, but it does run with a full frame-buffer despite a little slowdown here or there.

I like Secret Weapons Over Normandy a great deal. It is a genuine shame no one ever returned to this formula of making World War 2 flight simulators, atleast with the same kind of scale and polish. Ace Combat did disappear as well as we entered the 2010s, losing it's identity with spin-offs that didn't capture the same magic. The fate of LucasArts however is more tragic, becoming another chess piece in Disney's goal of world domination. Alas, the classics still exist and if you have the hardware to play them, there is still enjoyment to be found. Secret Weapons Over Normandy still sells for less than £5, all these years later, so there is no harm in atleast giving it a go.

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A LEGAL NOTICE:
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Any copyrighted footage I use is covered under fair use laws, or more specifically those listed under Section 30(1) of the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1989 and under section 107 of US Copyright Act 1976. This video exists purely for the purpose of research and criticism. I do not make a profit from any uploaded content, nor do I intend to. Thank you for watching.

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