Damage Inc. Pacific Squadron WWII - Xbox 360

Also known as: Damage Inc. Pacific Squadron WWII: Collector's Edition

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Also for: PS3
Viewed: 3D Third-person, over the shoulder Genre:
Combat Game: Flying
Media: DVD Arcade origin:No
Developer: Trickstar Games Soft. Co.: Mad Catz
Publishers: Mad Catz (GB/GB)
Released: 31 Aug 2012 (GB)
Ratings: PEGI 12+
Connectivity: Live Online Enabled
Accessories: Headset

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Summary

Damage Inc. takes pilots back to the dark days of World War II to fight through some of the most dramatic air battles ever fought. The game's substantial campaign covers a good chunk of the war, following the adventures of a plucky young American pilot as he single-handedly routs Japanese forces from the Pacific.

Each chapter tends to follow a specific pattern, with a few warm up runs at each map before you’re plunged into the final battle for that location. The early missions tend to keep things light; you’ll mostly just have to recon certain areas and take out the enemy scouts. The final battle mission, on the other hand, is endurance-testingly long and busy. Although it is divided up into multiple objectives.

Adding replayability, there is also an online co-op mode that allows groups of four players to tackle each campaign level as a team,

In order to get the most out of your guns you’ll need to rely on the bullet time-esque ‘reaction mode’ which slows down time enough for you to get some shots off at an enemy. Once you've fired a few rounds, you'll notice that the damage effects on enemies works well, with jets smoking and losing pieces briefly before exploding in a fairly satisfying shower of fire and metal.

One of the game’s strongest points is the vast amount of jets you can unlock as you progress through the campaign. Success in missions earns you points which can be spent to unlock upgraded models of your jets, further increasing your collection. I couldn’t really begin to judge how accurate they are, but they definitely look convincing enough and there’s a wide range of plane designs with different stats that influence their handling and combat prowess.

Revisiting completed missions even lets you try out any Japanese fighters you’ve unlocked so far, which of course come in a wide range of models and can also be upgraded to match your home-grown planes.

The campaign is pretty sizeable and unlocking all the different planes should take some time. Even longer if you want to build up enough points to upgrade them all. That's plenty of airtime for budding fighter pilots!

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