The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces

This game doesn't quite know what it wants to be. It's an exciting fighter plane game with propeller-driven airplanes, which makes you think of WWII, but it includes some more high tech gadgets. The most useful gadget is the feature that allows you to automatically manuver the plane behind the opponent's plane. That's cool, but unrealistic. And you can't move up very far unless you use this feature. It's a Japanese game with Japanese person and place names, even though the map locations are shown in Europe. There is also this lame story associated with the game. At least you can skip the story if you want.
It's essentially a good fighter-plane game designed for teens. The graphics are very good. But the story and technical gimmics are contrived. I feel it wanted to be a WWII fighter game but was afraid to be one.

I like the Ace Combat games, and after reading the reviews here on Amazon and on Gamefaqs I decided this was my next new Wii game. This game has some similarities to the Ace Combat series which I like, but also has it's own uniqueness which sets it apart from the Ace Combat series, and makes the game stand out on it's own as a must have game. I got some friends of mine to try it out and they were pleasently suprised how much they really liked it since they weren't really big on these types of games. So I would say this game is fun for any player whether they like these types of games or not. I would give the graphics a 4 1/2 out of 5 stars. I think the graphics are pretty awesome. When you're shooting down a plane it's pretty awesome to see pieces of airplane flying off. And sometimes you will see planes your shooting at go down in smoke which looks pretty awesome. But most of the planes you shoot up will explode into a million pieces which seems a little extravagant especially when you're just using your guns, but all the same it looks pretty awesome and leaves you very satisfied. The details of the planes look awesome too and add to the realism. The landscaping is where the graphics are kind of blah. The landscaping in the game doesn't look bad just could have used a little more detail, and more landscaping period. I think the sounds and music are deserving of 5 stars. The sounds aside from the character chatter are realistic which makes this game even better. The music is a little different from what I am used to but it sounds good and isn't hard on the ears and seems to fit perfectly with this game. The controls I would give 4 1/2 stars as well. I was quite suprised with the controls you use the remote and nunchuk in opposite hands which takes a little getting used too at first but is very easily learned, and is a fun unique way to play the game. To steer the plane you rotate the nunchuk left or right instead of using the stick which is new to me. The remote is used for throttling the speed up or down and changing targets and using the flaps, and for the special TMC move. The reason for the 4 1/2 stars for controls is because the nunchuk sometimes becomes unresponsive when you are trying to turn a different way. You can also use a gamecube controller for this game which I haven't tried yet but think it would probably eliminate this small control glitch. But like I said it's a small glitch when using the nunchuk, so it's not like it happens all the time or for long periods of time. Usually when it happens which is rarely it becomes unresponsive for about 2-3 seconds then you can usually steer the plane back to the way you want hopefully before crashing into a mountain or something. The replay value and fun factor of this game is where it shines most which easily makes this game a 5 star must have game. As for renting or buying this game I think you would be wasting money renting it since this really great game is only going for about $20 which in my opinion is a lot cheaper then what I think this game is worth.

As the title states, this is pretty much what you would expect from Namco's Project Aces team (the same team behind the Ace Combat series on the PS/PS2). For me personally, I would prefer the movie cut scenes excised altogether & just stick with the gameplay. This however does not deter from the enjoyment. I won't call this game a "life changing experience", but I will say that it is as high of quality as you can expect for a dogfighter on the Wii.

Amazing I really liked this game. The controls are super real, and the plot left me with Headboard to see more. I recommend it.

This is a fun game to play. It has a lot of action and challenges. It is worth the money I paid for it.