Rebel Flight Review: In the Pipeline, Five for Five

Rebel Flight Review

Flying a fighter is great. They are fast and maneuverable. They can act with deadly precision. The aesthetics in the battle plan genre are even cooler. Whether you go for Top gun, Galactic Battlestaror Star Fox, you know you're in for some tension between lone wolves with silly code names. Rail fighting games used to be a great genre and Rogue Flight is here to blaze a new trail in the sky.

Need for speed

Rogue Flight evokes the on-rails shooters of yesteryear. It looks a lot like Star Fox 64, which is probably my most recurring N64 classic. Your ship flies more or less in a straight line, but you have enough room to maneuver around obstacles. You have a benchtop laser. There are also bombs you can find to replenish your finite supply. The levels are more or less the same every time you play, but mastering those similarities is often what gives you access to secret paths or power-ups.

There are some unique twists on the genre, sometimes literally. The jet streams that come from all ships are deadly; It is dangerous to fly directly behind a large ship. Fortunately, the same goes for your craft. This means your turning maneuvers (do a barrel roll!) can slice and dice, requiring some crazy high-octane flying. What rules. Nothing captures the feeling of speed better than slicing through your enemies in slow motion like you're spinning a lightsaber.

There are few things I love more than silly pilot codenames, and Rogue Flight starts you off with a pretty good one. But the word “rogue” is in the title, and it refers to more than just the legal status of your mission (although it refers to that too). There are few Roguelite mechanics in Rogue Flight, which is immediately and obviously a fantastic idea. Since the game is all about learning through repetition, unlocks keep the game fresh. Some of them, such as the aforementioned call signs, are purely cosmetic in nature. But there are also some nifty technologies to discover, things that might change your approach to levels.

Outer space battleship

Beyond returning to an old game genre, Rogue Flight also wants you to think about '90s cartoons. The style is largely anime, but that's just scratching the surface stylistically. I loved all the screen gadgets that made me feel like I was plugging the game into my old wooden analog TV. The character designs first made me think of Neon Genesis Evangelion. Also Gundam wing. But the story and characters are more like an American sci-fi dystopia. (Not that there's a shortage of them in Japanese media.)

You have to pay attention to the music in Rogue Flight, which rules. There's one instrument more than any other that evokes that kind of flight: electric guitars. And Rogue Flight has them in spades. Those animes always had rocking soundtracks. Top Gun couldn't exist without Highway to the Danger Zone. So Rogue Flight doesn't just use electric guitars: these are the medly-meedly type, with calloused, practiced fingers hammering the strings higher, way down the guitar's neck. The Gundam influence is obvious, but the music also evokes cartoons like SWAT Kats. Did I mention it rules?

elite squad

Rail Shooters aren't exactly a popular genre, which is why Rogue Flight always caught my attention. There were moments when I was left wanting more. The levels may seem sparse compared to the best of Star Fox and Rogue Squadron. I didn't spend enough time flying through trenches or shooting through steel doors to make my way through. The story, although well presented, never feels personal to anyone beyond the protagonist. That's the kind of deficiency you feel in a fundamentally successful game: you want to play more.

Every inch of Rogue Flight shines with style. A project as exciting as this is full of lovely little details. Playing Rogue Flight is a pleasure. I'm an easy target, the moment I see something with wings loaded into a tube, I'm in. And the sky is not filled with many options. Rogue Flight exceeds expectations and becomes a fun and entertaining game.