PSP Game Review: M. A. C. H.

Modified Air Combat Heroes comes to the PSP on the coattails of the successful Ace Combat X flight sim, but really shares nothing in common with the latter besides its fascination with late twentieth-century fighter jets.  Produced by Vivendi and developed by Kuju Games, M.A.C.H. has already hit the shelves in Japan and will be released in North America on February 20.  We managed to grab an import copy and put it to the test, with a little bit of Japanese language help.  Besides the menus, the bulk of the game is in English, including the voices, making it an import-friendly game if you really must, although we do not recommend it.  Continue reading to find out why we think M.A.C.H. belongs on the scrapheap, and why your air combat dollars are better spent elsewhere.

At first blush, M.A.C.H. appears to share much in common with three other successful games for the PSP: Wipeout Pure, Outrun Coast to Coast, and Ace Combat X.  Frantic racing through narrow passageways? Check.  Random pickups that give you weapons to shoot down other competitors? Check. Arcade controls and skill-testing challenges? Check.  Ridiculous futuristic premise that has you battling for honor using modifiable antique jets? Check.  However, somehow M.A.C.H. ends up being less than the sum of its parts, and fails to offer as solid an experience as the games that it shamelessly borrows its ideas from.

The premise behind the game is that in the not-so-distant future, a surplus of old airforce equipment gets dumped on the open market, and someone has the bright idea to resurrect the planes and use them in gladitorial head-to-head racing for the entertainment of rabid spectators.  Being the brave pilot of the future that you are, you get to compete in a variety of challenges, most of which have you guiding a jet around tortuously dangerous curves and canyons.  Other challenges ask you to collect coins in a set amount of time, or fight A.I. controlled enemies in a dogfight arena. Money and stars earned in these events allow you to unlock new aircraft and pay for modifications to your current one.  Every futuristic racing game needs a premise, and this one is fine as far as they go. 

 

Highway to the Danger Zone

If gamers do not demand realism in their plot lines, they certainly demand a bit of it in their controls.  M.A.C.H. is not trying to be a flight simulator, so don’t expect any trappings from games like Ace Combat that have you worrying about boring things like drag and gravity.  Jets in M.A.C.H. perform more like the floating craft from Wipeout than like real jets.  They usually maintain their upright orientation and won’t roll unless you press the circle button.  Rolls are really only used to evade enemy missiles, and the game tells you when to press the circle button by giving you a warning signal and displaying the missile on your six. While this simplistic control scheme helps the racing move along at a controllable pace, it seems ridiculous to be at the controls of one of the world’s most maneuverable jets and be unable to fully control it.  Where the controls really fall apart is when playing dogfight challenges.  Here, since the jet struggles against the player to remain upright at all times, it feels like a constant battle to get the aircraft to point in the direction you want it to, namely at the enemy.  Dogfight mode had me yearning for a second analogue stick, even though Ace Combat managed to pull off a perfect control scheme without one.

The game makes good use of the PSP wide screen, and does not bother with a cockpit of any kind.  Instead, players assume a 3rd-person view of their aircraft from behind.  Indicators for speed, rank, number of kills, and boost bar fill the four corners of the screen.  The boost bar is the most important item on the hud, because it shows you how much juice you have left to perform a barrel roll if necessary. Boost can also be used by double-tapping the X button to provide short bursts of speed.  This turbo mechanic is well implemented because it offers players the strategic choice of conserving their boost to perform evasive maneuvers.

 

 

Graphically the game holds up well overall, although there are quite a few rough spots.  Events take place on a variety of terrain types, from a frozen tundra to a tropical island.  These levels are populated with some nice touches like weather balloons and passing freighters.  However, low-resolution and muddy textures are evident in many places, particularly on terrain objects.  The aircraft themselves are modeled cleanly and plastered in colorful (or garish) skins which the player can modify to suit his or her tastes.  The framerate manages to maintain a solid 30 fps and races manage to convey a feeling of genuine speed most of the time. Overall, the package is wrapped together in a minimalist but functional menu system.  Sound effects are passable, and there are voiceovers to announce the beginning and end of races.  Music consists of inoffensive but generally uninspired techno and rock tracks. 

Besides the main circuit mode, challenge mode, and free race options, the game also offers a local ad-hoc multiplayer for up to 8 players.  We have not found anyone to test the multiplayer combat with, however we suspect that it carries over the same difficult controls and basic weapon powerups from the single player experience.

Things we liked:

• An arcade race mode which offers a unique twist on the genre
• The ability to modify our aircraft’s look and performance

Things we didn’t like:

• Sluggish and unrealistic control scheme
• Lack of graphical polish
• Lack of depth to gameplay, despite many different modes

Final Score:  6/10