Pacific Liberation Force Demo

When it comes to warfare and battle zones, helicopters are not exactly the most common vehicles to use in missions, mainly due to the fact that they are rather difficult to pilot and it makes for very tricky engagements, especially against static ground defense. However, there are some prototypes out there that are certainly equipped to deal with almost anything, while the pilots are definitely trained to handle everything that's thrown at them.

Pacific Liberation Force is an arcade action game in which you get full control over a powerful helicopter and you must use its vast arsenal in order to accomplish a wide array of missions and scenarios, which are getting significantly more difficult as you advance further. However, more difficult does not always equal more fun, especially when the mechanics are very rushed and not at all intuitive.

To start off with, it is worth noting that, although you are technically almost always on the hunt for ground targets and vehicles, there are other aerial foes out there, all of which are constantly trying to take you down and make you fail the mission. Naturally, you can easily deal with them as well, although you do have to avoid being hit and also save up enough power to handle the actual targets as well.

While the game is indeed an arcade title and no emphasis was ever put on realism, the helicopter control is very weird and unnatural, which, coupled with the 3D graphics and the decent environments, can make it appear rather weird that the chopper does in no way react to wind, or your forced input. Everything just explodes when you shoot at it, which is yet again a bit too silly not to be irritated by it.

Lastly, the levels themselves could have used a bit more work, since they all rather look the same and they do not pose too much of a challenge either, unless you count the last few steps in the career mode. As previously mentioned, the graphics themselves are not very bad, but they are certainly lacking, considering the date of its release and the technology that was available to the developers.

In the end, Pacific Liberation Force cannot be classified as an entirely bad game, mostly because you can still have a bit of fun with it whenever there's nothing better to do. However, the dull gameplay and the lack of player involvement make the title very difficult to swallow, regardless of whether you are a fan of helicopters or not.