Air Guard

World War II spawned many innovations in the field of technology, mostly because people were forced to improvise and think ahead in order to stay one step in front of the enemy. Hence, guns and war machines evolved at a very rapid pace over the course of the war, but it was especially visible when it came to aircraft. While planes were obviously used in the first World War as well, they truly came of age during the second one.

Air Guard is an arcade flight sim in which you get to fly some of the most iconic aircraft of the second World War, as well as fight in a variety of infamous battles from that time. Although the game does not try to be realistic at all when it comes to the flight model and the war itself, you can still have a lot of fun flying around the war zone, at least if you do not mind the repetitive environments.

To start off with, you are given the option to choose between starting a campaign, or just enjoying a quick battle with no added pressure. The campaign mode comes with a few training missions as well, so you might want to start there if you are new to the game. In essence, each scenario stands on its own and there is no real connection between them, so there’s not much of a story going on either.

Although the planes change every other mission, the environments remain more or less the same, because there is only a handful of building models. Hence, each map looks more or less the same, which makes it a bit difficult to enjoy the game over long periods of time. The gameplay is a bit too arcade and too simple to pose any real challenge, so it’s hard to see the point in playing for too long.

The controls are mostly mouse-based, given the fact that you control the plane and the weapons with it. While it is possible to include the keyboard in the equation, there’s very little reason to do so, especially since there is no major upside to it. Lastly, the graphics engine is nothing special at all, because the 3D models are too simple to attract attention, and there are virtually no special effects to talk about.

In the end, Air Guard doesn’t have too much going for it, except for its simplicity, which might attract a few curious folks. However, the lack of a proper atmosphere and a storyline makes it very difficult to stay engaged for more than a couple of minutes, which is quite the shame.