Race, fight and customize airplanes. A first in a game?

It’s been a while since there has been a good portable flight simulator - of course as of today no game has come close to offer the same type of experience that Star Fox 64 offered (one of the best games ever).



M.A.C.H is a flight simulator that takes place in the year 2049 (although the planes don’t look like they belong in that time frame.)

The story goes: In the year 2049, the governments of the world switched to unmanned aircraft for combat in an attempt to save lives. By doing so, they decommissioned thousands of jets and their fighter pilots, ironically destroying the livelihood of those they were trying to save. Years later, these planes appeared on the black market and were sold to the highest bidders. It wasn’t long before an underground emerged, featuring ex-fighter pilots, smugglers and wealthy hobbyists piloting the decommissioned aircraft.

In a competition of fight and flight, these pilots heavily modify their jet fighters to outrace and outduel the competition to win fame, glory and fortune.

This reminds me a lot of the movie 'Stealth' although when the game first starts up there’s nothing that really tells you how it all began; it just jumps straight to the menu selection screen.

The game features Arcade Mode; for when you just want to jump straight to the fighting, Career Mode for unlocking more planes or earning money for upgrades and Challenge to test your skills on all the available matches.

The game is mainly based on racing and fighting and just like any other racing game out there you can customize your vehicles. With customization you can change the style of your plane as well as changing the parts for better performance and weapons.



There are 5 different modes: Rookie, Pro, Ace, Elite and Hero. Each mode offers a different difficulty level as well as different challenges which of course all based on racing and dog fighting. Each time you win first place you win money and unlock a new ship. There are a total of 11 ships that can be unlocked and upgraded.

Racing is somewhat closely related to Mario Kart, whereby you race for 3 laps knocking down opponents on the way to reaching the #1 spot. You will win 10 points if you are first 8 points if you are second and so on.

In Dog fights you must kill as many opponents as you possibly can and whoever has the most kills within the time limit wins the game.

The only downside to both of these events is the lack of power ups. There's not enough of a variety of power ups and most of the time you will go an entire lap without collecting a single power up.

The controls do work but are a bit clunky and I wish it was a little bit more flexible. You shoot with the L and R triggers and can steer with either the D-pad or the joystick, (it's nice to have the option to choose which one you want to use unlike other games that force you to use the joystick.)

The graphics are great in this game and you will be able to see both the outside and inside upgrades you buy. You can see every detail of the plane you are using.

The sound is not that great with no voice over and lousy music however the sound effects of the planes are OK.

Multiplayer can be a fun experience with M.A.C.H. You can play using a single game disk with up to 8 of your friends who you can race or fight. The more players the better the fun factor because when you are only limited to a couple of friends it can get boring at a time.

Closing Comments:

M.A.C.H is a new entry to the series of flight simulation with racing, dogfighting and customization to enjoy and I get the feeling MACH would probably be even better as a console game with more goodies. But as it goes, it is a great game on the go.

Game Play: Fun, addictive and strange at the same time. 8/10

Controls: Abit clunky but it works. 7/10

Graphics: Some of the best I’ve seen on the PSP. 8/10

Sound: No voice over, bad music but above average sound effects. 3/10

Life Span: Customizable planes both visually and performance wise but can only offer a couple of days worth of game time. 7/10

Bonus Points: Racing airplanes is the first I’ve seen on any game 5/5

Rent or Buy: If you want to play single player and try it out Rent. If you like to play with up to 8 friends and have LAN parties with PSP’s all the time Buy.

NightHawk - Console Central Network.