Top Gun Review

Top Gun delivers some intense aerial action while it lasts, but it's a very short ride.

The 1986 film Top Gun was so instrumental in shaping how we think and feel about modern-day fighter pilots that, for those old enough to remember the film, it's hard to imagine a world in which the sight of F14s dogfighting MiGs doesn't immediately conjure up thoughts of Kenny Loggins' Danger Zone. The new PSN game based on the film uses some elements of the movie to terrific effect, while other references fall flat. But what matters most is that it delivers some terrifically exciting action that will make you feel like a real Maverick, whether you're a fan of the film or not.

Top Gun is an aerial combat game in the vein of Ace Combat and HAWX, with an emphasis on tracking your targets long enough to engage missile lock while maneuvering and deploying flares to shake off missiles that are closing in on you. The game's brief single-player campaign consists of a prologue, three missions set at the Top Gun academy, and seven combat missions in the Indian Ocean. The early missions take their time introducing you to the various situations you'll encounter, so the game doesn't hit its stride until the Indian Ocean section. And start to finish, there's only around three or four hours of content here. But when it does hit its stride, it's very exciting. Playing cat and mouse against Russian fighters in frantic battles with lots of targets in the air and missiles constantly on your six is an absolute thrill. Maneuvering your plane to track targets until the sweet tone of a missile lock is heard just feels right, and having to constantly react quickly to incoming threats ensures that you never get comfortable. You also have to get proficient with your guns, because sometimes your systems jam and you can't get a missile lock. And those later missions change up your objectives frequently. There are a wide variety of goals, such as attacking ground targets and escorting damaged plans to safety, so you're never doing the same thing for very long. The game doesn't do anything that hasn't been done before--these are air combat situations that games have been putting us in for decades--but that doesn't make them any less fun.

While the planes in Top Gun are modeled after real-life planes, they're gifted with some special technology that makes defeating the rogue Russian fleet a bit easier. For one, they have regenerating armor, which may be a bit too useful. Many battles are clustered around a relatively small area within the large environments, so when you've taken some hits, it's pretty easy to just speed away from the action for a moment, wait for your armor to return, and then zoom back into the fray. The planes also have a system called Controlled Flight Instability, which pulls the camera out from its normal position to track your current target, making scoring missile locks, and just spinning your plane around like a maniac, much easier, and lending the action a dash of cinematic flair. You can't rely on it too much, though; it lasts only a few seconds before needing a period of time to recharge. Initially you're stuck with the powerful F14, but you eventually gain access to the nimble F16 and the balanced F/A-18, though the planes don't feel all that different from each other when you're in the air. More significant is your choice of short, medium, or long-range missiles, which carry different advantages and disadvantages in maneuverability, damage, and the number you can fire at once. (Once fired, your missiles, like your armor, magically regenerate after a short period of time.)