Pilotwings review by Tyson
Overall
Buy
Pilotwings is a very unique flight simulation game. I feel that it is one of those games that every SNES owner should have in their library.
Gameplay
Pilotwings is a very unique game. The game is a flight simulation game where you control a plane, fly with a rocket belt, glide using a hang glider, and skydiving. Each of these events will have some basic scenario that you must complete such as flying through some rings and then landing the plane or touching some floating markers then land on a target using your rocket belt. I found the events to be pretty fun and they do get very challenging as the game progresses.
A lot of the fun with Pilotwings is getting to experience all the different methods of flying or cruising through the air. Plus it’s also fun at times to just see what kind of crashes you can make with the plane or watching your guy blow up from a rocket belt crash. Also I do want to mention that the game has a few secret missions were you get to pilot a helicopter and I found those tons of fun.
The only real disappointment I have with Pilotwings is that the game uses a password system instead of using a battery backup. While these passwords aren’t hard to find now thanks to the internet but back in the day it was pain to keep track of them.
Control
Pilotwings seems like its going to be one of those games that’s going to have a confusing control scheme but gladly it does not. Most of the buttons you use are the A and B along with the Directional Pad. Some events like the rocket belt do use the L and R buttons for changing the camera angle. I had no difficulty with the control in this game.
Graphics
Wow this game is really a good example of the power of the SNES. There just isn’t anything that looks like this on other systems. I liked the way that each vehicle looks and the areas have a really good rotation and scaling effect to them. The only weird looking thing for me was how the game changed the detail in the water and grass as your height increased or decreased.
Sound
Pilotwings has a very soothing soundtrack. I found the sound effects to be pretty good as well. You have some nice air swooshing effects that occur as you play the game. Each vehicle also sounded pretty good as well.