Developed by Zoo Games, Hyper Fighters is a rail shooter that puts players in the shoes of a jet fighter pilot who takes on a wide variety of missions to keep the skies and oceans safe. The game features a nice coop mode that allows you to team up with a buddy, but the overall quality of Hyper Fighters is below average.
Pros:
There isn’t a solid campaign story in Hyper Fighters. Rather, the game features ten separate missions which usually involve stopping a large convoy of sea and air vehicles that are up to no good. Before each mission, a briefing is displayed in text. For example, the first stage calls for you to stop “Admiral Rohan”, a deranged battleship captain intent on setting an offshore refinery on fire. Other than that, there isn’t any explanation of who Admiral Rohan is and why he wants to set an oil rig ablaze; the game automatically sends you out and the level begins. The same pattern follows for the other missions.
The Wii Hyper Fighters game lets you choose between three difficulty settings (easy, medium, and hard). The game is a rail shooter, which means that the camera automatically moves in a set direction and you can only control the jet fighter within the confines of the screen; there is no free exploration in Hyper Fighters. When the game begins, you can choose between three aircrafts: the heavy aircraft Shark which has high armor and firepower but low maneuverability, the light aircraft Wasp which has high maneuverability but low armor and firepower, and the medium aircraft Bolt which has average levels on all three categories. Although limited, the ability to select a jet fighter is a nice touch of variety.
The Hyper Fighters gameplay involves targeting other jet fighters as they come careening at you while simultaneously avoiding their return fire. For offense, you have a standard machine gun and a set of missiles. The missiles can run out and then you need to buy more, so players may want to save them for the level bosses at the end of each stage. The machine gun also cannot be overused or it overheats, and players would need to let it cool down for some time when this happens. Hyper Fighters also features real-time damage. As your aircraft gets battered, the screen shows glass breaks, and the jet fighter catches fire. It’s a good use of visuals that adds some level of excitement in Hyper Fighters.
Some extra content include a leaderboard and the ability to invert the controls like most standard flight games. The best addition to Hyper Fighters Wii game is the two-player cooperative action. The gameplay stays the same, but you can now team up with a buddy to beat the campaign. It allows for some good times as you and a friend take on the scourges of the air and sea.
Cons:
Hyper Fighters seems like a good game at first, but the flaws soon become fairly obvious. The lack of a solid background story and proper voice acting takes away a huge chunk of potential enjoyment, making the entire gaming experience feel disconnected.
As a rail shooter, Hyper Fighters is boring and repetitive. The tired formula of firing your missiles and guns, then ducking and rolling from incoming bullets is the only thing players will be doing for the entire ten levels. Being a rail shooter, the inability to control the general direction of your aircraft and explore the environment makes this flight game very inferior to other titles. Oftentimes, the camera will turn at odd angles and all you can see is the ocean water for a few seconds. This becomes apparent in boss levels where you circle around the same route over and over again.
Despite the ability to pick three aircrafts, players cannot customize or add anything new to them. The enemies are also pretty standard, and firing your guns seem to have little purpose as a fresh wave arrives.
Audio and visuals are pretty substandard. The soundtrack involves rock music and heavy guitar riffs that seem tacked on and feel incredibly uninspired. The various locales and scenery in Hyper Fighters are okay, but it’s not the best the Wii has to offer.
Finally, the game is just too hard. Enemies will simultaneously fire a volley of bullets at you, and it will take a miracle to escape unscathed, especially for beginners. The machine gun overload is also a pain as well as the limited availability of missiles and lack of other weapons.
Compounded, all these flaws make Hyper Fighters a game that fails to win over any flight fans or casual gamers at all.
Hyper Fighters is a video game for the Wii console. It doesn’t require any accessories other than the standard Wii remote or Nunchuk. Hyper Fighters features a cooperative mode for two players.
Hyper Fighters falls short of attracting a following due to its dull gameplay and uninspired action. Even the most hardcore flight simulator and aerial combat fans will have little reason to pick this one up. It might be fun to play one level or two, but definitely not ten. There are just too many other jet fighter entries out there that have more to offer to even consider Hyper Fighters.