A retrospective review of Microsoft/Zipper’s “Combat Flight Action” title, released for Windows PCs in September 2000. Covers the history of the game, how it plays, its visuals and audio, and finally its story and setting. As an addendum, I should add that Art Director Heinz Schuller has disputed claims by 1UP and Unseen64 that a “Crimson Skies 3” was ever in development at FASA Studio, but I didn’t look too much into it so I left those in the video. I suppose if I ever do a HRTR video I can ask around. Also, I have no idea how to pronounce “Weisman” 🙂 Next video will be on Worlds of Ultima: The Savage Empire. Enjoy!
00:00 Opening
01:06 Part 1 – Introduction and Overview
08:20 Part 2 – Behind the Scenes
08:37 2.1 – From BattleTech to Board Game
18:39 2.2 – Microsoft Purchase, Development at Zipper
24:17 2.3 – Marketing and Press Coverage
30:18 2.4 – Release and Aftermath
35:19 Part 3 – Gameplay
35:39 3.1 – Gameplay Basics
50:57 3.2 – Gameplay Analysis
1:08:22 Part 4 – Art and Sound
1:08:50 4.1 – Visuals
1:18:20 4.2 – Sound Design and Music
1:25:05 4.4 – Running on Modern Systems
1:29:39 Part 5 – Story and Setting
1:30:02 5.1 – Story Overview and Background Lore
1:43:49 5.2 – Story Analysis
1:59:34 Outro and Acknowledgements
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Shame it's tough to play these days, looks to be good fun. Admittedly it's also something I'd expect to have had a Wii revival/spin off in 2009
Ah, I loved this game!
I kept forgetting there was more than one Crimson Skies game. A great video as always, can't wait for the next one!
This one always intrigued me back when it came out but being young my budget was a bit tight, and I was a 4X/Civ/Panzer General/Starcraft type of gamer, so a 3D accelerator wasn't in the budget and I never liked flight sims, so even though it's not a sim it was close enough for me to not spend the 50 bucks or so plus whatever inevitable upgrades I'd need to my rig, which was a Pentium II. Think I'll go buy it right after I watch the video since it can probably be had for a pittance from GoG (I go to Steam if I must but I like what GoG srarted).
I love the 1930's atmosphere, I wish more games took advantage of it. Anyway incredible job on the review, so much information!
Algo comment submitted. brr brr
What a blast from the past – thanks for covering this in such detail. I had no idea about the table top game despite having spent tons of hours playing this game as a kid.
A new MrEdders video? My Sunday evening is complete.
While I agree that in the PC game itself a lot of the crew doesn't get a lot of development, but after reading all the supplemental material, you realize a lot is going on in the background while you play the PC game. Like my favorite right now is Rogue Flyer, a side adventure taken by a Blake Aviation pilot and Betty Brooklyn, the "spunky" but new pilot from the Fortune Hunters.
You have become my favorite youtuber in such a small amount of time
2:05:13 as much as it sounds wierd, but closest i can think is Ace Combat. It is nowhere close in story telling style, resorting more for a high tech high power "fantasy". But as dogfighting game with daring maneuvers that exactly the game i can think which fit the description of arcadey flight action. But more of a bombastic hollywood top-gun rather than SwingJazz.
Never played the XBox sequel, but I absolutely loved the original on PC. Perfectly encapsulated the pulpy action serials from yesteryear. Always hoped the series would make a comeback at some point. Great video!
Holy shit, it's awesome to find that one of my fave YouTubers is also well versed in pre/post WWI histories. I've been an avid student this particular era myself for a couple of years now, so hearing the nuances of the Russian civil war casually referenced in my sleepytime listen is wild! You made my 3am!
I was way too young to play this while it was new (and my PC probably would not be able to run it anyway..) which is a shame, because it looks incredibly fun! Never heard about this game before.
Another great vid, brother. You truly are a master of obscure video game reviews! Cheers 😉
Jokes on you, I listen to you AND do something productive at the same time!
I only played the demo version back in 2000, but I do remember that Crimson Skies was highly praised in the Finnish Pelit magazine (95%).
I still have Crimson Skies! Whooo!
Love this analysis! The 1930s (ish) pulp genre has been the subject for a lot of my film-history research recently, so it's always great to see my favorite channels covering media in this vein too! Also, it's ALWAYS great to hear people mentioning The Rocketeer!🙌👊 Thank you for the hard work that you obviously put into this!
randomly searched crimson skies retrospective, and one came out one day ago. what are the odds.
I think is the first you have covered that I remember playing as a kid. I remember being very bad at it…
I just love those cool plane designs. Very reminiscent of Prototype aircraft.