Heroes In The Sky

    For those of you that have been playing games for as long as I have you may remember a few early games like Multi-Player BattleTech and Air Warrior that Gamestorm had in their list of games. I followed MPBT from AOL to Kesmai/Gamestorm and still today I think the game, the background and the community were each some of the best I have been a part of or have seen in any game since.

    While playing MPBT I became aware of a few of the other games at Gamestorm like AliensOnline, Starship Troopers Online and AirWarrior. Out of those games, AirWarrior hit a nice spot for me as something to play when there were no pilots online playing MPBT. WWII flight combat against other players was a lot like what you got from MPBT but with some different twists that made it different enough I could enjoy flying in it for as long as I liked.

    Once Kesmai/Gamestorm got bought out by EA and many of those games were canceled, MPBT:Solaris was dead and MPBT:3025 was trashed by EA, I was left without many games of those types to play. I played a few of the other flight combat simulators, tried a few of the spinoff works on a new version of MPBT but nothing really felt right, got completed for one reason or another or had the community I was looking for.

    I have played a lot of games developed by the Korean companies that seem to shove them out as fast as possible, attach an item mall and try and nickle and dime you to death until the game runs its course. Enjoyed a few like Shot Online and detested most of the others. The games were repetitive, full of cheaters and prices in the item mall for things you needed to compete with others or needed to simply level a character were much more than I was willing to pay for my accounts in SWG, EQII and two or three other games all at the same time.

    Enter H.I.S.

    I downloaded this game the first day it hit open beta. WWII combat game? Donwload from the same place I play Shot Online from? Why not. Free game, item mall if I desire, plenty of PvE and some PvP when I was ready to try it. I was honestly surprised by the game and how simply done it was, (no advanced graphic options, no huge system requirements, able to use keyboard, mouse or joystick) that I never really saw what I notice first as lacking in other games. 

    After my initial reaction I figured there had to be a catch. With these games it is usually in the item mall and what you need to buy there in order to do some things in the game. Here I was not surprised and a little let down as once you start down a path for the type or nation of origin for the planes you fly, you are stuck unless you delete and start over or purchase tech point reset kits from the item mall. I also discovered that you could upgrade planes and equipment but in order to go past a certain stage you had to buy things from the item mall to have any kind of real success doing it or your item or tech points and upgrade slot for your plane were destroyed. 

     This almost made me say the game was not worth it. Then I noticed something taking shape that gave me some sense of hope. A determined GM, that wanted to improve basic functions that were never touched by other people and the desire to see changes made to the pricing and content of the item mall. I took this with a grain of salt and waited. Changes incoming and more than I thought would happen in such a short period of time.

    For a game of this type, from the people who deisgned it, it has a lot more than I would have expected. To also have a GM who interacts with the community, holds as many events as possible and hands out item mall items and goes to bat to make changes to better the game is an added bonus any way you look at it.

    Are they out to make some money? Sure are but what game company is not? What is different with H.I.S. is that seem determined to make what many would call, sweeping changes to the game and their pricing structure to meet the demands and the desires of the customers and not their pockets.

    If you are looking for a WWII combat game, that is still in open beta I would suggest you stop by and give this game a try. You may be as surprised as I was and still am.

    Plenty of PvE to go through with a quest system that does start out slow in payoffs but ends up giving out some nice items that can be upgraded. PvP options galore that cover a wide range of styles such as straight free-for-all, teams, a biplane only that forces everyone to the same plane and same equipment, defend and attack and the occupational war itself that is set to take place a certain time everyday.

    The OW set up this way keeps one side from taking all points on the OW map while one side might be offline. The time chosen is 5pm PST and tends to maximize the number of players that come from North and South America, Europe, Australia and Asia. If it were not for some lag issues that are being worked on I would have to say this aspect of the game is comparable to Dark Age of Camelots realm vs. realm war aspect. Not as large or varied but better than a large portion of games that offer two opposing side, in this case Axis vs. Allies, as many games are completely unbalanced by various aspects.

    Customization of equipment that includes weapons, armor, engines, props as well as your planes do give you the ability to make your planes your own.

    There are also six distinct plane lines on each side. Three nations to choose from as well as a bomber, a gunner and a "premium" plane line where planes you can only get through lucky boxes can be selected. The last being at least for now. Each plane line has some roles better suited to it than others.

    To go with the various plane lines are also skill trees.  Each skill tree has specific abilities unique to themselves. In terms of MMORPG's think fighter, healer and support class skill trees. The "premium" planes, depending on the type of plane, can use skills from the corresponding plane tree. 

     The depth of the game, its content and the choices you have are very good for a game of this type. Some people may be driven off by the F2P and item mall model but from my own experience of other games with this model and the changes I have already seen take place the may be one of the best of those types.

Download link http://his.gamescampus.com/download/ as well as system requirements.