I think the real reason the audio works in this game is that everything's written and sounding like it's an radio drama or a weekly TV show of the 1950s/60s.
This game and its Xbox sequel are truly underrated gems. The Crimson Skies franchise has one of the coolest fictional settings ever created. I'm still waiting on another sequel after all these decades.
@O.G Autistler While being playable in the Xbox sequel High Road to Revenge, the rusty red-orange Fairchild F611 Brigand with black and red checkers and yellow spinner is nowhere to be seen in this PC game aside being shown in one of the pre-release screenshots as well as in the box-art.
@@deliacolquhoun2845 This game seems to have Red Skull Legion's Devastator and Brigand, more plane like Avenger, Defender, Vampire, and Raven, and missions set in a canyon when it was in alpha state in 1999 according to not only game design document but a couple of pre-release screenshots.
The market is ripe for it. There isn't really a good arcade gun dogfighter right now. Star Wars Squadrons is the closest, and it's nowhere near close enough
I remember going to a chuck E Cheeses as a kid and there was a sit down arcade machine that sat you in a MOVING BUBBLE with Mechwarrior and crimson skies. Needless to say, I dumped all my tokens in it
@@Aryanne_v2 Another game at Chuck E. Cheese was 2004 Time Crisis-like comic shooter with another action hero (Johnny Nero) and the another was Need for Speed: Underground, ported from the EA's multi-platform racing game of the same name from 2003.
In 1998, Microsoft had a server with 150 rooms for Crimson Skies, which was always full. I miss that time. The friends I made playing the game taught me how to speak English. I had more than 1k of battles registered on the combat zone website. Best online gaming experience for me.
this was my favorite game as a kid, building your own planes was so cool and i have wished for something similar ever since. the stunt missions are brutal, that is true, but they are all possible once you master the game (with or without a joystick).
@@dallesamllhals9161 The alpha build (shown in the game's official trailer included in Flight Simulator 2000 (released in October 1999) originally had more squadron skins for planes like Red Skull Legion, with cut airplanes like Sanderson FB14 Vampire and Grumman E-1C Avenger. Red Skull Legion from the first game's alpha build later appeared in the 2003 Xbox sequel High Road to Revenge.
I feel like countries and nations splitting and waging war on each other is one of the best premises you can have since you can go in wildly different places with fictional cultures often becoming caricatures of the inspirations while still keeping a more serious narrative. This wasn't the case though lol
8:22 - as I recall you don't have to do a single one of the stunts in the air race to proceed, I went nuts trying to do them with a stick, but if you literally fly around until the NPC planes do their scripted paths the mission proper begins anyway. You get some snarky commentary from the announcer though! Same with the Cabbie Autogyro chase in New York, you can just sit back in safety and it doesn't affect anything other than your ego as he insults you. There are a few tight passages you HAVE to do in other missions but none were as bad or frequent as the air race. The one absolute nightmare mission for me was the one in Cloud Haven where you're forced to use the Hoplite Autogyro. You have to scout out a few locations to find someone and I never quite worked out how scripted or randomised it was. All I knew was you got repeatedly slammed by planes that far outclassed you, the theory (I think) was you using the insane agility of the gyro to overcome your weak guns and armor, in practice I got shredded over and over again. If you fail it enough times you get the option to skip it completely. Going off very old memories of multiplayer... There were theoretically thousands of possible combinations of airframe/engine/armour/weapons, in practice the meta was the Devastator with 60 cal dum-dums, 60 points of armour all round and either flak of high explosive missiles. You would rarely see anything other than every single player in that one build. Autogyro or Balmoral were the meme options and I got a LOT of mileage out of the Kestrel even though it was considered poor. Fun fact - if you had multiple missile types equipped (eg flak and high explosive) you could switch between them faster than the refire time of each missile. You could pump out missiles faster than you were 'supposed' to, leading to much controversy online. It was either banned by community rule or looked down on if you resorted to it. I think it was called 'rippling' in the meta. The other complaint was 'poaching', where you would shadow one plane and let it do 95% of the work of taking down another, then you would fire the killing shot and get the points even though you did little of the work. It was endemic on both team matches and free-for-alls and also became a debate of cheap tactic vs legitimate strategy. If you were running a match you could ban types of ammo/missile/plane, often the smoker and flash missiles were banned. Amazing how clearly it's coming back to me after these years!
i played this game as a young boy. it was such a wonderful experience. it really got me interested in flight games and aerospace in general. im an engineer now.
Hearing a younger person's perspective on this game made me feel so old... and that thing about the Spruce Goose actually being real... I need to go take my meds now. When this came out in 2000, it felt like an absolute masterpiece. Nice balance of sim and arcade elements, great graphics, great music (but loops did get annoying), great universe, and the aircraft customization was brilliant. The joystick was indeed a necessity, but way more people had them back then, and the game was always buggy. I remember having to install a patch or two before it would run on my PC. I loved the Crimson Skies universe so much I bought the novel.
Fun fact: This game still has an active MP community. All you need is Gameranger and find some people to play with. It's great fun to just shitpost about in.
I loved to play many games as a teen, Air Power among them, which then let me also buy and play Crimson Skies. I mostly remember it fondly, but I also remember the seething frustration some missions have caused!
I remember playing the arcade version at a go kart park, and being enamored with the planes, setting and the being tossed around in the red bubble. I just rediscovered what exactly I played tonight, after watching some footage of the game and noticing some similarities. I believe this should get a remake.
That Was Great, Man! Wish I'd Seen It Three Years Ago! I Only Had The Demo But Would Love To Play That Game Again. Thank You. (Like #751 - Comment #156)
Played the boardgame (Fury's 70cal FTW) a lot and loved the demo back then. Never played the full game sadly. I wish MS would get back into it, its a fun theme/era to play in. IIRC the gun meta for the game is using Dum-dums rounds as they have the best TTK by far than any other ammo types (DDs were supposed to suck against armor and shred unarmored parts.. but the way it works it just shreds the target's internals regardless of armor). Explosive is next best. AP is the worst.
when i was a small child my mother took me to a used game store to clean my copy of LotR:two tower and she let me buy this game with my savings (i payed in pennies and nickels). i wanted to see the gameplay after all these years. this made me feel good.
I loved this game when I was in my teens. Watching this makes me want to order another flight stick, but there aren't any modern games that would scratch the itch. This was not a game to played with mouse and keyboard.
I just realized I am already subscribed to you back when I saw your Marathon spiritual successor video. This video is good too, I really enjoyed it. Would you please provide links to the patches and downloads you found?
Ah I only knew about the xbox version, it's a game I've meant to pick up because I really liked the setting of the game, like you mentioned, but I didn't know it was also on PC. Sadly sounds like a bit of pain in the butt to get working, so I might still check out the xbox version, even if its more arcadey, also I hear armored core music, I knew you were a man with good taste. Nice review man.
Yup the xbox versions was a sequel to pc versions both are great games. Crimson skies on PC is more flight simulation whereas High Road to revenge is more arcadey. One thing I liked better about the pc version is there was hidden stunts you could do. When you did them in your scrapbook at the end of the level their would be a newspaper article. Also when you pulled them of in the game your crew would comment on what you must pulled off. For example in one mission there is a zeppelin hangar on the ground if you fly in one end and out the other you will get an article about it I still have my PC copy of the game and your are correct it's a pain to try and get working.
@@thepayne7862 The original PC game had scrapped squadrons from alpha build like the Red Skull Legion and scrapped planes like the Grumman E-1C Avenger. The Xbox sequel High Road to Revenge originally had the "interactive movie" concept with linear missions and danger zones was going to return.
Much more racism today. Thats what you get when you brring primitive races to civilization, and they dont feel the belonguing.. just whine about racism.. because.. well.. they are not natives of civiliztion. But as freemens.. they can go back to the jungle.. but no.. here the white man gives money and houses fro free.. much better than pick bananas..
Your channel is very underrated I really like your content it has brought to my attention lots of Games and Movies which I did not know of I wish you can make another video like the wars of the 20th century video but on Video Games this time.
I really would like to see another video like wars of the 20th century in film video part 2 you can include a 2017 hindi movie called Paltan which depicts the 1967 India-China skirmish.
@@None-fo5hc I've established some plans for such a video covering WW2, I'd love to do a video on games covering various wars but there's unfortunately very few ones outside of WW2
@@salokin3087 There have been games on wars outside of WW2 some are even great such as those based on the Vietnam war, (Vietcong 1 and 2, Shellshock Nam 67, Conflict Vietnam, Battlefield Vietnam, Rising Storm 2 Vietnam, Far Cry 5 had a DLC called Hours of darkness, and Call of duty black ops and cold war has some sections in the Vietnam war.) WW1, (Verdun, Battlefield 1, Codename eagle, Darkest of days has some chapters are set in WW1 and Necrovision.) and the Iraq war (Conflict desert storm 1 and 2, the upcoming Six days in Fallujah, and Insurgency.
This was a great game when I played it about 10yrs ago. Really good fun if you have a good force feedback joystick (MS FF2 is the best one) & use planes with the heavier caliber guns. Only mission I could not complete on hardest setting was the very last one.
A few obscure strategy games you might want to check out are "Korea:Forgotten Conflict", "Cops 2170" and "ALFA:Anti-terror." Korea (Which I've not played) is apparently like Commandos but during the Korean War. While ALFA is about Russian Counter-terrorism and is a turn-based action title. Cops 2170 is a turn-based strategy title where you play as police in a cyberpunk dystopia. (and is apparently a prequel to another Cyberpunk turn-based game, Paradise Cracked, though Cops and ALFA are on Gamersgate while Paradise Cracked isn't on any digital storefronts, the devs did go on to make the warfare series of games (Warfare, Warfare Reloaded and Syrian Warfare but sadly I had radio silence when I tried to them about re-releasing Paradise Cracked's English version.) Weirdly enough, the devs did release updated for free modern versions of Cops 2170/Paradise Cracked, but it was a small release on the official forums and no English translation included. (Sadly unlike when 7554 was released for free where they actually made sure to keep the non-native translations.) They seem like decent enough titles but there's practically nothing about them on youtube. (And I've only played a little bit of Cops/ALFA.) This does look like something I should checkout. It seems like I think there's multiple versions of SafeDisc DRM, so some games break due to it but others are fine.
@@salokin3087 You can get it on Gamersgate. Even if you don't use the site, Gamersgate has a surprising amount of really obscure games on it. (Jusr browse the THQ Published games and there's stuff like Cold Zero.)
@@samz8691 Red Skull Legion is a pirate gang located in the Industrial States of America, headed by Johnathan Kahn. Red Skull Legion's marking is red with black checkers on cowl, yellow spinner, and white skull with crossbones symbol on wings.
@@samz8691 Fortune Hunters is a pirate gang lead by Nathan Zachary, with its initial marking being red with black/white curvy tip pattern, white spinner, and Fortune Hunters symbol on wings, but changed in 1938 to black with red/white wings, red cowl, chrome spinner, and Fortune Hunters symbol on wings.
Its a shame. All these absorbed studios Microsoft has, they still can't seem to make another Crimson Skies game. Oddly enough the new gen consoles came out, and there was nothing to put on them. And I'm not buying the whole, we don't have games because of COVID bit. There were people still going to the jobs and working on things from home. Games often get worked on years in advance and there was just nothing for them to put out. Meanwhile 3rd party publishers have things about as ready as what 3rd party companies consider ready anymore. But they're secretly holding tittles back because they don't want to release their shinny new game to a new generation of luke warm numbers because the two prime hardware options of the future are scalped and have an install base to weak to give them the major numbers they want.
Might have, but it could of been background programs running. You might notice that the frame rate, or the animation, varies fluidity throughout the video
@@salokin3087 Basically, after several normal launches, the game began to work in slow-mo. I just can't figure out, what caused it, since I didn't install any windows updates or drivers during that time. The funny thing is, that after reinstalling CS and applying fixes from pcgamingwiki anew, the game speed returned back to normal. But after a couple of weeks the slow motion issue happened again and previous manipulations with fixes have no effect this time.
@@Scorch0017 very odd, I can't really advise much besides usual trouble shooting, compatibility modes, maybe installing it on a virtual machine, Vista recommended, and see what happens. I had instances of framerate falling but slowmo? Nope, didn't happen to me
9:02 Crimson Skies is so cool to allow you to commit war crimes. And the chronology allows for the world of Crimson Skies does have the Geneva suggestion
I finally got this up and running on a Windows 7 desktop last year. It was my first playthrough since 2002 and it's still a great game. Sad that Microsoft just let this franchise die after the weak High Road to Revenge console release.
8:22 have you tried procuring yourself a controller then? You didn't specifically mention any issues in mapping controller axes, so this makes me think that it is your personal issue rather one that partains to the whole overall quality of the game. I disagree with the general statement that arcade flight Sims become automatically easier with a controller, no, even with Ace Combat 7, with a controller, you need some feeling with the controls before you fly flawlessly
@@Bennjammin Well, a +1 on the: GOG Wish/WE WANT-list could help? PS. I've got the BIG-box and the CD-ROM - both still alive. But that's 'cause i'm old enough... ^Works on 7 and 10. Win 11 = Not a fan...maybe later
@@dallesamllhals9161 Crimson Skies alpha build analysis: I've seen early Crimson Skies trailer found in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2000 (1999)'s files. The early trailer looked really different than the final build despite same plane models and maps; the player plane fires all guns (in the final build however, only one or two of the guns firing per set), more-realistic plane textures that match pre-rendered promotional 1998 CS board game plane images, Hollywood Knights' Firebrand had different colors, large Hollywood Knights symbol, and realistically yellow spinners texture, Fortune Hunters' Brigand, rather than being red with black/white curvy tip pattern, red spinner, and Fortune Hunters symbol on wings, originally being orange with black checkers on cowl, yellow spinner, and white skull with crossbones symbol on wings, Fortune Hunters' Devastator, rather than being red with black/white curvy tip pattern, white spinner, and Fortune Hunters symbol on wings, originally being red with black checkers on cowl, realistically chrome spinner texture, and white skull with crossbones symbol on wings, unused olive green/grey marking for Bloodhawk, unused grey marking for Fury, Pandora, originally named "Klondike", had white skull with crossbones symbol rather than the Fortune Hunters symbol, Promised Land was originally white with Nation of Hollywood symbol, rather than being sky blue with Blake Aviation Security symbol that seen in the final build, and placeholder dialogue. The game design document would've have more planes like Avenger, Defender, and Raven, missions set in a canyon (Arixo?), and command your wingmen.
@@Bennjammin Have you seen Crimson Skies' game document? I think the alpha build version of Fortune Hunters' Devastator was originally red with black checkers on cowl, white skull with crossbones symbol, and chrome spinner, and Hollywood Knights' Firebrand was originally had different colors, yellow spinners, and Nation of Hollywood symbol on wings being bigger, darker, and being flipped.
No joystick? Are you even allowed to review a flight sim? :D Seriously, you missed out on how the majority of this game is geared around the old radio serials of the 30's-40's. There was no swearing, there was no 'hard' violence, and even in movies a silk letdown was more common than the realistic deaths in cockpit. You can't compare this game's homage style to modern ideas that attract younger audiences. The flying is exciting and the right mix of sim-vs-arcade to make it fun. it feels like you're a skilled (but still vulnerable) hero. The option to skip the mission after four or five failed attempts was great, as it didn't allow the game to stagnate and drag you down from the story just because you couldn't get that one thing (air-race stunts), but allowed you to keep hammering away at them until you got them right if you wanted. There were also plenty of "collectable" photos that you got for various stunts, so replayability was good. I've never heard of anyone getting them all. I certainly didn't. The voice acting was perfect. All of the characters felt right and could easily be matched to the faces in the group photos based on their mannerisms. The fact that among all the pirate groups was one group that was 'gentlemanly' and considerate in their methods was a good hook and harkened back to the Erroll Flynn days of swashbuckling, again a serial trope, but was fun. Crimson Skies was a wonderful mix of the right things a game can be, and certainly has never been the norm. The Xbox version wasn't as good (They killed off Jack! ) and was limited to 3rd person view, and more arcadey. Wasn't as fun and I only bought it because I had an xbox and loved the series. The literature in the CS universe is top notch and really expands the scope of what the game started. Crimson Skies is an oddball game/sim, even among the afficionados of the time, and definitely worth the effort if you are willing to do what it takes to make it work.
@@johnodaz1273 On "The History of Crimson Skies" video, one of the alpha build screenshots shows Fairchild F611 Brigand in Red Skull Legion squadron skin, which carried over to the 2003 Xbox sequel High Road to Revenge.
It was a fun game however Microsoft's flight models are not the best. The specs they list for the various aircraft and the way they actually fly does not match per usual for a Microsoft product.
I think the real reason the audio works in this game is that everything's written and sounding like it's an radio drama or a weekly TV show of the 1950s/60s.
..or maybe just 'Cause it's nicely written banter?
@@dallesamllhals9161 Obviously, but it's also very well performed in a manner that fits the setting and theme.
This makes the whole game work, some of my favorite sound design
This game and its Xbox sequel are truly underrated gems. The Crimson Skies franchise has one of the coolest fictional settings ever created. I'm still waiting on another sequel after all these decades.
Definitely a game that needs a reboot
In this day an age? Please no… they would ruin it
@O.G Autistler While being playable in the Xbox sequel High Road to Revenge, the rusty red-orange Fairchild F611 Brigand with black and red checkers and yellow spinner is nowhere to be seen in this PC game aside being shown in one of the pre-release screenshots as well as in the box-art.
This is why I was so good at battlefield flying because of this game.
@@deliacolquhoun2845 This game seems to have Red Skull Legion's Devastator and Brigand, more plane like Avenger, Defender, Vampire, and Raven, and missions set in a canyon when it was in alpha state in 1999 according to not only game design document but a couple of pre-release screenshots.
The market is ripe for it. There isn't really a good arcade gun dogfighter right now. Star Wars Squadrons is the closest, and it's nowhere near close enough
I remember going to a chuck E Cheeses as a kid and there was a sit down arcade machine that sat you in a MOVING BUBBLE with Mechwarrior and crimson skies. Needless to say, I dumped all my tokens in it
duuude those were the best especially for those of us who didnt have consoles at home. lol video games were almost magical back then
An arcade not too far from me has one
Mine had the same machine
@@Aryanne_v2 Another game at Chuck E. Cheese was 2004 Time Crisis-like comic shooter with another action hero (Johnny Nero) and the another was Need for Speed: Underground, ported from the EA's multi-platform racing game of the same name from 2003.
Crimson Skies on PC was fun as hell. I wish to God they’d bring it back.
The world and its pirate premise is so much more interesting to me than the military and war themes of so many other dogfight games
In 1998, Microsoft had a server with 150 rooms for Crimson Skies, which was always full. I miss that time.
The friends I made playing the game taught me how to speak English. I had more than 1k of battles registered on the combat zone website.
Best online gaming experience for me.
this was my favorite game as a kid, building your own planes was so cool and i have wished for something similar ever since.
the stunt missions are brutal, that is true, but they are all possible once you master the game (with or without a joystick).
WITH a joystick!
@@dallesamllhals9161 The alpha build (shown in the game's official trailer included in Flight Simulator 2000 (released in October 1999) originally had more squadron skins for planes like Red Skull Legion, with cut airplanes like Sanderson FB14 Vampire and Grumman E-1C Avenger. Red Skull Legion from the first game's alpha build later appeared in the 2003 Xbox sequel High Road to Revenge.
@@RGBtheRhinoOverwatcher Okay? Don't know/do consoles. Sry' ;-)
@@dallesamllhals9161 Flight Simulator 2000 for Microsoft Windows PCs.
@@RGBtheRhinoOverwatcher i would love it if some people got together and made another game
I feel like countries and nations splitting and waging war on each other is one of the best premises you can have since you can go in wildly different places with fictional cultures often becoming caricatures of the inspirations while still keeping a more serious narrative. This wasn't the case though lol
Tru! Would love more Triple-A efforts on this
Can't get much wilder that the Confederacy making a comeback and the Navajo getting their own country and air force.
8:22 - as I recall you don't have to do a single one of the stunts in the air race to proceed, I went nuts trying to do them with a stick, but if you literally fly around until the NPC planes do their scripted paths the mission proper begins anyway. You get some snarky commentary from the announcer though!
Same with the Cabbie Autogyro chase in New York, you can just sit back in safety and it doesn't affect anything other than your ego as he insults you.
There are a few tight passages you HAVE to do in other missions but none were as bad or frequent as the air race.
The one absolute nightmare mission for me was the one in Cloud Haven where you're forced to use the Hoplite Autogyro. You have to scout out a few locations to find someone and I never quite worked out how scripted or randomised it was. All I knew was you got repeatedly slammed by planes that far outclassed you, the theory (I think) was you using the insane agility of the gyro to overcome your weak guns and armor, in practice I got shredded over and over again. If you fail it enough times you get the option to skip it completely.
Going off very old memories of multiplayer...
There were theoretically thousands of possible combinations of airframe/engine/armour/weapons, in practice the meta was the Devastator with 60 cal dum-dums, 60 points of armour all round and either flak of high explosive missiles. You would rarely see anything other than every single player in that one build. Autogyro or Balmoral were the meme options and I got a LOT of mileage out of the Kestrel even though it was considered poor.
Fun fact - if you had multiple missile types equipped (eg flak and high explosive) you could switch between them faster than the refire time of each missile. You could pump out missiles faster than you were 'supposed' to, leading to much controversy online. It was either banned by community rule or looked down on if you resorted to it. I think it was called 'rippling' in the meta.
The other complaint was 'poaching', where you would shadow one plane and let it do 95% of the work of taking down another, then you would fire the killing shot and get the points even though you did little of the work. It was endemic on both team matches and free-for-alls and also became a debate of cheap tactic vs legitimate strategy.
If you were running a match you could ban types of ammo/missile/plane, often the smoker and flash missiles were banned.
Amazing how clearly it's coming back to me after these years!
Yeah that cloud heaven mission is fucked but thanks for the fun multiplayer lore!
I think I've found a good reason to dig out my old fighter joystick...
Pog
i played this game as a young boy. it was such a wonderful experience. it really got me interested in flight games and aerospace in general. im an engineer now.
I really wish they would remake this game.
Hearing a younger person's perspective on this game made me feel so old... and that thing about the Spruce Goose actually being real... I need to go take my meds now. When this came out in 2000, it felt like an absolute masterpiece. Nice balance of sim and arcade elements, great graphics, great music (but loops did get annoying), great universe, and the aircraft customization was brilliant. The joystick was indeed a necessity, but way more people had them back then, and the game was always buggy. I remember having to install a patch or two before it would run on my PC. I loved the Crimson Skies universe so much I bought the novel.
Sorry for taking so long to respond but I appreciate the write up, didn't k ow there was a novel!
Long time watcher of your videos, love the review and the historical context you added.
Sorry for the late response, but thanks, i really appreciate the feedback
Probz the best review I've seen of Crimson Skies. Keep it up bro!
Nice to hear, glad ya enjoyed it!
I remember hearing about this game in Computer Gaming World magazine.
I had so much fun as a kid playing Crimson Skies on my dads computer. This needs a VR remaster.
Fun fact: This game still has an active MP community. All you need is Gameranger and find some people to play with. It's great fun to just shitpost about in.
where can i play this?
I loved to play many games as a teen, Air Power among them, which then let me also buy and play Crimson Skies. I mostly remember it fondly, but I also remember the seething frustration some missions have caused!
I love crimson skies.
I remember playing the arcade version at a go kart park, and being enamored with the planes, setting and the being tossed around in the red bubble. I just rediscovered what exactly I played tonight, after watching some footage of the game and noticing some similarities. I believe this should get a remake.
That Was Great, Man! Wish I'd Seen It Three Years Ago! I Only Had The Demo But Would Love To Play That Game Again. Thank You. (Like #751 - Comment #156)
I just rebooted this on Win10 and connected a joystick. So much fun for an old gamer like me. I bought this from the PX in 2001.
Frustratingly good.
The gyro copter mission hunting down ulysses Boothe was a crule torture to beat
Actually loved this game on PC back then!!
Why is the universe of this game so appealing to me?
Played the boardgame (Fury's 70cal FTW) a lot and loved the demo back then. Never played the full game sadly. I wish MS would get back into it, its a fun theme/era to play in.
IIRC the gun meta for the game is using Dum-dums rounds as they have the best TTK by far than any other ammo types (DDs were supposed to suck against armor and shred unarmored parts.. but the way it works it just shreds the target's internals regardless of armor). Explosive is next best. AP is the worst.
when i was a small child my mother took me to a used game store to clean my copy of LotR:two tower and she let me buy this game with my savings (i payed in pennies and nickels). i wanted to see the gameplay after all these years. this made me feel good.
Played the demo until the cows came home at my friends house. When i got a pc i grabbed it for 15 bucks and loved it. good times
I loved this game when I was in my teens. Watching this makes me want to order another flight stick, but there aren't any modern games that would scratch the itch. This was not a game to played with mouse and keyboard.
I just realized I am already subscribed to you back when I saw your Marathon spiritual successor video.
This video is good too, I really enjoyed it. Would you please provide links to the patches and downloads you found?
Sure!
What's the best way to play in 2024?
Ah I only knew about the xbox version, it's a game I've meant to pick up because I really liked the setting of the game, like you mentioned, but I didn't know it was also on PC. Sadly sounds like a bit of pain in the butt to get working, so I might still check out the xbox version, even if its more arcadey, also I hear armored core music, I knew you were a man with good taste. Nice review man.
Appreciate it! Thanks!
Yup the xbox versions was a sequel to pc versions both are great games. Crimson skies on PC is more flight simulation whereas High Road to revenge is more arcadey.
One thing I liked better about the pc version is there was hidden stunts you could do. When you did them in your scrapbook at the end of the level their would be a newspaper article. Also when you pulled them of in the game your crew would comment on what you must pulled off.
For example in one mission there is a zeppelin hangar on the ground if you fly in one end and out the other you will get an article about it
I still have my PC copy of the game and your are correct it's a pain to try and get working.
@@thepayne7862 The original PC game had scrapped squadrons from alpha build like the Red Skull Legion and scrapped planes like the Grumman E-1C Avenger. The Xbox sequel High Road to Revenge originally had the "interactive movie" concept with linear missions and danger zones was going to return.
2:24 "No swearing, racism and bigotry that was so habitual for the era" literally unplayable
Much more racism today. Thats what you get when you brring primitive races to civilization, and they dont feel the belonguing.. just whine about racism.. because.. well.. they are not natives of civiliztion. But as freemens.. they can go back to the jungle.. but no.. here the white man gives money and houses fro free.. much better than pick bananas..
@@wildchild1823 meds now
@@TheAmbasador99 Dont get that envy anger you, xeno.
@@wildchild1823 where are your parents lmao
Anyone know how to fix framrate issues on this great game?
I think its something to do with DgVoodoo, but you're better off asking someone who's played it more recently.
Your channel is very underrated I really like your content it has brought to my attention lots of Games and Movies which I did not know of I wish you can make another video like the wars of the 20th century video but on Video Games this time.
I really would like to see another video like wars of the 20th century in film video part 2 you can include a 2017 hindi movie called Paltan which depicts the 1967 India-China skirmish.
@@None-fo5hc I've established some plans for such a video covering WW2, I'd love to do a video on games covering various wars but there's unfortunately very few ones outside of WW2
@@salokin3087 There have been games on wars outside of WW2 some are even great such as those based on the Vietnam war, (Vietcong 1 and 2, Shellshock Nam 67, Conflict Vietnam, Battlefield Vietnam, Rising Storm 2 Vietnam, Far Cry 5 had a DLC called Hours of darkness, and Call of duty black ops and cold war has some sections in the Vietnam war.) WW1, (Verdun, Battlefield 1, Codename eagle, Darkest of days has some chapters are set in WW1 and Necrovision.) and the Iraq war (Conflict desert storm 1 and 2, the upcoming Six days in Fallujah, and Insurgency.
@@None-fo5hc The PC game's alpha build was originally have Nathan as a member of the Red Skull Legion instead of leader of the Fortune Hunters.
I somehow love these graphics than today.... And I play DCS world 😆
Thanks for reminding me of his game... brought back some sweet childhood memories
Pleasure!
This was a great game when I played it about 10yrs ago. Really good fun if you have a good force feedback joystick (MS FF2 is the best one) & use planes with the heavier caliber guns. Only mission I could not complete on hardest setting was the very last one.
A few obscure strategy games you might want to check out are "Korea:Forgotten Conflict", "Cops 2170" and "ALFA:Anti-terror."
Korea (Which I've not played) is apparently like Commandos but during the Korean War.
While ALFA is about Russian Counter-terrorism and is a turn-based action title.
Cops 2170 is a turn-based strategy title where you play as police in a cyberpunk dystopia. (and is apparently a prequel to another Cyberpunk turn-based game, Paradise Cracked, though Cops and ALFA are on Gamersgate while Paradise Cracked isn't on any digital storefronts, the devs did go on to make the warfare series of games (Warfare, Warfare Reloaded and Syrian Warfare but sadly I had radio silence when I tried to them about re-releasing Paradise Cracked's English version.)
Weirdly enough, the devs did release updated for free modern versions of Cops 2170/Paradise Cracked, but it was a small release on the official forums and no English translation included. (Sadly unlike when 7554 was released for free where they actually made sure to keep the non-native translations.)
They seem like decent enough titles but there's practically nothing about them on youtube. (And I've only played a little bit of Cops/ALFA.)
This does look like something I should checkout.
It seems like I think there's multiple versions of SafeDisc DRM, so some games break due to it but others are fine.
Thanks for the suggestions! I may try ALFA, just got to find a copy
@@salokin3087 You can get it on Gamersgate.
Even if you don't use the site, Gamersgate has a surprising amount of really obscure games on it. (Jusr browse the THQ Published games and there's stuff like Cold Zero.)
@@samz8691 Red Skull Legion is a pirate gang located in the Industrial States of America, headed by Johnathan Kahn. Red Skull Legion's marking is red with black checkers on cowl, yellow spinner, and white skull with crossbones symbol on wings.
@@samz8691 Fortune Hunters is a pirate gang lead by Nathan Zachary, with its initial marking being red with black/white curvy tip pattern, white spinner, and Fortune Hunters symbol on wings, but changed in 1938 to black with red/white wings, red cowl, chrome spinner, and Fortune Hunters symbol on wings.
@@samz8691 Black Swans is a pirate gang, with its marking being black with white lines on wings, white spinner, and Black Swan symbol on nose.
Yooo !!! My childhood it’s here hahah can u PLS upload the game with the graphics fixed? Or like a video explaining how fix the game ?
You can play it on xbox one
Steam Unlocked has the pre patched version of the game to work on Windows 7-10
What you mean with the original version will delete your save files?
Oh man. I loved this game back in the day.
Its a shame. All these absorbed studios Microsoft has, they still can't seem to make another Crimson Skies game. Oddly enough the new gen consoles came out, and there was nothing to put on them. And I'm not buying the whole, we don't have games because of COVID bit. There were people still going to the jobs and working on things from home. Games often get worked on years in advance and there was just nothing for them to put out.
Meanwhile 3rd party publishers have things about as ready as what 3rd party companies consider ready anymore. But they're secretly holding tittles back because they don't want to release their shinny new game to a new generation of luke warm numbers because the two prime hardware options of the future are scalped and have an install base to weak to give them the major numbers they want.
Metal Gear Solid (the first one, originally on PS1) PC has also been published by Microsoft. So MGS is a Microsoft's game now, right?
Did you had the issue, when the game starts to run at reduced speed, like half from normal, but without actual drops in FPS?
Might have, but it could of been background programs running. You might notice that the frame rate, or the animation, varies fluidity throughout the video
@@salokin3087 I meant, that I have this problem and I'm asking you, if you ever encountered it.
@@Scorch0017 you could try uploading a bit of footage, otherwise I can say for certain, sorry.
@@salokin3087 Basically, after several normal launches, the game began to work in slow-mo. I just can't figure out, what caused it, since I didn't install any windows updates or drivers during that time. The funny thing is, that after reinstalling CS and applying fixes from pcgamingwiki anew, the game speed returned back to normal. But after a couple of weeks the slow motion issue happened again and previous manipulations with fixes have no effect this time.
@@Scorch0017 very odd, I can't really advise much besides usual trouble shooting, compatibility modes, maybe installing it on a virtual machine, Vista recommended, and see what happens. I had instances of framerate falling but slowmo? Nope, didn't happen to me
9:02 Crimson Skies is so cool to allow you to commit war crimes. And the chronology allows for the world of Crimson Skies does have the Geneva suggestion
I finally got this up and running on a Windows 7 desktop last year. It was my first playthrough since 2002 and it's still a great game. Sad that Microsoft just let this franchise die after the weak High Road to Revenge console release.
..lost me at: Console...!
When a game does not allow you to remap controls, use AutoHotKey - this tool allows you to remap keys very easily.
can you review mighty goose
8:22 have you tried procuring yourself a controller then? You didn't specifically mention any issues in mapping controller axes, so this makes me think that it is your personal issue rather one that partains to the whole overall quality of the game.
I disagree with the general statement that arcade flight Sims become automatically easier with a controller, no, even with Ace Combat 7, with a controller, you need some feeling with the controls before you fly flawlessly
7:21 some of these aircrafts look uh... A little bit shafty.
I remember this when I was a kid.
I liked to play this game.
You shot down the Seaduck at 0:35...
Played this in high school, looking to set it up again on a retro pc
Why not on your current pc?
@@dallesamllhals9161 I don't have the CD anymore to see if it would run in Windows 10. Maybe it will be available on GOG eventually.
@@Bennjammin Well, a +1 on the: GOG Wish/WE WANT-list could help?
PS. I've got the BIG-box and the CD-ROM - both still alive. But that's 'cause i'm old enough...
^Works on 7 and 10.
Win 11 = Not a fan...maybe later
@@dallesamllhals9161 Crimson Skies alpha build analysis: I've seen early Crimson Skies trailer found in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2000 (1999)'s files. The early trailer looked really different than the final build despite same plane models and maps; the player plane fires all guns (in the final build however, only one or two of the guns firing per set), more-realistic plane textures that match pre-rendered promotional 1998 CS board game plane images, Hollywood Knights' Firebrand had different colors, large Hollywood Knights symbol, and realistically yellow spinners texture, Fortune Hunters' Brigand, rather than being red with black/white curvy tip pattern, red spinner, and Fortune Hunters symbol on wings, originally being orange with black checkers on cowl, yellow spinner, and white skull with crossbones symbol on wings, Fortune Hunters' Devastator, rather than being red with black/white curvy tip pattern, white spinner, and Fortune Hunters symbol on wings, originally being red with black checkers on cowl, realistically chrome spinner texture, and white skull with crossbones symbol on wings, unused olive green/grey marking for Bloodhawk, unused grey marking for Fury, Pandora, originally named "Klondike", had white skull with crossbones symbol rather than the Fortune Hunters symbol, Promised Land was originally white with Nation of Hollywood symbol, rather than being sky blue with Blake Aviation Security symbol that seen in the final build, and placeholder dialogue. The game design document would've have more planes like Avenger, Defender, and Raven, missions set in a canyon (Arixo?), and command your wingmen.
@@Bennjammin Have you seen Crimson Skies' game document? I think the alpha build version of Fortune Hunters' Devastator was originally red with black checkers on cowl, white skull with crossbones symbol, and chrome spinner, and Hollywood Knights' Firebrand was originally had different colors, yellow spinners, and Nation of Hollywood symbol on wings being bigger, darker, and being flipped.
Without this game, Roblox Zeppelin wars would not appear on the platform.
Small domino - big domino
Remember abandon it because a bug that erased your save file...
Loved this game! Was challenging but fun.
zeppelin wars but with extra steps basically
This was the orignal warthunder
No joystick? Are you even allowed to review a flight sim? :D
Seriously, you missed out on how the majority of this game is geared around the old radio serials of the 30's-40's. There was no swearing, there was no 'hard' violence, and even in movies a silk letdown was more common than the realistic deaths in cockpit. You can't compare this game's homage style to modern ideas that attract younger audiences.
The flying is exciting and the right mix of sim-vs-arcade to make it fun. it feels like you're a skilled (but still vulnerable) hero. The option to skip the mission after four or five failed attempts was great, as it didn't allow the game to stagnate and drag you down from the story just because you couldn't get that one thing (air-race stunts), but allowed you to keep hammering away at them until you got them right if you wanted. There were also plenty of "collectable" photos that you got for various stunts, so replayability was good. I've never heard of anyone getting them all. I certainly didn't.
The voice acting was perfect. All of the characters felt right and could easily be matched to the faces in the group photos based on their mannerisms. The fact that among all the pirate groups was one group that was 'gentlemanly' and considerate in their methods was a good hook and harkened back to the Erroll Flynn days of swashbuckling, again a serial trope, but was fun.
Crimson Skies was a wonderful mix of the right things a game can be, and certainly has never been the norm. The Xbox version wasn't as good (They killed off Jack! ) and was limited to 3rd person view, and more arcadey. Wasn't as fun and I only bought it because I had an xbox and loved the series.
The literature in the CS universe is top notch and really expands the scope of what the game started.
Crimson Skies is an oddball game/sim, even among the afficionados of the time, and definitely worth the effort if you are willing to do what it takes to make it work.
a gamepad works pretty well for the game too
I remember the graphics being much better. but that is like every game i recall being good and its now just stick figures.
Great Review bro :-D
Thanks!
@@salokin3087 you are very welcome 👍
@@johnodaz1273 On "The History of Crimson Skies" video, one of the alpha build screenshots shows Fairchild F611 Brigand in Red Skull Legion squadron skin, which carried over to the 2003 Xbox sequel High Road to Revenge.
@@RGBtheRhinoOverwatcher 😃👍
If you like this sort of games you might also want to check out Rowan's Airpower.
It's a dos game so you have been warned.
Man, there's nothing wrong with the Xbox version lol. I came here because I was nostalgic for that one
isn't this game on the same engine as mechwarrior 4?
Mechwarrior 3 I think? Dunno, you're probably right
It was a fun game however Microsoft's flight models are not the best. The specs they list for the various aircraft and the way they actually fly does not match per usual for a Microsoft product.
Joystick is only like 20 monies m8
I've play recently on the cloud gamepass (pc)
it work perfectly and it is even dubbed entirely in french
very nice discovery
..erh!? 'cause: In "frog" = better?
Easyclicks was one of the best online players.
This game is so due for an upgrade on a next gen console.
One day maybe...sometime...never?
zeppelin wars lore:
also i came here from roblox cuz of a video lol
ok the original was god but the diss on the xbox was uncalled for. but I agree I wish they brought this franchise back
FUC"¤/% consoles!
Better?
What are you talking about there’s no swearing.
Pre-Boomer swear words?
The PC version sucks because of the bad controls.
But the Xbox version is actually pretty great.
I might try it one day, BTW Revy is pog
Bam bum ba bum ba dum ba dum!
tanx 4 the rev
racism? OMG. ITs america not Africa.
1930+ alternate history = Offended in 2022
SURPRICE 😞
@@dallesamllhals9161 PLease can you talk in civilized tongue? thanks
Lol. Who wanted racism in this game?
Did you want a racist Nathan Drake as well?
Yes
@@salokin3087 2based2live
Bull dog anyone