XBLA review: Time Pilot (4/10)

Hey! It's Wednesday! That means another new game (usually) in the Xbox Live Arcade. This week, it's Time Pilot, that wonderful game from the '80s.

The original arcade game was pretty simple - you controlled a plane by pointing it in any of eight directions (remember, no analog joysticks back then) and firing. No speed control or anything like that. The goal was to shoot enough aircraft in each era to bring up the boss; blow him up, and you teleported into the future ... to shoot more aircraft and get to another boss. Occasionally, you could rescue parachuting men, shoot an entire formation, or even shoot bombs or missile, but that was it.

The XBLA version is different because ... well, the graphics for blowing up a plane are better. That's it. In Digital Eclipse's defense, there really isn't much more you can do with this game, although it would have been nice to see them make the high score board persistent (warning: recurring XBLA theme). Also, they chose the standard popup-during-the-game achievement notification, rather than the postgame summary used by games like Galaga. It isn't too bad here unless you accomplish something during the level; I'd recommend not heading straight down while this is happening, because you won't be able to see through the popup box.

Like some other games, the achievements for Time Pilot don't include Live play. They also don't include any two-player goals, probably because the two-player game is just your standard alternate-turns game.

This isn't a bad game if you're a Time Pilot fan. If you aren't, there's really not anything here to recommend.

zlionsfan's rating for classic arcade gamers: 4 biplanes out of 10.
zlionsfan's rating for everyone else: 2 hang gliders out of 10.

Update: There is a bug. After you rescue a second or third parachutist, for subsequent ones, it doesn't show you how many points you're getting. Boo. Also, there is apparently a co-op mode, but naturally it's Xbox Live only, not local.