XBLA review: Aegis Wing (4/10)

Look, Microsoft's giving away something free! That must mean it sucks, right?

Well ... Texas Hold 'Em was tolerable, and it was free for a while. In much the same way, Aegis Wing is tolerable.

Think of it as a poor man's Gradius: a side-scroller where you can collect various power-ups and defeat bosses at the end of some of the stages. But ...

• You can't customize your ship.
• You can't build up the power-ups: each has only one level. (in single-player, that is)
• You can't even have more than one at once.
• You start each wave with four lives and no power-ups. (I don't know what happens if you complete a level without dying, I think.)
• The shield doesn't protect you from collisions.
• Not every level ends with a boss.

So yeah, it's a really poor man's Gradius. It's all right to play, but really, that's about it. I really don't have the desire to sit through more than one game at a time. Basically, you hold down the primary fire button the entire game. Secondary weapons come in handy from time to time, but that's about it. (Of course, later in the game, if you don't have one, you're screwed, and naturally they don't show up when you need them.)

In multiplayer, power-ups have more value if more people are playing (kind of like treasures in Gauntlet), and you can join ships together so that everyone can share powers (one person flies and the others become turrets). Of course, the single-player mode isn't that exciting, so I'm not really sure I can talk my friends into trying multiplayer.

For free, it's a decent game – it's less likely you'll complain about what it doesn't have. Nice work, interns. Next time, give us a full game.

zlionsfan's rating: 4 wings out of 10.