MACH is a very arcade like airplane game that mixes both racing and dogfights, although not at the same time. With very fun controls, a nice amount of strategic elements, and a lot to unlock this maybe be the portable flyer you’ve been waiting for.
A taste of the action.
As you control your fighter plane from the 3rd person perspective you’ll be dodging and weaving through complex courses while racing. The analog stick moves you around in a kind of kart racing type fashion while the x button accelerates. Your boost meter in the bottom left will gradually fill and can be used by hitting the X button twice fast. If you’re all about safety you’ll want to keep that meter above a certain point shown on the screen in order to be able to do a barrel roll at will. You see if an opponent picks up a power-up like a seeking missile or a burst shot you’ll need to be able to spin to avoid it. Other power-ups make you invisible, fill your boost meter, and lay mines.
Boosting looks pretty cool.
When in a dogfight situation you’ll be using the right trigger to shoot your regular gun and the left to use any special weapons you pick up. If you hold down your machine gun too long it will overheat and become unusable for a bit. Also if you go on a killing spree known as a “Rampage” your machine gun will turn in to a one shot one kill laser rifle for a short period. The one with the most kills at the end of the time limit wins and moves on to the next round.
Oooh pretty.
As you make your way through the career mode you’ll unlock planes, gain lots of money, and feel a bit of Deja Vu. You see, there are only so many unique tracks in MACH so the few that are available are reused over and over and over again. Some locations get new paths to deal with while racing and some get new obstacles to avoid while fighting, but they still feel old once you get about half way through the giant roster of tournaments available. That being said, if you like quantity over quality then MACH definitely delivers as there are a ridiculous amount of races available that all unlock new planes and give you money to upgrade them.
