Review

Whenever any new game technology is launched, there will be game released specifically aimed to showcase what's possible with it. In many cases this will lead to games that don't reach their full potential due to control restrictions that this will place upon the software. UbiSoft were guilty of this when Red Steel launched with the Nintendo Wii and now they've done it again with Eagle Flight.

The premise is a simple one: control an eagle as it soars around the skies over Paris, allowing the player to view the fantastic architecture and experience it in fully immersive 3D. And as you'd expect from the team behind the Assassin's Creed series, it's a great looking game with an glorious recreation of the French capital. What this boils down to is essentially a racing game where you have to navigate your way through progressively tougher sets of rings until you reach the goal. At times it reminded me of Pilotwings with it's approach to creating a relaxing game rather than a thrill ride.

Unfortunately, the whole game is spoilt by being hog-tied to it's use of motion controls. Your every movement is controlled by moving your head inside the visor. Tilting to turn left and right and looking up and down to rise and fall. Simple enough you might think, but with courses requiring some quite sharp turns I ended up needing a neck massage after only a few minutes.

I get the need to show off the motion sensor capabilities, but the whole game would have been better served with a standard controller set-up. Even having it as an option you can switch to has been omitted forcing the tilt controls on you.

The other sticking point is the price. Even with a controller option there's still not enough here to justify charging £35 for what's essentially a great technical demo. If you stick to playing the free flight mode and just explore it's a mildly enjoyable and relaxing title to play but only in small doses.

About the Review

Platform

Sony Playstation 4

Developer

UbiSoft Montreal

Publisher

UbiSoft

Released

8th November 2016