In Review: M.A.C.H

By Dominic Mukwamba-Sendall

Modified Air Combat Heroes Is an acronym that has blatantly been reverse engineered by twatty marketing types. People who get to wear their own clothes to work and use phrases like ‘edgy’ and ‘bling’ far too much.

However it is also the first aviation themed racer to appear on the PSP, developed by the same company that brought us the brilliant F.E.A.R (A.K.A. First Encounter Assault Recon), a stupidly titled game that proved unbelievably enjoyable – here’s hoping.

M.A.C.H. has two main game modes; F-Zero styled racing and Lylat Wars-esque Arena dogfights, both can be played one level at a time, but are at their best when strung together to form the career mode. The learning curve of the game is pretty respectful of players. Raising difficulty levels between championships serves as a helpful nudge to upgrade your plane more than a challenge for you to play until you either win or loose your thumbs.

The planes, unlocked through completing challenges, can be upgraded in order to keep pace with the speed and firepower of your competition. Whacking a Welsh flag on the wing can also help infuse each kill with a little national pride, and there are numerous extra modes tacked to the game from arena tag to simple time attack missions.

However the game still manages to feel a little empty. It is by no means an un-enjoyable affair. I have hammered the game, found myself bizarrely attached to planes I have miss-spent time upgrading and been reminded constantly of halcyon sick days playing Mario Kart and eating Sugar Puffs direct from the box. My problem though is while I can remember (and have cavities to prove) spending such time on similar titles I do not feel the shine will last as long with M.A.C.H.

Infuriating niggles appear after short bouts of play, the A.I. whilst cocky is un-adaptive and predictable. During arena battles, fire a missile and the camera pans to track it all the way to its target prompting you to bash triangle to reset it only to be faced a screen filled with rapidly approaching obstacles. M.A.C.H isn’t a bad game; it just isn’t a great game.

If there’s an empty space in your collection that Wipeout pure didn’t fill this will tick almost every box, but I doubt you’ll remember owning it in ten years time.