Overview of the Crimson Skies
Dec. 14th, 2013 09:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xyzzysqrlI don't really intend to document Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge in great detail (because I'm still resting up a bit after the 14-day vampathon!) but a surprising number of people haven't actually heard of this one, so I figured I'd at least jot down a few notes.
Crimson Skies: HRTR is the sequel to... yes! Crimson Skies, which is a Windows game that was based on a tabletop RPG property by FASA (the Shadowrun and Battletech dudes, yes). The general idea behind the setting is that at some point in the very early 1900s the USA decided "You know what? FUCK ROADS. Cars too. They make no sense. Everyone gets a PLANE. Also, zeppelins are a GREAT IDEA." The US also balkanized up into a big chopped-up mess of city-states and republics.
The rest of the world looked at this, shrugged, went "WTFever, mates" and carried on their business unchanged.
But as a RESULT, in this 1930s-y USA there are all kinds of fancy-ass super airplanes and weird science goin' on, and your character in both games (Nathan Zachery) is a SKY PIRATE operating out of a huge zeppelin. From there it's a Sky Captain-style, Tales of the Gold Monkey-esqe plane romp through some seriously, gloriously cliche plotlines.
SAMPLE LINES YOU HEAR IN CRIMSON SKIES:
"Doc called! There's trouble at the lab!"
(While facing a fleet of unknown black planes with flamethrowers on them) "Who ARE these guys?!"
"President David Dunbar vowed to extend the jurisdiction of his Hollywood militia to include waters off the coast of Mexico!"
"Take those broken wings and learn to fly again, buddy!"
The game itself is free flight based around mission hubs, so you're free to wander anywhere in the given area of a central work hub, taking missions and scavenging for collectables. The problem is that there's a LOT of collectables in each hub, the collectables let you upgrade your planes, and sometimes the game just decides it's time for you to move on to the next hub and never go back. Thus I'm playing with a walkthrough open.
If you want some gameplay footage, here: is a sample mission. I'm at about chapter eight out of nineteen, so I can't imagine this game taking much longer. I'll probably post final thoughts when it's complete.
Crimson Skies: HRTR is the sequel to... yes! Crimson Skies, which is a Windows game that was based on a tabletop RPG property by FASA (the Shadowrun and Battletech dudes, yes). The general idea behind the setting is that at some point in the very early 1900s the USA decided "You know what? FUCK ROADS. Cars too. They make no sense. Everyone gets a PLANE. Also, zeppelins are a GREAT IDEA." The US also balkanized up into a big chopped-up mess of city-states and republics.
The rest of the world looked at this, shrugged, went "WTFever, mates" and carried on their business unchanged.
But as a RESULT, in this 1930s-y USA there are all kinds of fancy-ass super airplanes and weird science goin' on, and your character in both games (Nathan Zachery) is a SKY PIRATE operating out of a huge zeppelin. From there it's a Sky Captain-style, Tales of the Gold Monkey-esqe plane romp through some seriously, gloriously cliche plotlines.
SAMPLE LINES YOU HEAR IN CRIMSON SKIES:
"Doc called! There's trouble at the lab!"
(While facing a fleet of unknown black planes with flamethrowers on them) "Who ARE these guys?!"
"President David Dunbar vowed to extend the jurisdiction of his Hollywood militia to include waters off the coast of Mexico!"
"Take those broken wings and learn to fly again, buddy!"
The game itself is free flight based around mission hubs, so you're free to wander anywhere in the given area of a central work hub, taking missions and scavenging for collectables. The problem is that there's a LOT of collectables in each hub, the collectables let you upgrade your planes, and sometimes the game just decides it's time for you to move on to the next hub and never go back. Thus I'm playing with a walkthrough open.
If you want some gameplay footage, here: is a sample mission. I'm at about chapter eight out of nineteen, so I can't imagine this game taking much longer. I'll probably post final thoughts when it's complete.
