Heroes in the Sky is a free to play Action MMO based around World War II era planes. It involves both player versus environment missions where the player is pitted against AI targets and specific objectives. It also includes player versus player in the forms of simple battles and occupation mode. Heroes in the Sky banks on simplicity that both helps and hurts the game. Fortunately, it does the game more good than bad.

As you first begin to play the game, you’re put in a very basic World War I style bi-plane for your first few missions as you get a hang of the game. After a few good missions, you’ll have enough to purchase your first upgraded plane. That’s when you’ll realize that, while the game is simple, the amount of planes, guns, secondary weapons, armor and others is vast and deep, riddled with options depending on how you want to play. From fast and agile fighters to lumbering giant 4 propeller bombers to torpedo planes, if you’ve got a favorite plane of World War II, you will definitely find it in this free mmo game.

You’ll find that the single player missions are fairly run-of-the-mill. You can play with up to three other friends for them, and they’re all fairly generic. Most of the time, you’ll be sent off to shoot down enemy planes or blow up tanks on the ground, that sort of thing. Sometimes you’ll be stuck with the dreaded escort missions, they’re far between fortunately. Fairly standard stuff that neither excels nor hampers the game play. To help move the missions along, there are a variety of quests that can be performed through out each of the missions to help garner money, experience and skill points. The AI planes fighting on your side are fairly weak and aren’t exactly something you can rely on in order to complete a mission. You’ll end up needing to rely on yourself and your team mates in each battle in order to finish with a good rating.

The sound is a little grating, as you’ll find it repetitive, but it’s certainly not of poor quality. The controls, while simplistic and easy to pick up, are also limiting. They’re easy to use and you’ll find them comfortable right from the start. Unfortunately, though, they’re not complex enough for a skilled player. You won’t be pulling any split S’es or rolling scissors. So while you’ll be playing right off the bat and having fun, it doesn’t develop any beyond that.

Fortunately, your time and focus will be in the large tech trees of planes that you can acquire. A lot of the notable World War II planes are available in Heroes in the Sky, from the American F4F Wildcat to the German Focke-Wolfe. For most of it, you’ll end up getting what you want without spending a dime on the game, which is huge bonus. The game does snag you into trying to buy some items in that the game gives you a ‘present box’, but in order to actually get the items in the box, you have to buy the key from the premium store. Other than that, the game doesn’t impress any sort of need for you to buy the premium items to play or even get ahead. Should you feel that you do want to buy premium items in order to advance your play in Heroes in the Sky, it’s not terribly expensive, either.

Most of your first few hours will be spent doing the player vs. environment missions as you level up. You’ll be able to have some friends tag along with you, or meet new people if you join rooms. The game does pick up and go once you hit the ground running in PvP. When the character hits Lv 12, you’ll be able to join the occupational war. Each battle can hold up to 34 players, each with 6 lives a piece. So if you’re shot down 6 times, you’re automatically knocked out of the battle. Each battle has about a minute window of an opening in order to join it before it closes and the battle begins. After the battle starts, each team is given an objective, depending on if they’re attacking or defending, ranging from simply wiping out the enemy’s lives before they wipe out yours, to destroying or protecting certain targets. The incentive to winning the occupational war is that for each territory your faction holds, you gain 5% off in the item shop, so it’s in your best interest to try and take as many as you can, level up and become better at the game.

All in all, while you’re playing this World War II air to air free to play MMO Game, you’re going to enjoy yourself and have a good time.

Rating: 7.0

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