Review by: Michael Barnes

It was early in the evening when I finally sent John Marston and company off into the sunset, the final story mission of Red Dead Redemption coming to a close in a scene that reminded me, oddly enough, of Duck Hunt. I wanted to play something else but I found myself in that ‘glued to the couch’ mode. I didn’t feel like fishing out another disc. So I went to the Xbox Live Arcade marketplace to see what was new and there I saw the new Snoopy Flying Ace game from Smart Bomb Interactive. “Crap”, I thought. But I downloaded the free trial anyway, just to have a new game to try.

Three hours later, I was completely engrossed with the game’s chaotic aerial shootouts, reminiscent of the old Xbox cult classic Crimson Skies crossed with the comic tone and lighthearted mayhem of a mascot kart racer. By the end of the evening, I had played through about a third of the single-player campaign missions and had started on my way to ranking up in the online multiplayer portion of the game. Snoopy Flying Ace has turned out to be quite a surprise; it’s one of the best XBLA games released this year and it is also one of the most complete and polished games available on the service.

The setting is a cartoonish World War I setting with a steampunk-ish edge. The game advertises “historically inaccurate” locations, which means that you’ll be piloting one of the game’s many single wing or bi- and tri- planes over a couple of generic locales as well as a fictional Paris where the Eiffel Tower is right next to the Arc d’Triomphe- which is festooned with giant reliefs of Charlie Brown. A couple of the maps are really neat—the Egyptian area with Snoopy as the Sphinx is fun, but after a few matches they begin to feel a little dull and samey perhaps because most of the time they’re a background to what’s going on in the skies. Each map has a couple of special features or events, like a rampaging sea serpent or controllable anti-aircraft turrets.

Planes are ranked for handling, speed, and health and can be kitted out with any two of a variety of weapons, ranging from chemical missiles (which promise to ruin someone’s picnic in the description) to a couple of different mine types, Gatling guns, and even an EMP pulse. Players get to choose one of 12 Peanuts characters to man the chosen aircraft. There’s a Charlie Brown in a Doughboy uniform and a Lucy Van Pelt in a suspiciously Third Reich-looking uniform. I couldn’t resist Pigpen, it just seems right sending him to battle with chemical weapons and tarballs. It’s also possible, if you just hate the Peanuts, to use your avatar. If you blink during the game, you might miss Schroeder blowing somebody in a Big Daddy suit out of the sky to a jazzy piano riff.

Controls are nothing fancy, with complex maneuvers like a Split-S or barrel rolls relegated to a right stick movement. Physics are practically non-existent, although real-world concerns like overheating guns and mid-air collisions are accounted for. The emphasis is on simple, fun play without needless complexity. There is depth in terms of plane and weapon selection as well as in throttle control, and players need maneuvering skills to effectively maneuver to track and down enemy planes, but ultimately it’s the kind of game that just wants you to have a good time, no strings attached.