Controlling your Viper is somewhat simple, however there are other tricks of the trade which can help you in combat, and some maneuvers are just plain cool! For example, the opening cinematic shows a Viper being pursued by a Cylon Raider. The Viper kicks in the turbo, gets some distance between him and the Raider, hits the brake, spins around in a complete 180 degrees, and starts unloading on his pursuer. The result is an awesome looking move, and one more kill. So, I had to try this, and sure enough it worked (you can do the whole "spinning around" thing, but good luck on trying to maintain accuracy while executing this roll)! The Viper is a quick little speed demon, and the brakes are somewhat lacking, but when you need them they come through. Turning the Viper is pretty nice; it can turn on a dime or turn as slow as Grandpa at a U-turn in a Cadillac when it's foggy. You also have the conventional rolling technique, and a nice little "evasive" move, which is reminiscent of a roller coaster designed by a madman. When you hold the B button and move your left analog stick right or left, your Viper spins to the left or the right all crazy-like. It looks pretty cool, and it's quite effective for evasion.

The weapons system of the Viper isn't as diverse, though it does offer flexibility. For example, your front blasters have two modes: One single blast and a stagger mode. The single blast is nice: when you tap the A button the blasters deliver two shots from your cannons, which is accurate and powerful on most occasions. You can repeatedly tap the A button for a rapid shot, and this can be quite effective. However, if you hold the A button down it will rapidly stagger the blaster cannons, which is more for close quarter engagements. Missile systems offer a bit of flexibility as well, being that you can adjust the settings for your projectiles to deliver more *BANG*, more speed, more damage, or more agile in flight. The drawback is that, depending on these settings, your missile loader will either decrease or increase the amount of missiles that you can fire, so it's a give and take situation. Either way, very useful if you're in a massive firefight.

Since I never watched the original series, I'm not too familiar with the characters. But I do recognize voices, and most of the original cast reprised their roles for the game, which completely immerses you in the experience and adds to the charisma. I found that a lot of games based off of TV shows bring in the original voices. It adds a great touch, and makes people feel that they are not only watching the show, but being IN the show. Another bonus pops up if you really bring on the hurt. At the end of each mission you will be rated on your performance, and if you do well then you'll be given upgrades and additional wingmen.

A couple of drawbacks I noticed: the targeting system is kind of quirky, being that you can switch from single blast to stagger, but lose the targeting reticule the moment you switch. Also, the game should be explained a bit better when it comes to the interaction. A few times I was playing, a green circle appeared in my HUD, which then got smaller and changed colors. I'm not sure what this was, but at least I didn't die so I know it's not a bad thing (or is it?).

Battlestar, I can admit, might get a bit repetitive. All you're doing is flying around the cosmos and blowing up anything that moves. It kind of reminds me of the old Star Trek: Invasion for the Playstation One, but I can't complain though. It's a great game, with good graphics, immersive storyline and an overall appeal that I can't ignore.