There isn’t an overabundance of flight simulators in the mobile market. They’re generally much more arduous tasks to develop — at least, more intricate than runners and puzzle games. Despite that, Martian Monkey was up to the task a few years back with Alpha Squadron, and now, with Edge Of Oblivion: Alpha Squadron 2 (Free). If you’re just jumping into the series for the first time you’ll have an easy time acclimating, and returning fans will find that it was worth the wait.
Right off the bat, Alpha Squadron 2 offers up a ton of different modes to jump into. There’s two campaigns (more on that in a minute), training exercises, a dog fight mode, and survival. The latter two are more like a standalone challenge gametype where you can pit yourself against as many enemies as you want, but the meat of Alpha 2 is found in the narrative. While there is a bit of noticeable menu lag (that, and unresponsiveness) before you enter the cockpit, once the game actually starts, it controls like a dream. It’s very easy to pit, yaw, accelerate, brake, and fire, as it uses the gyroscope for motion and on-screen buttons for movement and attacks, on the left and right sides of the screen respectively.
You can opt for cockpit or third-person view, and I strongly recommend the latter as it allows you to see more of the action. When things were under control however, I ended up shifting to the former to really feel like a starfighter. And that’s what Alpha Squadron 2 does — it makes you feel like you’re battling it out in vast expanse of space despite the small screen real estate it has to work with. Campaign objectives usually boil down to “kill [x] amount of enemies," but the environments and sound effects are breathtaking, especially on a mobile device.
In one particularly intense dogfight I actually looked up and marveled at a giant star cruiser in the distance, and those moments are pretty frequent in their occurrence. The ship loadouts also allow for some strategic depth, as they have different weapons and strengths involved — choosing one for any given mission is half the battle. It’s also important to note that by pausing the game, you can locate fun little side objectives that enhance the experience a bit.
So, Alpha Squadron 2 is a premium app for $4.99, but there’s a few extra IAPs involved. For starters, you can purchase extra weapons to use in missions for a few bucks. While it initially seems like it limits your weapon output, think of these IAP prices as “cheat codes" of sorts that add extra firepower to your arsenal. Once you’ve exhausted this premium ammo, it’s gone. It would be a sleazy endeavor if it didn’t feel completely optional. Next on the docket is the second campaign for $2.99, which is roughly on par with the first in terms of quality.
If you enjoyed the first story, just buy the next one — it’s that simple. Then there’s a fighter called the F22 Interceptor, which is a permanent unlock for $1.99, and feels a bit less like a cheat code and more like a fun piece of content that was cut out of the main purchase.
The pricepoint may scare some people off, but any flight simulation junkie that yearns for the olden days of Tie Fighter and Rogue Squadron will have fun with Alpha Squadron 2. MFi gamepad support only sweetens the deal, but you shouldn’t have any issues with the default control scheme.
