Fast forward a few years (not to mention several successful Ace Combat installments) and we’re presented with a piece of software that intends to advance the frontiers of the genre even further. Playfully branded as ‘Burnout in the sky’, the Australian-built Heatseeker has been singled out by many sections of the gaming press for offering a truly unique use of the Wii’s motion-sensitive control method, bringing the player closer to their airborne steed than ever before. In truth, the game is actually a PS2 title that has been retrofitted with a control method more suited to Nintendo’s new machine.

Given that it’s arguably the talking point of the title, it only seems right to investigate this innovative control system first. Two control methods are available from the off – Arcade and Professional. Arcade, as you might expect from the name, is the more basic of the two, allowing the player to steer their jet simply by pointing the cross-hair where they wish to fly – the CPU takes control of things like roll, pitch and yaw. Professional mode removes this computer assistance, so gently tilting the remote will roll the plane and getting to grips with finely executed banks and turns is necessary in order to stay on top of the action. The game is perfectly playable with either method but it’s far more rewarding to master the more advanced flying techniques offered by the Professional mode. Using both the remote and nunchuk the player is able to pull off a wide variety of aerial manoeuvres with relative ease, with the Wii remote controlling direction of flight – represented on-screen by a cross hair – and the nunchuk being used for performing evasive moves, as well as managing the speed of the plane via the analogue stick. Weapons are activated by the B button (missiles/bombs) and Z button on the nunchuk (machine gun). It’s worth noting that only very slight movements are required to successfully pilot the plane – swinging the remote around erratically (as most rookies will inevitably do) results in an uncontrollable death spin.

Throwing a super-sleek military killing machine around the skies is unquestionably good fun thanks to the motion-sensitive controls and blowing bogies out of the air is extremely satisfying. When an enemy fighter creeps within range, a tone sounds and the player is free to let fly with their ‘birds’. Unfortunately things become a little less intuitive when it comes to executing other commands. At set points the player is called upon to instruct fellow wingmen via the remote’s D-pad, which necessitates a change of handgrip. Changing radar distance or switching to cockpit viewpoint also requires the player to fumble with the buttons on the Wii remote. At key moments this can prove to be a real hindrance, breaking the player’s connection with the on-screen proceedings. It’s hard to see how the developer could have fitted all the commands needed into standard Wii setup, but it is nevertheless something of a stumbling block.

Flight simulators of this variety live or die by the playability of their missions and it’s unfortunate that Heatseeker is rather lacking in this regard. Things only really getting exciting when the player is tackling vast swathes of enemy aircraft, and whenever the game deviates from this, it quickly becomes tedious. Bombing missions are littered throughout and are unnecessarily fiddly, serving only to disrupt the flow of the game. Eradicating ground-based targets with bombs is much less intuitive than the air-to-air combat and it’s not unusual for the player to have to circle their prey several times in order to successfully gain a kill. The usual ‘escort’ and ‘defence’ scenarios are all present and correct but on the whole the aforementioned Ace Combat places Heatseeker firmly in the shade when it comes to sheer variety (and originality) of missions. Although it’s not implied that Heatseeker should have copied some of Namco’s more ‘zany’ storylines and mission ideas, a bit of creativity certainly wouldn’t have gone amiss.

Developers IR Gurus must be congratulated for at least demonstrating the versatility of the Wii’s motion sensitive controls but it’s unfortunate that the rest of the package does so much to negate all their good work. While the gaming world has already been made acutely aware of the Wii’s graphically modesty, it’s fairly obvious that Nintendo’s machine is capable of creating better visuals than those found here. Considering the game is sold on the concept of speed, the impression of pulling off Mach 5 turns is completely absent, aside from some token Burnout-style ‘screen blur’ when the afterburners kick in. The jets are nicely rendered but not quite as attractive or solid-looking as those seen in other combat flight sims. Explosion effects and clouds are handled adequately (if unspectacularly), but the ground-based scenery is truly dire. It wouldn’t be unfair to call Heatseeker downright ugly at times – it’s comfortably outclassed by more recent games of this type and even the aging Air Force Delta on the Dreamcast arguably looks more impressive.

In particular, the much-hyped ‘Impact Cam’ – which allows the player to ride their missile after firing – only serves to show up the tawdry graphic engine even further, with all sorts of clipping and overlapping effects appearing when missiles eventually slam into enemy aircraft. Activated by holding down the B button after launching a missile, this particular gimmick is fun for a short time but soon becomes tedious thanks to the fact that hits are by no means guaranteed – switching to ‘impact cam’ when the target has successfully avoided an attack leaves the player helplessly following the course of their missile as it tails off into oblivion. Although, thankfully, ‘impact cam’ can be deactivated whilst playing, as with the troublesome wingman commands mentioned earlier, this shatters the player’s link with the game.

Sonically the game is also rather disappointing. Heatseeker is afflicted with the same disease as Excite Truck, with generic cock-rock being the order of the day. The music does seem to suit the game in a weird way, evoking memories of Tom Cruise-style shenanigans, but it’s unlikely to be to everyone’s taste. Thankfully in Excite Truck the player was granted the option of uploading their own soundtrack via the SD card, but as no such facility exists in Heatseeker prospective fighter pilots will probably find themselves reaching for the volume control after a few missions.

Combining last-generation visuals with next-generation control is never going to result in a satisfactory outcome. It’s a shame that the developers didn’t upgrade the visuals to make the most of the additional graphical muscle found within Nintendo’s console - a little more imagination when it came to designing the missions wouldn’t have gone amiss either – but Heatseeker isn’t totally devoid of merit. It’s hard to recommend wholeheartedly because there’s so much to fault here – but the dogfighting contained within is excellent, and mastering the unique control method provides a fair amount of enjoyment. Outside of buying yourself a shiny new Afterburner Climax hydraulic cab, this is the closest thing to being a fighter pilot that is currently available. Hopefully IR Gurus can inject a little more imagination into a sequel – failing that, Ace Combat fans should start praying now for that Wii-exclusive installment.