This time around, the game's called Sylpheed: Arc of Deception, and like Wing Commander it incorporates a cinematic backstory to keep the action moving forward. The story is inspired by classic anime starship series of yesteryear, like Star Blazers (Space Cruiser Yamato) or Robotech (Super Dimension Fortress Macross), as its young heroes—four pilots in the Terra Central Armed Forces—fight off a surprise attack by ADAN, an offworld coalition seeking revenge against Earth and its empire for a terraforming accident gone horribly wrong.

Sylpheed falls heavily on the arcade side of the starfighter simulator range, providing players with an insanely powerful space plane capable of destroying dozens of opposition fighters and capital ships in a single sortie. The NATF-4 Delta Saber can carry up to four upgradeable and configurable weapons, from a simple nose gun designed to shoot down fighters to massive anti-ship missiles.

In addition to a diverse and effective weapons payload, the starfighters can carry out special moves, including a "berserk shot," which fires all of the craft's weapons at once, and "overdrive," which slows down time and allows for hyper-accurate shots. Players can also issue a limited set of commands to their wingmen and squadron, ordering them to attack a target, support the player or break off and attack at will. The game can be played from the third-person or first-person perspectives, and there are three default controller configurations, ranging from simple, arcade-style controls to advanced, space-sim ones.

Successfully completing missions earns players points, which can then be spent on equipment upgrades. Particularly difficult missions can be skipped, but the game's linear structure prevents players from going back and replaying those missions; once missed, they can't be played again unless players reload a save point or start over from scratch.

Infuriating flaws, but a worthwhile rental

Throttling up the NATF-4 Delta Saber for the first time, players can't help but remember a thousand science-fiction fighter sorties that have come before. As the starfighter hits space and engages the enemy, the initial thrill of being back in the pilot's seat, hunting down enemy space planes and suddenly firing off a spastic swarm of enemy-seeking missiles is strong enough to outweigh the game's faults.

A few minutes into the flight, though, and players will quickly realize that while Project Sylpheed may evoke classics such as X-Wing and Wing Commander, it hasn't learned much from them. The game's plasma eruptions from the big guns of the capital ships, and the neon blue and pink exhaust streamers denoting friendly and enemy fighters, are beautiful to watch, but they're ultimately lost as players attempt to decipher a haze of microscopic heads-up labels. Those with exceptional eyesight—or an oversized HD TV—may be able to figure out the labels, but lesser mortals are left squinting in confusion. Although the combat takes place in three dimensions, the game offers no indication which targets are above or below the player's starfighter. A simple targeting system helps make some sense of the visual chaos, but it's difficult to scan quickly for enemy starships or friendly vessels that aren't in the player's immediate field of view.

Missions have a built-in time clock that seems to kick in arbitrarily, usually when players are just about to hunt down the last of the enemy resistance. It's one thing to have a mission clock and understand why it's counting down; it's another for it to suddenly expire just as players are locking on to the last enemy fighter. Sylpheed's ability to skip past particularly difficult or annoying scenarios is great, but it's ruined by an inability to go back and replay the skipped chapters.

Having said all this, the game can still be a blast, particularly for genre fans. Building up new weapons and then creating custom load-outs for upcoming missions is fun, as are the swarm-style missiles, which make locking on to and then destroying enemy vessels equal parts easy and awe-inspiring to anyone who ever dreamed of sitting in a Veritech fighter cockpit. Project Sylpheed's backstory offers more moral complexity than the average shooter, as the opening scenes make it unclear who the good guys are and hint at treachery and conspiracies to be revealed as the game unfolds. The game's $40 price point is a further plus; while its flaws can be infuriating, players won't be spending $60 to be annoyed.