AX:EL – Air Xenodawn Review
By Conor Bailey
It’s a fair assumption to say a lot of us have a love of dog-fighting in games, and we don’t nearly see much of it around in today’s games.
Remembering the classics like Star Fox, space battles in Star Wars: Battlefront 2, or even the old WW2 fighter pilot games, there’s just something really cool about taking up to the skies and shooting down other jets in fiery explosions. There is just something really satisfying about cruising through the air in a Top Gun kind of moment. But again, there hasn’t been many of them around as of late. AX:EL – Air Xenodawn brings back this genre back to Earth… as well as the ocean floor. Whoever thought underwater dogfights weren’t a thing is horribly wrong, as this charming indie title gives fresh concepts, as well as a host of customisable options for your very own fighter.
The premise of the game has an interesting premise to showcase the gameplay. Essentially it’s your standard World War III where no-one is seemingly getting along, increase of military expansionism and all of that good stuff. One thing they discover to help out with the creation of this submarine/aeroplane hybrids is the shapeshifting metal known as MsM that can adapt to any environment. It is an intriguing scenario which at least gives a reason to why these advances are being made, and a driving point to play the main single-player missions. At times it does feel like you’re playing generic soldier number one, and the missions are mostly just set objectives to do. The game itself isn’t about the story, and more about the gameplay, but it could’ve maybe just given a little bit more of a reason to fight other than just “war”, alongside maybe introducing some minor characters. But kudos for them for at least adding single-player missions to introduce the basics of the game.
The main area where AX:EL shines is in “The Hub”, which where you create and customise your very own aircraft. The level of detail on the aircraft and the number of features you can alter is simply incredible. The customisation is in-depth and you can change things such as the weapons, wings, structure and colour. The options and combinations that a player could change around with is great, plus it’s a stern motivator for doing the missions offline and online to earn yourself more metal. As you go on you can buy different enhancements that will alter the stats of your ship, so there is a nice element of tactical thinking about whether  you want a more powerful war machine or a quicker, nimbler fighter. One thing to note about The Hub is that when you first go on it it can be quite intimidating at first. AX:EL allows you to do pretty anything when first creating your aircraft, which is good in that it doesn’t hold your hand through the process, it however doesn’t tend to give much guidance in terms of what would be a good starter craft, how to successfully put on enhancements, or cycling between the first couple of machines. It’s not a huge problem, but some clarity in what you could be have been creating would not have gone a miss. Thus, when deciding if your aircraft is the one you desire, you will have to do the good old fashioned pick a level and test it, which is not the worst to thing to do at all when you have levels as diverse as AX:EL‘s.
The level design in AX:EL is expansive. Each environment has its own different terrain, features and weather. The game has great graphics, and you can’t help but notice subtle effects when you fly around. The surface world is prettier than the underwater one however, as I felt that when you went down below there was a little bit too much of the same shade of blue, when compared to the more interesting and vibrant landscapes.
The controls take a little bit of getting used to. You are more than likely to find it quite challenging to fully comprehend the controls, at least to start with. The lift-off and take-off are both super swift and will give you no real trouble at all, and the soaring in the air feels really good; it is the ocassional awkward turning that provides trouble. There is a tutorial mission that allows you to start shooting up probes and gives you time with the mechanics, however, as previously mentioned with the Hub, it may feel like it’s not giving you enough to go on, so get very familiar the controls in the options, and set them to your liking. That being said, the feeling of flying through the remains of your exploded nemesis feels really fun. Speaking of demolishing your enemies, AX:EL has two main game modes. These include the Mercenary Files, which has around 10 missions and is your single-player experience. Then there was the options of online battles, however, I sadly couldn’t connect to the servers, which is shame as I feel AX:EL is really a game centred on that online interactivity, and I’m sad that I wasn’t able to take part in that.
In short, this flight simulator by Axe Eel Games (which I’ve only just pegged is the game name as well) is an enjoyable game which brings life into a genre which has been on the down low for a while now. Although with no real “story” behind, the gameplay itself is entertaining enough and has a extensive amount of content behind it. I would’ve liked to talk about the online but I sadly can’t, although I would say you burn a good amount of time simply creating your perfect ship, which was good enough for me. It’s £9.99 on Steam, so if you want to play a good flight and fight game, give it a try.
