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There were a lot of arcade games back in the ‘80s, and only a few are as well remembered as Galaga or Pac-Man. While not entirely obscure, Time Pilot was an excellent shooter that, despite some well executed and original ideas for its time, never managed to get the big breaks. It was a solid, dependable game that gave fair value for a quarter while still being able to lay down the law to those who went in unprepared. Now Time Pilot is back and on Live Arcade, and it's still just as fun as it ever was.
A jet fighter inhabits the center of the screen, flying through an endless sky and shooting down everything that crosses its path. The jet can turn a full 360 degrees, laying down a continual stream of fire as it goes. The action starts in 1910, with biplanes cruising along and occasionally shooting back, and blowing away a set amount of them calls out a blimp that, when destroyed, triggers a warp through time to 1940. Shoot down enough enemies there and it's on to 1970, then 1982, and finally the far flung UFO- filled future of 2001. After that comes 1910 again, but tougher.
i>Time Pilot is a very basic shooter, but what's made it work so well all these years is how well those basics are executed. Each level has only one enemy type plus a boss, except for 1940 which also features a bomber, but the action is fast enough that it doesn't get the chance to feel boring. Though never more than a handful of planes are on screen at once, and maybe four enemy bullets tops, it can still feel too crowded for comfort thanks to the jet needing to arc through a turn in order to take out enemies on its tail, rather than the usual insta-turn most games favor. The helicopters of 1970 and jets of 1982 also have homing missiles that, while kind of slow, are also small and tricky to shoot down.
What this means is that, while Time Pilot can't match Geometry Wars and its hundreds of on-screen enemies, it's a more deliberate kind of deadly. Why wade through bullet hell when one well-placed shot is enough to render you just as dead? While it's true that this is a result of the limitations of the 1982 hardware Time Pilot originally ran on, it's still a game design style that's fun and rewarding. Flying through the skies, assessing problems that will exist in a few seconds and dealing with them now, is a good time whether there are a few big threats or hundreds of little ones.
Amidst the chaos, there are also point bonuses to be chased. Paratroopers drift through the sky now and then, the first being worth 1000, the second 2000, etc. Die in mid-level and the next paratrooper drops down to 1000 again, making a perfect run a much higher-scoring experience. Enemy plane formations also show up that, when shot down quickly, net a cool 2000 apiece. Add it all together and it can be a minimum of 16,000 points per level between paratroopers and formations, which is no small amount in a game where most high scores are measured in the low hundred thousands. Unfortunately, while the top score is always saved on the Live Arcade leaderboards, all other high scores get wiped out every time you quit the game.
Still, Time Pilot has gotten some nice upgrades on the 360. Though fully playable in its original form, the enhanced graphic mode and new sounds and music are excellent. The cloud transparencies are especially good, seeing as the originals were solid objects that could hide things you'd really want to see, and the dissipating smoke from a homing missile is another nice touch. Not faring so well is multi-player, which comes in both competitive and cooperative forms. Competitive isn't bad, with two people playing simultaneously for a high score in a split-screen setup, but cooperative just feels pointless. It's the same format as competitive, but both players combine their score with no other interaction between the two games. And as long as I'm grousing, would an auto-fire option have been too difficult to implement?
Despite these minor issues, the core game of Time Pilot has stood the test of time very well, and is just as addictive and fun today as it was when it came out 24 years ago. Flying the endless skies, blasting down enemies, and trying to snag a few more rungs on the Live leaderboards brings out the just one more game feeling that all the best arcade games had. The balance of enemies, movement, and firepower all feel perfect, making Time Pilot's simplicity is its greatest strength. |
