You will hear lines like ,“I feel the need… the need for speed”, “now we’re in the zone”, and other cheesy lines over and over again during dog fights. I mentioned sound earlier, and I wasn’t exaggerating about the cheesy lines.
#TOP GUN HARD LOCK GAME HOW TO#
If you learn how to maneuver your plane properly using dog fighting techniques the tables can be turned on enemies before they are able to get a lock.
In cases like these it’s better to make sure that your enemy can’t lock on to you at all. As you progress through the game you will find that enemies can close in on you more easily, meaning you will have less time to dodge a missile. One thing I did appreciate about the dog fighting is that the player is actually rewarded for learning the feel of each plane and how to maneuver it. However, if an enemy is close enough you will find that the prompt time is much shorter. Once a missile gets close enough, it’s as simple as pressing the correct button that appears on the screen to either dodge or deploy flares. Outside of hard lock, dodging missiles is more about reaction than maneuvering. At first the ACM sequences are very easy, but get increasingly difficult and complex as you progress through the game.Įnemies can also initiate hard lock with you, so if you’re just flying around without maneuvering enough, expect to get chased down.
If you’re fast enough, you are rewarded with a larger reticule for that hard lock if not, your enemy will slip behind you and now you are the prey. During these sequences a prompt with arrows will appear on screen that tells you what direction you should be pressing your left and right analog sticks. However, throughout the hard lock your enemy will attempt an ACM (Air Combat Maneuver) to try to get behind you. Initially getting a missile lock can be quite challenging. This will switch you to a camera angle right above your wing and your plane will stay on course with your enemy as you try to keep them in your reticule long enough to get a missile lock so you can blow them away. If you can get lined up with your enemy the hard lock button will indicate when you can lock in with them. In addition to the single player campaign, there is also Danger Zone a game mode which throws enemies at you in increasingly difficult waves.ĭog fighting takes a page out of Ace Combat’s book with its hard lock system. Depending how much of an ace you are, the campaign should last around 7-8 hours. Barring a few exceptions, missions typically take around 30 minutes to complete. I was already in the seventh mission before the game grabbed my attention. One downside to the single player is that it takes a while to really get started. The combination of scenario, weapon, and locale switches help so that you don’t feel like you are playing the same thing over and over again. You’ll also come across radar-jamming planes, thunder storms that will affect your electronics, and radar stations you need to watch out for. One mission you’ll have access to long range Air-to-Air missiles, and the next you may be equipped with cluster bombs. Your weapon load out will change throughout the campaign as well. Protecting two large birds in a tight valley with SAM batteries all over the place calls for a different approach than flying over the coast with those two same birds.
While the types of missions you perform don’t vary much, the scenery and combat scenarios do. These missions are optional, but completing them will usually reward you with additional assistance such as extra ground troops or additional friendly aircraft. There are also secondary missions you can complete.
You may start by having to hit a specific target, switch to defending some larger aircraft, followed by providing cover for ground units, then finally returning to your aircraft carrier to defend it. Campaign missions are comprised of several sub-missions that you need to complete in order to progress. There is multiplayer, but since no one is playing it, it really doesn’t matter. Top Gun: Hard Lock offers 14 playable planes across 15 campaign missions. Hard Lock comes in at $40, so it’s safe to say 505 Games was aware of what people thought of previous Top Gun games. Here we have another attempt to drag the Top Gun name out of the mud in the gaming world. Are you ready to fly into the danger zone? Sorry for the cheese, but it fits the dialog you will come across in Top Gun: Hard Lock.