Flying games can be such a bore sometimes, particularly if there's no guns involved. Praise the skies, Yager will be upon us soon and it's quite the opposite of a boring flying game and will prove that's its not just a game with a name that sounds similar to that of Sega.

Yager is a futuristic aerial based game putting you quite literally in the seat of Magnus Tide, a fighter pilot who lives in the near future, which is governed by faceless corporations and so you've been brought in to restore peace to a troubled world. You will play through over 25 missions as Magnus, but it's not all about dogfights high in the sky, far from it in fact. Most of the gameplay involves taking out the enemy, whether they are airborne or ground-based and that isn't easily done, as you will have to fly close to the ground at points. A story to accompany the game has been created and not just to bring a small relevance to the game apart from the all the mid-air shooting what happens in the story will actually influence the outcome of you missions. An example of this is when Magnus comes across a woman who gives him instructions for his in air escapade, depending on what happens you may or may not understand what you have to do and therefore your mission might go pretty pants. Fact is Magnus is a man with a past that will eventually tie into the game at points so you'll have to use the story to your advantage at points in the game via the additional 20+ characters included in the game.

Yager is set to include over 20 different levels with landscape varying from green forests to urban jungles. There will be varying types of craft, no official word on them but it seems most likely that there will be different types: some faster, but perhaps some with better firepower, we'll have to wait and see. Multiplayer hasn't been confirmed but would shed a whole new light on the game, imagine 16-player dogfights, one word - mayhem! The graphics also don't look to bad as well crafts and landscapes are nicely detailed, visibility seems excellent as even penguins on an icecap are visible whilst flying. And there will be special in-game movies to add to the enjoyment of the storyline.

The game is apparently very much a pick up and play type of game, yet the story adds a good stretch of longetivity to it. This game should at least be on everyone's 'rent it' lists even though there aren't many flying based games on Xbox, Yager will definitely be setting the standard for flying games on the Xbox.

Preview By: Graham Seward