Crimson Skies is a hard game to market – It’s set in the 1930s but also needs to look modern and sexy in the advertising.  The team behind this ad tries to spice up the concept with a saucy tagline: “Last night, she shot you down.  Today, it’s your turn.” They even go as far as to include a photo illustration of a female pilot, martini in hand, rejecting a young stud.    The implication is that you’ll be able to get her back tomorrow on the battlefield.

But what is the battlefield?  Crimson Skies is more of an action game than a flight-simulator, but the ad does little to let us know this is a flight-sim-lite.  For all the naïve gamer knows, you’ll have to take off the airbrake and adjust the flaps before even getting in the air.  (Having played the game I know this isn't the case, but this ad needed to have the word “action” in it to let other gamers know what to expect).

While the “dog eat dog” theme is a bold way to position the game, it also seems to engulf the whole ad.  We find out little about the planes we might fly, the enemies we might encounter, and any of the missions we are expected to complete.  There are some great scenarios in Crimson Skies (such as a mid-air plane hijacking) but these aspects are lost in the ad.

This ad makes the game very hard to read – what exactly is it?  Who do I play?  Where is the game going to take me?  Here we have an interesting premise that doesn’t quite work.

Grade: B-