Vlambeer (the developers behind the iOS game Ridiculous Fishing) announced today on the PlayStation Blog that their arcade airplane shooter, Luftrausers, will be released on the PlayStation 3 and PS Vita sometime this Spring — which means in the very near future! The game is also headed to the PC, Mac, and Linux, but Vlambeer didn’t exactly elaborate on those details in their Sony-centered announcement.
Luftrausers is described as “the third most realistic aerial dog fighter game ever”, where players can build their own aircraft from over 125 unique combinations of weapons, plane bodies, and propulsion systems. Once built, players will then race to the sky to shoot down other planes, destroy battleships and submarines, and dog fight against rival aces for “total airspace domination”.
As Vlambeer puts it:
“[Luftrausers is] about being the best fighter pilot in the world. It’s about barely dodging that homing missile that would’ve ended your run just short of your high score. It’s about finishing a minute-long tense battle with a huge airship. It’s a fighter jet crashing into a boat and sinking it. And most importantly, it’s about doing all of the above in the span of seconds, while pulling acrobatic moves with the best airplane in the world.”
“And when it’s over and the dust clears from your glorious defeat, you head back into the hangar and think – ‘what if I tried it with a laser mounted instead of a machinegun?’”
Sounds like Luftrausers is just two steps away from being totally realistic!
The whole game is an 8-bit 2D aerial shooter with a slight sepia art style. The 2D flight mechanic actually reminds me a bit of Wings of Fury on the Apple II — which was a fantastic game back in the day, except for when you had to land on that freaking aircraft carrier — but at a much faster pace with updated mechanics.
At any rate, check out Luftrausers‘ trailer below, and we will let you know when as soon as an official release date is announced.
