Crimson Skies
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Crimson Skies is an alternate history universe, created by Jordan Weisman and Dave McCoy, that has spawned a number of games and novels. The stories and games in Crimson Skies take place in an alternate history version of the United States, where the nation crumbled into many hostile nation-states following the effects of the Great Depression, the Great War, and Prohibition. With the road and railway system destroyed, commerce took to the skies. Great cargo zeppelins escorted by fighter squadrons are the targets of many ruthless air pirates and enemy countries.
Crimson Skies began as a pitch for a game called Corsairs! for the Virtual World location-based entertainment centers. The project was eventually shelved, but the developers saved the idea and redeveloped into a board game simulating aerial combat that was introduced by FASA in 1998. In 2000, Zipper Interactive developed the property into a computer game published by Microsoft. In 2003, it returned as Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge for the Xbox, as well as a collectible miniature games from WizKids.
Crimson Skies (FASA Boardgame)
After the Corsairs! project was shelved, Weisman rallied a group of the designers at FASA and on evenings and weekends they redesigned Crimson Skies as a fast-playing combat board game, with a focus on streamlined rules to maximize players' enjoyment. Players were encouraged to develop not only a powerful aircraft, but also a colorful pilot.
The base game came with card stock, assemble-yourself airplanes included, but later metal miniature planes were offered separately. While the focus was on fantasy over fact, many of the planes in Crimson Skies were modeled after real experimental aircraft of the era.
The complex universe of Crimson Skies earned many devoted fans, as dozens of different weapons, planes, nations, air forces, bands of pirates, and characters were all given detailed pasts, and several additional supplemental campaigns were published.
In 1999, Crimson Skies won the Origins Awards for Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Board Game of 1998 and Best Graphic Presentation of a Board Game of 1998.
Crimson Skies (Microsoft PC game)
When FASA Interactive joined Microsoft in 1999, Weisman had the opportunity to start a new project, and Crimson Skies was at the top of his list.
This combat flight-sim offered game players fast-paced action without the hassle of realistic flight mechanics. The game included a 24-mission single-player mode and an on-line multi-player mode. Both modes made use of twelve different customizable plane designs. The spirit of a pulp fiction novel was well captured with catchy pirate music, excellent voice acting, and great attention to detail. Unfortunately, the original release was plagued with bugs that would cause the game to freeze or crash, but a patch was released to alleviate these problems.
The character of Nathan Zachary, leader of the Fortune Hunters, was introduced as the hero. He is an air pirate, reminiscent of Robin Hood. Perhaps he described himself the best, saying, "Let's get one thing straight, sister: Errol Flynn pretends to be me, not the other way around."
The single-player campaign chronicled the rise of the Fortune Hunters gang (with their base airship known as the Pandora) from relatively small-time thrill seekers to a renowned band of brigands, taking whichever side of the law is most convenient and profitable at that particular moment.
The game was developed by Zipper Interactive and was nominated for the 2000 PC Action/Adventure Game of the Year from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, and won the Editor's Choice Award from Game Revolution, and GameSpy's Game of the Year for sound.
Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge (Xbox)
This title was originally announced in March 2002 for a fall release date of that year, but was not released until October 2003. The delay was partly due to Microsoft deciding not to use any of the development team from the original PC game, and starting from scratch with a new team.
Nathan Zachary returned as the hero in Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge. After an opening cutscene in which Zachary steals back the plane he lost in a drunken poker game the previous evening, the game gets under way.
This game retained some of the atmosphere of the series, but designers attempted to make more an arcade-style game, with power-ups and CGI cut scenes. The planes and weapons available are much less customizable than in its predecessors, but the split-screen, system-link and Xbox Live modes provided many more game type options. Up to 16 players can compete in six different games on five different multiplayer maps. The game also has support for downloadable content, which has included four new planes, two new maps and two new gametypes.
The game's soundtrack was also released separately, featuring 54 tracks from composer Stan LePard on CD, and a bonus DVD with Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround mixes of the game trailer and two cues from the soundtrack.
The game was won many awards, including Best Action/Adventure Console Game of 2003 from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, Best Graphics of 2003 from both TechTV and IGN, and was named GameSpy's Breakout Game of the Year.
Crimson Skies: WizKids miniatures game
WizKids makes a series of collectible gaming miniatures with the "Clix" system, in which the changing combat statistics and abilities of each miniature are indicated by a turnable dial inside the base underneath the figure. In 2003 they launched a Crimson Skies line with this system, with miniatures packaged in squadron packs of four planes, or ace packs with two "ace" figures and their planes.
The game's starter kit contains rules for two games. Ace combat uses the ace figures in ground brawl game, played on square grid maps. The air combat game is the meat of the game, with maneuver cards and dice covering different ways planes can fly and attack.
The line broke from WizKids' normal random packaging format, as the miniatures were packaged openly on a blisterpack, so there was no need to buy many booster packs to get planes with better statistics. However, this marketing decision led to lower than expected sales, since gamers didn't need to buy multiple booster packs to bolster their collections, as in other games such as HeroClix. After a year, support for the series came to an end.
Crimson Skies: The Books
Several tie-in books or short stories were released. Written in the style of the old pulps, each story generally follows one of the main Crimson Skies characters as they fly, flight, and con their way to save the day, or line their pockets in the process.
Wings of Fortune: Pirate's Gold, by Stephen Kenson, was published by FASA in November 2000. It introduced Nathan Zachary and his famous band of air pirates, the Fortune Hunters. It follows Zachary's air exploits and daring escapes during his early days as a war pilot, and recounts a climatic confrontation with his nemesis.
Wings of Justice: Rogue Flyer, by Loren L. Coleman, was published by FASA in December 2000. It follows the transformation of Trevor "Rogue" Rheese from law-abiding security agent to pirate with a heart of gold.
Crimson Skies was published by Del Rey in October 2002 to promote the future release of the Xbox game. It features three novellas, two originally published on the Crimson Skies website, one previously unpublished. Each story is preceded by a brief history lesson about the Crimson Skies universe which acts as the prelude to the following story.
- The Case of the Phantom Prototype, by Eric Nylund - Paladin Blake must fly a top-secret aircraft into the Mojave Desert.
- "Genghis" Kahn & the Manchurian Gambit, by Michael B. Lee - The notorious leader of the Red Skull Legion pirate gang rescues a lady in distress and fights air battles from Manhattan to Manchuria with, surprisingly, no plunder in sight.
- Bayou Blues, by Nancy Berman and Eric S. Trautmann - Nathan Zachary and his "Fortune Hunters" square off against a Cajun sky-thief, a crooked businessman, and a pair of star-crossed lovers in a high-stakes, high-altitude con game.
See also
Although the film Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow has nothing to do with Crimson Skies, they have some elements in common, something that was commented upon by many reviewers when the film was released.
External links
- [The Universe of Crimson Skies Official Site]
- [Crimson Skies Official Site]
- [German Crimson Skies Official Site]
- [Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge Official Site]
- [WizKids miniature game site]
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