''Freaky Flyers'' is an

air racing Air racing is a type of motorsport that involves airplanes or other types of aircraft that compete over a fixed course, with the winner either returning the shortest time, the one to complete it with the most points, or to come closest to a prev ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

developed internally by Midway San Diego for the

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the na ...

and

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...

, while the version for the

GameCube The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the Wii ...

was developed by Point of View, Inc. and published by

Midway Games Midway Games Inc., known previously as Midway Manufacturing and Bally Midway, and commonly known as simply Midway, was an American video game developer and publisher. Midway's franchises included ''Mortal Kombat'', ''Rampage (series), Rampage'' ...

Gaming modes

*Freaky Flyers adventure mode follows multiple character histories. Each character has a story that develops as the player completes various challenges and missions. *Racing Mode can be played by either one or two players. As the game has been designed for comic effect, many of the tracks contain impossible missions and unorthodox challenges. *Dog Fight mode is duelling. This mode is only available in two-player mode. The players attempt to shoot each other out of the sky. Mini-games are also included in the game. These involve various challenges, such as shooting “amigos” in the desert or rescuing non-playable characters.

Development

''Freaky Flyers'' had a protracted development cycle. It was initially to be published by

SCi Games SCi Entertainment Group plc (formerly The Sales Curve Limited and SCi (Sales Curve Interactive) Limited) was a British video game publisher based in London. The company was founded in 1988 by Jane Cavanagh and floated on the stock exchange in 1 ...

, who demonstrated it at the 1997

European Computer Trade Show The European Computer Trade Show (ECTS) was an annual trade show for the European video game industry which first ran in 1988, the last event being held in 2004. The exposition was only open to industry professionals and journalists, although it w ...

. It was originally released only for the

and

, before a two-disc GameCube port was issued shortly afterwards.

Reception

The game received “mixed or average reviews” on all platforms according to the

review aggregation A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

. Areas that were praised include the large cast of characters and over 90 minutes of pre-rendered cutscenes included in the game. However, the game was criticized for its slow racing speeds and repetitive character lines and music. Jeff Gerstmann of ''

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

'' noted that “The game does have its moments, but the racing simply isn’t very exciting.”

References

External links

* {{moby game, id=/freaky-flyers 2003 video games Air racing video games Combat flight simulators GameCube games Midway video games PlayStation 2 games Point of View games Video games developed in the United States Xbox games