Altitude
Sorti le 1er mai 2009 sur PC, Mac et Linux, Altitude est un jeu de tir et de simulation indépendant développé et édité par Nimbly Games, reposant sur le moteur LWJGL. Le titre propose des combats aériens en 2D où les joueurs contrôlent l'un de cinq appareils personnalisables, s'affrontant par équipes au sein de paysages variés. La progression repose sur l'acquisition d'expérience permettant de débloquer de nouveaux avions et des avantages tactiques, appelés « perks ». L'expérience multijoueur, décrite comme nerveuse et accessible, s'articule autour de sept modes de jeu distincts, allant du « Plane Ball » à la « Destruction de Base en Équipe », en passant par des formats plus classiques comme le « Match à Mort en Équipe » ou le « Chacun Pour Soi », ainsi que des variantes tactiques à une vie ou basées sur des objectifs.
La presse spécialisée a réservé un accueil favorable au jeu lors de sa sortie. PC Zone UK le qualifiait de « great little indie game », soulignant son prix abordable, tandis que PC Format affirmait qu'il n'y avait « really isn't anything not to like about Altitude ». Cette réception positive se reflète dans un score Metacritic de 79 et une note agrégée de 73,99. Du côté des joueurs, les avis récents sur Metacritic notent toutefois une quasi-absence de population en ligne en 2024, quand les retours positifs sur Steam louent encore un gameplay addictif mêlant adresse et réflexes, fonctionnant sur des configurations modestes.
Médias
Avis des critiques et joueurs
Critiques de la Presse (Metacritic)
« It's a great little indie game, it's cheap and you really should play it. [Mar 2010, p.83] »
« There really isn't anything not to like about Altitude. [Aug 2010, p.101] »
« Altitude's simple premise hides behind a deceptively difficult game, but one that's easily learned and enjoyable to engage in. Although there's plenty of content here, more might have been better, but what is here does last, just so long as it's taken in the right doses. »
« Fast, fun and cheap. For less than 10 bucks and despite a not so charming visual style, Altitude is a very good multiplayer shoot'em up. »
« Plainly the best plane-centric shooter on a 2D plane. Stick through the slow start and enjoy the view later on. [Jan 2010, p.94] »
« If you're into twitchy, fast-paced multiplayer shooters, Altitude might just be worth a look. [Mar 2010, p.75] »
Avis des Joueurs (Metacritic)
« Fun little 2D action multiplayer flying game. Unfortunately almost no players online in 2024. »
« En Resumen: Simple, Fun, Designed as a Multiplayer. . . . . . »
« 12/8/2011: Altitude is a fun little multiplayer scrolling shooter with a surprising degree of tactical depth, and good variety with several different planes, weapons, perks and gametypes, and easy modding means there's never a shortage of new maps. It seems to hobble in terms of it's playerbase, though- there's never many people on and those that are tend to flock to the 24/7 ball_football servers. For the sake of indie gamers and developers everywhere, buy this game Instead of Call of Battlefield 3: Modern Corporate Cash Cow. And then play it too, while you're at it. »
« One of the few games I'll ever give a 10. The planes are perfectly balanced and so are the modes. The game offers Bomb, Ball, FFA and TDM. Ball is essentially soccer/football and Bomb is essentially a destroy the base type of mode. The game is best played online and I wouldn't suggest it solo. Graphics are basic 2d sprites and gameplay is fairly simple to pick up but hard to master. The game's got nice variety with maps and planes. If there's one fault I can give the game is that its' pretty much best played online. I paid $15 for the game and have logged 560 hours. »
« Hands down the most dynamic, deep and addicting game I have ever played. This is a value at any price. The online multi-player ball mode is a mixture of soccer and call of duty. »
« There's a lot of customization and unlockables to make your plane unique & build situational loadouts. However the biggest problem (and the reason I stopped playing) is the unlocks get more powerful as you level up so that higher leveled players can just stomp all over new players. Maybe if this were a PvE RPG setting that would be OK however this has been advertised as a 2D TF2 and results in "noobs only" servers and "big kid" servers that split the player base. If you have a group of friends to play with this could be great fun. On it's own it has little merit unless you want to grind through the kiddie pool in order to play the "real" game. »
« A whole load of fun in a small game! It was well worth the money and is great fun compared to some other repetitive games. I'd recommend it to anyone who is looking for a casual game that is fun and easy to play. »
« This is one of the games that has a great community. I'm playing it for more than 2,5 years and one specific mode, which we like to call "Plane Football" takes all of our time every night. Still after all those years. It is so much fun to pass while anticipating where your team mates could run, while defending with the power-ups you collect here and there. Hard to portray with just words, you gotta see the masters in action. It has multiple soccer-only servers, which you can find one or two full at all times, 24/7. Player base is still growing, no more fancy updates but developers still fixes bugs. »
