History VideoGame / CrimsonSkies

* DividedStatesOfAmerica: Takes place in an AlternateUniverse where the United States broke up in the early 30s due to Prohibition and the Great Depression.

* RevengeViaProxy: Subverted in the PC game. In the last mission, [[spoiler: Lucas Miles]] intends to kill [[spoiler: Hollywood star Lana Cooper]] as revenge against Zachary. It fails, because his victim proves to be [[DamselOutOfDistress more than able to defend herself]].

There have been two arcade flight-based VideoGames released by FASA Corporation and published by [[Creator/MicrosoftStudios Microsoft Game Studios]]: ''Crimson Skies'' for the PC, an arcade version and ''Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge'' for the Platform/{{Xbox}}. Rather than trying to take a realistic approach to flight, ''Crimson Skies'' instead goes for something akin to ''VideoGame/AceCombat'', where more emphasis is placed on action and almost-fantastical scenarios over a realistic interpretation of flight. This, along with an emphasis on barnstorming, has lead [[https://www.gamespot.com/ GameSpot]]to comment "Crimson Skies is very much based on a 'movie reality' where if it's fun and looks good, it works."

As in the Tabletop Games, the series takes place in a DividedStatesOfAmerica universe, which begins after World War I, when a "Regionalist movement" gains popularity in the Union following the outbreak of [[ThePlague Spanish influenza pandemic,]] rallying behind an isolationist platform. Meanwhile, President Woodrow Wilson's authority is undercut when [[TheRoaringTwenties Prohibition]] failed as a constitutional amendment, leaving the matter to be decided on a state level. The union soon became polarized between "wet" and "dry" states and, checkpoints became a common sight on state borders to stop the flow of alcohol into "dry" states.

The optimism of the TheRoaringTwenties was upset in 1927 when an outbreak of a deadly strain of influenza in America prompted states to quarantine the outbreak, further dividing the Union. Though not as deadly as the 1918 pandemic, the mass disease had immense political fallout, bolstering regionalist "strong state" views and decreasing voter turnout in the 1928 election. Shortly after the Wall Street Crash of 1929, [[BalkanizeMe the nation begins to split.]] And the rest, is history.

** Not much is told about Lucas Miles, the PC game's BigBad, in the game itself. The story of his feud with the Fortune Hunters and [[FakingTheDead apparent demise]] is told in the novels and in a RadioDrama that plays during the game's installation, although said installation is usually completed before the story is over. The full clip can be [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_GtGjExSJc found on YouTube]].

In lieu to the Tabletop Games, the series takes place in a DividedStatesOfAmerica universe, which begins after World War I, when a "Regionalist movement" gains popularity in the Union following the outbreak of [[ThePlague Spanish influenza pandemic,]] rallying behind an isolationist platform. Meanwhile, President Woodrow Wilson's authority is undercut when [[TheRoaringTwenties Prohibition]] failed as a constitutional amendment, leaving the matter to be decided on a state level. The union soon became polarized between "wet" and "dry" states and, checkpoints became a common sight on state borders to stop the flow of alcohol into "dry" states.

There have been two arcade flight-based VideoGames released by FASA Corporation and published by [[Creator/MicrosoftStudios Microsoft Game Studios]]: ''Crimson Skies'' for the PC, an arcade version and ''Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge'' for the UsefulNotes/{{Xbox}}. Rather than trying to take a realistic approach to flight, ''Crimson Skies'' instead goes for something akin to ''VideoGame/AceCombat'', where more emphasis is placed on action and almost-fantastical scenarios over a realistic interpretation of flight. This, along with an emphasis on barnstorming, has lead [[https://www.gamespot.com/ GameSpot]]to comment "Crimson Skies is very much based on a 'movie reality' where if it's fun and looks good, it works."

''High Road to Revenge'' can be played on all generations of Microsoft consoles up to and including the UsefulNotes/XboxSeriesXAndS, either natively or through backwards compatibility.

* BreakTheHaughty: Act III in the PC game begins with Nathan Zachary overhearing a radio broadcast by Johnny Johnson claiming that the Nation of Hollywood is safe from pirate scum like Zachery. Johnson goes on to verbally pat himself on the back for a minute or so prompting Zachary, who has a history with Johnson, to turn of the radio and mutter that someone needs to take the arrogant SOB down a peg or two. The next few missions consist of you doing just that.

* ObviousBeta: The PC game isn't the most glaring example of this trope in action, but it's pretty clear there wasn't much time to polish it before release. The original unpatched game suffered a lot of small issues, and on the computers available at the time, it was particularly prone to massive frame rate drops even in completely nonsensical areas (such as some of the menus). Patches released later on did fix some of the minor annoyances including the save corruption bug, but the taxing performance requirements unfortunately would only be resolved by technology advancements.

[[caption-width-right:250: [[MoreDakka Big guns.]] [[CoolPlane Fast planes.]] [[EvilIsSexy Gorgeous dames.]] ]]

* NoPronunciationGuide: In ''High Road to Revenge'', the "Die" of Die Spinne is often pronounced like "dye", while the correct German pronunciation is actually "dee-uh". Fortunately German characters such as Von Essen at least pronounce it correctly.

* EarlyAdaptationWeirdness: While it does contain some elements from the board game (such as the Black Swan pirate gang as well as the Hollywood Knights squadron and planes like the famous Hughes P21-J MKIII Devastator (used by the famous Fortune Hunters gang), the other hand, such as squadrons like Redmann's Gang and planes like Grumman E-1C Avenger, are nowhere to be existed. The Xbox sequel ''High Road to Revenge'' however had more elements from the board game, such as the Red Skull Legion gang (that serves as one of the Fortune Hunters' rival pirate gangs).

* EarlyAdaptationWeirdness: While it does contain some elements from the board game (such as the Black Swan pirate gang as well as the Hollywood Knights squadron and planes like the famous Hughes P21-J MKIII Devastator (used by the famous Fortune Hunters gang), the other hand, such as squadrons like Redmann's Gang and planes like Grumman E-1C Avenger, nowhere to be existed. The Xbox sequel ''High Road to Revenge'' however had more elements from the board game, such as the Red Skull Legion gang (serves as one of the Fortune Hunters' enemy squadrons).

* EarlyAdaptationWeirdness: While it does contain some elements from the board game (such as the Black Swan pirate gang as well as the Hollywood Knights squadron and planes like the famous Hughes P21-J MKIII Devastator (used by the famous Fortune Hunters gang), the other hand, such as squadrons like Redmann's Gang and planes like Grumman E-1C Avenger, nowhere to be existed. The Xbox sequel ''High Road to Revenge'' however had more elements from the board game, such as the Red Skull Legion gang (serves as one of the Fortune Hunters' enemy squadrons).

* EarlyAdaptationWeirdness: While it does contain some elements from the board game (such as the Black Swan pirate gang as well as the Hollywood Knights squadron and planes like the famous Hughes P21-J MKIII Devastator (used by the famous Fortune Hunters gang), the other hand, such as squadrons like Redmann's Gang and planes like Grumman E-1C Avenger, nowhere to be existed. The Xbox sequel ''High Road to Revenge'' however had more elements from the board game, such as the Red Skull Legion squadron (serves as one of the Fortune Hunters' enemy squadrons).

* EarlyAdaptationWeirdness: While it does contain some elements from the board game (such as the Black Swan pirate gang as well as the Hollywood Knights squadron), the other hand, such as squadrons like Redmann's Gang and planes like Grumman E-1C Avenger, nowhere to be existed. The Xbox sequel ''High Road to Revenge'' however had more elements from the board game, such as the Red Skull Legion squadron (serves as one of the Fortune Hunters' enemy squadrons).