Upon receiving Wings of War I didn’t know what to expect from the game. I had been thinking that a low-budget aerial-shooter based during the World War I era couldn’t really offer anything too exciting. Was my initial assumption correct? Well, like the old saying goes, “don’t judge a book by its cover,” or more fittingly, don’t judge a game by its price tag. Wings of War is a fun and challenging game, but it comes with its own share of drawbacks.
One of these drawbacks is the game’s visuals. Compared to other titles on the platform, Wings of War can’t hang with games the likes Crimson Skies or even Jedi Starfighter. The game’s look is very primitive, reminiscent of a game from a generation ago. It’s unfortunate for sure, but luckily the game features a few redeeming qualities in this area. For instance, a large number of aircraft can cause chaos while the game’s frame rate holds up very well.
However, while the game’s graphics may not be up to par, one of the most impressive traits of Wings of War is its sound area. Immediately, I took notice of the game’s orchestrated title track, and quite simply, I’m impressed by it. It has this epic feel that I truly admire. Complementing this is the game’s authentic-sounding voice acting. While
"There’s just something about British accents that just adds class to everything it’s used in conjunction with"
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voice-overs aren’t too abundant during battle, except for blurbs here and there (“Hail to the King, baby!”), the mission briefings are well acted out in a way that it feels authentic to the era the game is based on. There’s just something about British accents that just adds class to everything it’s used in conjunction with. Then you have the sound effects, which are just great. The intense, almost muffled sound each plane’s machine gun firing is fun to listen to. The word “cool” actually came out of my mouth when I first heard the effect. I’m assuming it’s appropriate to describe as just that… cool.
In terms of gameplay, Wings of War isn’t attempting to be a WWI flight simulator. While I may have appreciated the time and work put into a project of that sort, it surely isn’t the best source material for creating an entertaining flight shooter. The early 1900s wasn’t anything close to a golden era of airborne warfare. Most planes could barely fare well in battle and were mostly used for reconnaissance in most scenarios. With that said, Wings of War is actually a shooter of an arcade nature. Many of the gameplay aspects featured are purely fictional, from the impressive mobility of fighters, the power-ups, to the many fictional aircraft solely created for the game itself. This isn’t a game meant for those looking for a brief history lesson.
Wings of War isn’t an on-rails shooter like Star Fox, but more like a free range flight shooter the likes of Crimson Skies. What this means is that each level is massive in size, and what players do, is go through a list of mission objectives and complete them by traveling to different areas across each level. Some of these missions can involve escorting friendly aircraft, destroying enemy caravans, bombing bridges, and that sort of stuff. However, the only thing that becomes clear to players is that they must pretty much blow every highlighted enemy out of the sky. The game’s missions never
", the only thing that becomes clear to players is that they must pretty much blow every highlighted enemy out of the sky"
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seem to be anything too complicated, and when they actually seem to be, like taking a photograph of any enemy occupation, you soon find out that they had never been anything too challenging in the first place. It’s more likely that players had no idea what going on. There’s also not much variety in the game in terms of mission assignments. By the fourth level, you’ve pretty much seen everything the game has to offer and it’s a shame.
Luckily, Wings of War offers a slight challenge… Dogfights can get intense, with players finding themselves being pounded by enemy gunfire in every direction, leaving them in a scenario where the only thing on one’s mind is getting the hell away from all this chaos. When finding myself in this type of scenario I would attempt to fly low to avoid gunfire, but flying too low would often result in me plowing into a few trees, causing severe damage to my aircraft, including the loss of landing gears, etc., something which I found to be a very interesting feature. Although, dying isn’t much of a concern since the game features an auto save feature that basically kicks in after the completion of a single mission objective.
Of course, I still have a few issues with gameplay that I have yet to address, all of which being control issues. One of these issues involves trick maneuvers. While the game’s
"due to the game lack of variety and its repetitiveness, I wouldn’t suggest playing Wings of War in lengthy sessions"
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flight controls function well for their bare purpose, tricks are pulled off very sloppily and don’t have much of an effect on gameplay as I would’ve liked. Another issue involves the zoomed targeting perspective, which oddly is less effective than firing at enemies from the standard viewpoint. It just doesn’t make much sense and comes off as a useless feature that in most similar games could’ve proven to be extremely useful.
The gameplay modes offered in the game are few. All you really have is the game’s Campaign mode and Instant Action mode. While I had described the game’s Campaign mode briefly, earlier in this review, I didn’t mention anything about Instant Action. Instant Action simply pits you in a dogfight against ten AI-controlled opponents, and, if you choose, in teams or just chaotic all-for-one combat. Unfortunately, that’s all there really is to the Xbox version of Wings of War. Unlike the PC version of the game, there is no online multiplayer or LAN support. A bummer, especially when taking into consideration that Wings of Wars would’ve definitely proven to be fun on Xbox Live.
With thirteen levels of play, Wings of War can help eat up a good amount of hours, an approximate fifteen or so. However, due to the game lack of variety and its repetitiveness, I wouldn’t suggest playing Wings of War in lengthy sessions. The game is best enjoyed in short bursts of play. While this doesn’t change the fact the game is still repetitive, it does make the whole experience a bit more enjoyable.
As a budget title, I couldn’t bring myself to go as hard on Wings of War as I would have if it were priced at anything above $19.95. While the game has many flaws and drawbacks, it does provide a mildly entertaining gaming experience that many are sure to enjoy to some extent, even if better titles of the like are available and with Xbox Live support; in particular, Crimson Skies.
