Ever wonder what being an WW1 pilot was like?,  Thursday, 01 February 2007 Ever wonder what it would be like to be a World War I pilot? Ever wonder how they felt when they strapped themselves into those coffins with wings and challenged fate day after day? Cinemaware's WWI flight sim Wings lets you really find out what it was like, not only due to great gameplay mechanics but also due to an intuitive method of telling a story and creating an atmosphere that really makes you feel like you're there at times. A typical Cinemaware trademark in their games; it's like reading a book, watching a movie, and playing a game all at the same time. And it works.

You take on a role as a pilot wannabe in a flight school sometime after the war begun. First off, you must create your pilot by giving him a name and adjust some of his stats. This is the only time you can adjust them, after that they will rise and fall depending on your performance in the game. F. ex."Flying" will determine just how good you fly, how fast you can turn, how far you push the engine before it stalls and how much control you still have when your plane's been shot up so much it looks more like a certain kitchen utensil than a weapon of war, to name a few. After you've done that, you must fly one of three different test-flights in order to earn your wings and be sent to the 56th Airborne squadron, located in France, in the heart of the war.

Once there, you'll be flying mainly three different missions; bombing, strafing and patrol. Bombing and strafing are 2D scrolling games, while on a patrol you fly in full 3D. However, there is a lot more to the missions than that. To name a few: you'll be bombing trains, aerodromes, buildings, planes, trucks, train stations, bridges, even submarines and destroyers, and you'll be strafing infantry, supply convoys, entrenchments, gun emplacings and more. Just when you think you've played so many bombing missions you feel you know all about them, the game throws another element in that catches you off guard, keeping you on your toes at all times. The 3D flying sections has you flying normal patrol, escort, defensive and offensive flights. So though there are only three basic mission structures, each mission you fly will have something that makes it differ from the others, so you never actually feel like you're flying the same mission twice.

The controls are easy to master. You control the plane with the joystick, you fire the guns with the button, you drop bombs by pushing down on the stick while holding the fire button. That's it. It's a flight sim, but there's no advanced controls here. This is a WWI plane after all, so there's no fancy targeting, radar, missiles and whatnot. Just you in your machine gun-equipped bucket of bolts, in the open sky. Then again, there's no ejector seat or parachutes either, so good luck!

The difficulty is well balanced though. Missions are fairly easy to begin with, and grow progressively harder as the war advances. There is no Game Over in this game. If your pilot should die, you create a new one and he continues the war where the other left off. You shouldn't get careless though, it sucks losing a pilot with great stats and having to go back to a low-stat one. This shouldn't happen a lot, since the only mission that can kill your pilot are the 3D ones. Sure, you can get shot down while strafing and bombing, but your pilot will always survive that. And if you get shot down in a 3D mission, you still have some control of the plummeting plane and may be able to land it. Crash land though, and he bites the dust. Also, while going down, there is a chance that the enemy continues shooting at you. They may hit the pilot, killing him. Which will of course make you lose all control of the plane and crash, but that's not important as he was dead before you hit the ground anyway. So be careful. Also, if you fail five missions in a row, your pilot will get kicked out of the squadron and you'll have to create a new one.

What really impresses me in this game is it's great atmosphere and storytelling. Before each mission, you'll get to read the company journal. Reading about the joys and sorrows of the squadron, about everyday life on the base, and it is VERY well written. Sometimes you just want to continue the game only find out how the story of the 56th Airborne continues. When loading the missions, and sometimes in the middle of a mission, the game presents you with a 'cue card' of sorts, I forget the name, the ones you see in silent movies. These are the 'thoughts' of the pilot so to speak, it tells you what he sees, what he's up against, whether he feels like you're about to get ambushed and so on. The missions will also always end with one of these, either in high spirit or in embarrassment depending on how you did. I said these may pop up in mid-mission, but this is rare and doesn't disturb the flow of the game at all.

Graphics: For an ECS title, this game's graphics are very good. Even the 3D flying sections had amazing detail for it's time. If you are familiar with other Cinemaware titles such as It Came From The Desert, you'll immediately recognize the graphics quality and style they used in their games.

Sound: Top notch. Everything from the roar of WWI plane engines to explosions and machine gunfire sounds very good. The various music pieces are all made to sound as if from the WWI era, and helps create the excellent atmosphere in the game.

Gameplay: Gameplay-wise I never got bored when playing this game. However, if you are one of those that doesn't care for story, and the atmosphere of the game fails to suck you in, then there is a chance that missions will become a tad repetitive in a while. The three basic mission structures has enough variation in them that that is not likely to happen though.

Lifespan: The game is very long, and you will sit many a evening if you want to see the end of the war. Since there is no Game Over in this title, you will get there eventually no matter how bad you perform. And the game's linearity may discourage you from replaying it once the end has been reached.

Overall, this is a well accomplished WWI flight sim, with one heckuva atmosphere that truly grabs you and won't let go.