Wings of Prey

Post by **Dog Pants** » December 29th, 2010, 11:49

Since I think the chat so far about this has been on the Steam sales thread, and a few of us have it. I've played through the tutorials and the forst couple of missions of the Battle of Britain campaign, and it feels quite nice. Nothing to set the world on fire, but playing it on arcade mode (and there seems to be an option for a full sim mode, but I'm not sure how well it would suit a sim fan) it had all the feel of belting around knocking Heinchels out of the sky and no obvious bad points. Both missions I've taken the optional secondary objective of landing and that wasn't too hard without it feeling automated.

All in all, seems like a decent game. Might be a bit short looking at the campaigns (about 5 missions each, although I don't know how many there are) , but maybe any longer and you'd get bored of it.

Mr. Johnson · Post by **Mr. Johnson** » December 29th, 2010, 11:58

I've played on arcade, realistic and sim, and if you want a sim, play IL2 Sturmovik (which is on sale today btw) instead. If you want something that looks good and makes you feel like a real pilot without going through all the effort you'd have to do for a sim, get this.
I personally prefer playing it on realistic mode, you can't do bullshit moves anymore but it makes shooting down other planes somewhat harder and more satisfying. I chased a Messerschmitt for at least 7 minutes the other day before finally taking it out of the sky, very exhilarating!

Post by **Dog Pants** » December 29th, 2010, 12:01

Hmm, yeah I did notice that attacking bombers felt a bit easy. Satisfying as it is when they go down, I couldn't help but feel it was unfair when a couple of bursts from me took their wing off, while flying directly at them getting paggered by machine gun fire just made my HUD flash red. I'd have been annoyed at being shot down had it been equal, but I did feel a bit like I was cheating. Mind you, aiming isn't easy with the joypad.

Mr. Johnson · Post by **Mr. Johnson** » December 29th, 2010, 12:43

I use a joystick for extra immersion, but in realistic mode your plane can go into a stall which is somewhat annoying as I find it a bit difficult to get out of it, but I find it adds to the whole experience. This is also the main reason you can't do many bullshit moves and have to keep your plane level as much as you can.

TheJockGit · Post by **TheJockGit** » December 29th, 2010, 15:31

I have to say it is good fun, not tried multiplayer yet though... might schedule a game if enough 5punkers are up for it.

Anyone not seen it I made a rough and ready video of me playing in Arcade mode

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oazjr5pFU-g[/media]

Post by **Dog Pants** » December 29th, 2010, 16:02

I played a couple of missions in realistic mode and it got on my nerves. You have to manouevre with kid gloves or risk stalling, while the ME-109s pirouette around you in steep dives and climbs. Playing the first Russian mission was awful - the I-16 was slower and less manoeuvrable than either the Spitfires from the previous campaigns or the Messerschmidts you're up against, would stall at the drop of a hat, overheated if put under any strain, and on several occasions the engine just stopped working for no reason. Realistic maybe, but not a lot of fun. Hopefuly I can find a custom setting somewhere between arcade and realistic where the enemy can take more than one burst (those Stukas are a bastard to take down in realistic), but I can actually fly without falling out of the sky. If doing silly manoeuvres means allowing me to climb more than a few degrees and spend less time slowly turning to chase the enemy then sillly me up.

Something I forgot to mention until now, though, is how detailed the ground is. Rolling hills, individual buildings picked out, and even camps of tents and tanks in the countryside.

friznit · Post by **friznit** » December 29th, 2010, 19:12

How does this stack up against IL2, which apparently has a buggerme lot of planes to fly and is cheap atm?

TheJockGit · Post by **TheJockGit** » December 29th, 2010, 20:16

IL2 is a completely different game, but one you should have because it is good at what it does... satisfies flight sim purists but still playable by the norm in society. Plus it does have a shit load of planes and lets you fly in free mode to get used to the controls before trying any of the missions.

Wings is great as an Arcade flight sim but far too annoying in realistic or sim mode.

Post by **Dog Pants** » December 30th, 2010, 10:04

PC Gamer like it.

However, I'm still stuck on the first Stalingrad mission.

EDIT: And it would appear, surreally, that this is IL2 ported to console and back.

TheJockGit · Post by **TheJockGit** » December 30th, 2010, 15:11

I'm on the last part of that episode... the second part was a bitch, took 12 attempts.

Post by **Dog Pants** » December 30th, 2010, 16:04

I did the first one in the end by setting it on arcade. I'm not sure how you could shoot down so many bombers on normal damage in the time limit. Now I'm on the second one and it's back to custom. The Junkers are easier to shoot down, but I still failed.