WoW..........it's all good!!!!

You know as I read all the good discussions going on here about whether Wings of War is a sim or just an arcade game, and whether it can be modded or patched into something more, I've got to just smile and relish in the positive turn of events that have transpired here in these past few weeks............we have a new WWI flight game to talk about, and to consider for purchase!

Now even though some may think WoW may fall well short of what they value in a simulated flight experience, we have all gained something with the release of this new game; the potential to attract new interest for our hobby and for this historical period of WWI combat aviation in particular.

As Tom Cofield noted in his recent SimHQ editorial The Future of Our Genre, we need games (or sims if you prefer) just like Wings of War to revive this atrophied hobby of ours (especially for us interested mostly in the neglected era of WWI combat flight simulation)!

While we all wait now for KOE (revised), and Richthofen's Skies to make their way along their respective development cycles, we can now say we have a new, and fun, and perhaps excellent "introductory" WWI flight game to bring more interest (and folks) back into our flight sim hobby in general.

In fact, I cannot think of a better "cover" for KOE to resume it's eventual development, than to have a fun game like Wings of War arrive to take up the call for WWI flight gammin', as we continue to wait for that "serious" WWI flight sim to come along.

Sure, we might see a realism patch or some mod tweaks come to ramp up the realism and challenge to WoW, but if they don't materialize we still have all gained just the same, for we've got something new and fresh to experience in a WWI flying game, a game which may serve as the perfect draw and introduction to this hobby of Great War flight simulation (and/or flight simming in general), and it'll all give us something to do while we wait for KOE, or RS, or even BoP to debut in the future.

The future is starting to look a lot brighter than it did just a few months ago in fact, and who would have thought we could mark renewed interest for us WWI flight sim fans from the unlikely bebut of a twenty dollar "arcade" game?

I could've never seen this comin', but now realize that beautiful things can come in unlikely packages, and for all it's potential flaws of maybe never "deserving" to be called a true WWI flight sim, the real beauty of Wings of War is that it has arrived perhaps just at the right time for our hobby.

Sometimes timing is everything!!!

Yes a new flight sim is a true blessing after waiting and waiting for KOE to come out in the Fall and then seeing hey in a PC mag about Promised Land patch . Then waiting for it to arrive , then can't get it to work . What a pain in the a . Oh well we'll just wait for KOE . They updated the photo gallery in March so it can't be long now . Oh wait this not coming out now .!!!! Back to try that Promised Land again . Try try try no luck . So I'm reading about KOE and hear about some game called Wings of War . Well this can't be any good haven't heard of it . Like those little unheard of games you see at Wal Mart like Pacific Attack or such . BUT wait a minute there are screen shots in with some of the posts and they look too good to be true .But they aren't . How does it look in flight well thanks to Polovski I see it is great . Maybe it is missing a little something here and there . But it's better than the alternative NOTHING!!Q! If this isn't a SIM enough for you I wonder if you ever played Milton Bradley's Dogfight or Avalon Hill's Richtofeens War or a game I got for my Red Baron crazy brother that you turn a page in a little book and the he goes to page 4 and so on . BORING!!!!!
Glad to see WOW ,does it have a Linear something or a Campaign something blah blah blah I don't care . Hopefully it will be harder in the future but at least it is out . As for KOE I hope it comes out but it won't and the games connected with a new Blue Max movie .Well that's years away. And if it is like most games connected directly to a movie aren't made very well . Spiderman etc. I think any game needs to start out as a toward arcade leaner . To try and include everything is to weigh it down to the point it will never get out the door. As was mentioned by someone you have to consider learning curve for the next generation . If you want there to be one. I have 2 Nephews 11 and 13 . I want them to play these games and they want to but if the thing starts them out like Falcon 4.0 they'll never "crack it" and will return to Doom etc. I'm looking forward to Sept 9th when this game is supposed to be here. Going to get 6 copies and if they mod it great if not great .I ,my 3 brothers (was 2 but one ordered a Dell desktop yesterday and he will enjoy playing multiplayer with us) , 2 nephews and 2 friends will be playing this game .And Rictofeens War will stay in the closet collecting dust . If you're smart you'll join us and show people will buy this type of game and then something harder will come out a mod or a sequeal or a diff game if not spit in one hand and wish for a perfect sim in the other and you know the rest . KOE you had your chance to be first .

some more screenies:

http://screenshots.teamxbox.com/gallery/997/Wings-of-War/p1

I'm going to get it when it comes out - if out of nothing more than curiosity. The more I hear though the more I think I might really play it.

I picked up a $12 game about a year ago called 'Aces of WWI'. I loaded it once, spent a few minutes trying to find an in-cockpit view, and uninstalled...

Hey Wall-dog
- Nearly did this with WoW, trying to find a cockpit view when I first had it.
Press the "C" key several times ( it toggles thru all the views ) till you get into your cockpit.

Well said FlyXWire and Fearlesslds. WoW is the first game that has lured me into trying MP and I had an ablosute blast with it, most fun I've had since....well we won't go into that here.

Team MP is great. The human players generally have names different from WoW's set of squadmates (as listed on the Czech WoW site) so you know when you're up against another flyer, if you have plane labels showing, and it can get quite competitive and personal. With team MP also, you have the added interest of trying to look out for your buddies in trouble as well as watching your own 6.

Having said that SP instant action is nearly as good as MP, the AI is good enough and the action intense enough.

Despite its more arcady nature, the campaign also looks like it will be fun. Probably hard enough to work your way through all the many objectives you get in a mission, but it has a nice feature of autosaving at intermediate points and allowing major saves at main objectives so it's very easy to pick up at or close to where you left off, to reduce the frustration of having to start over.

Yes, the formula is simple, but its very intense and fun. Max difficulty is best - the planes don't seen to roll all the way, in easy mode - and though there's no padlock you can turn on or off a fairly comprehensive set of visual aids to aid situational awareness. All in all this seems to be an exceptionally well designed game and should be very accessible. I never thought I would see myself typing this about an arcade game but WoW is very engaging, it's hard not to like it, and forgive its many limitations from a simmer's standpoint.

Although the time zones are different (UK here) I hope we'll meet up in WoW MP at some point, when y'all get your copies. From the way you are both approaching this, I'd be very surprised indeed if you were other than pleased with WoW.

Well I hope that fun was "multiplayer" too...........LOL!

Actually, I'm most interested in WoW's multiplayer component myself (gonna get it running on my home-LAN for the buds to try out), and I've got to admit I always thought Crimson Skies was a hoot too , but then I guess there are things we can all feel a bit silly to admit to our friends (never confessed that to anybody before......wonder if Dantes is catching this)!

Anyway, I'm looking forward to joining you guys online too...........sounds like lot's of fun Ivor H!!!

Cas141, you can also use the 1,2,3,4,5 keys to switch views to cockpit, full screen etc too.

1 is full screen forward view but then rear and side views don't work,
2 is cockpit, and you can mouselook or use the joystick hat to look around,
3 & 4 are outside views but slightly different.
- 4 lets the mouse pan around the plane with the plane as the centre axis, 3 lets you look around with the centre axis behind the plane. 5 is flyby.

Polovski S!
Thanks
Don't suppose anyone knows how to get rid of the rockets - From the AI, that is.?

Re ditching the rockets, no not yet. If I fly Instant Action with as full real settings as you can get, I find I don't have rockets. Playing MP last night, I still got rocketted often, especially by a guy in a SPAD 7! So howcum he had rockets? I suspect that players have caught on you get bonus stuff by (rg) flying through a hangar, and over these floating markers. I suspect that even tho I've turned these markers off, others can turn them on, or just know that it's odds on that if they fly thru a hangar they will get some kind of upgrade.

That's the only thing i've found out about disabling rockets ie high settings seems to disable them for the player but others, humans at least, can get them. Either that or certain planes can't carry rockets and I happened to chose one that couldn't.

Still need that way of killing them, and those engine upgrades etc. We need that .dta file extractor!!

You need to post the exact problem you have with it over at the Promised Land forum (link on http://www.plgrafix.com) or SWWISA forums (link on http://www.swwisa.net).