OK, I bought WoW a few days ago, and I finally played it last night. It has generated a fair amount of excitement here (a good thing) and sparked a lot of discussion (another good thing), and might get more people playing WW1 flight sims (also a good thing). Plus it only costs twenty quid so really there's nothing to lose. However, with all that said, I got the impression from some of the threads here that WoW was going to be a bit closer to a 'real' flight sim than it turned out to be, so I thought it might be useful to give another, slightly less glowing, review here for those who haven't tried it yet. So here goes. (Quite long)

Graphics - well, you've seen the screenshots and movies. On the whole the graphics are very attractive. Some of the terrain is almost photo realistic. There are lots of ground features. Hills, trees, buildings etc are well implemented (though the blocks of forest less so). However, there is a strange fish eye lens effect (even though the view isn't very wide angle). Aircraft are nicely modelled from what I've seen so far. A variety of colour schemes (from realistic to fantasy eg blue with racing stripes) are available for each plane. Frame rates are consistently very high.

Weather - looks marvellous, with banks of clouds, blue skies, rain and snow, fog, all changing in the course of a mission. However, from what I've seen, these are all background visual effects - you can't get into or above the clouds, and weather seems to have no effect other than sometimes limiting visibility (for the player).

Flight model - well to be honest there isn't much of one. I started my first mission on 'arcade' mode, which seems to mean you can't roll more than 45 degrees. So I quickly switched to 'classic', which gives full freedom of movement. This was an instant action fight between me in an Eindecker and an AI oppoenent in some unspecified biplane, and I proceeded to follow him through a series of five or more consecutive vertical loops. Carrying out experiments away from the action, I looped a DH2 repeatedly from a start altitude of a few hundred feet, without losing speed or (much) height. Planes do lose speed while climbing, and gain speed while diving, and the nose tends to drop in a turn. but basically that's it for flight modelling. You are flying a spaceship, in effect. Not a criticism, as that probably suits the target market fine, but do be aware of this limitation.

AI - AI aircraft are agressive - they get behind you, fire accurately and shoot you down given half a chance. They are also tricky to shoot down, manoeuvring vigorously and using the vertical a lot (see comments on flight model above). It is very hard to stay behind an opponent, partly because all aircraft can turn 180 degrees in about 2 seconds and 20 yards horizontal distance (see comments on flight model above).

Damage modelling - aircraft (especially the player's) show a good range of visible damage, with buckled spars and ripped canvas. However, damage is clearly hit point based and basically attritional - pour machine gun fire into an opponent and his strength (indicated by a strength bar above his plane, unless you turn this off) slowly reduces. The player's aircraft (in campaign at least) has a shield that protects it from damage, Star Trek style. Rockets (all planes seem to carry rockets in instant action) can often cause an instant kill, even if exploding only in the general vicinity of the target. Shot down opponents (at least in instant action with respawn) either explode or spiral down a short way then vanish in mid air. Machine gun ammunition is unlimited, but rockets are so powerful that there seems little reason to use anything else, while they are available (they are limited in number).

Views - A range of external, chase, no cockpit and cockpit views. Fixed views, hat view and a nice mouse view. Optional markers (including off screen arrows) for all aircraft or your current target. No padlock. Simple instruments in the virtual cockpit give a suggestion of speed and altitude (I think) but are neither very useful nor really necessary. A HUD instrument (optional) shows speed, ammo, damage etc.

Production values - consistently high, with attractive and seamless UI, spoken briefings, very nice maps. All very slick and well put together.

Campaign - the campaign is a progression of scripted 'missions', each mission involving a large number of interim objectives, all described in an initial briefing, and on the lines of "Fly to railway station, shoot down fighters, go to factory, take photograph, go to artillery position, drop bomb" and so forth. In flight, coloured indicators show where to go and what to do, so you are rarely in any doubt. While these indicators can be turned off, it would be very hard working out what to do next without them. Pilots talk to one another in flight. The emphasis is on constant action and lots of opponents to shoot at. Progress is saved automatically at various points, and if you are shot down or (more likely) crash, you go back to the last save point and do it all again. (This happened to me three times in the first mission before I lost patience, but I am perhaps unusually intolerant of the 'repeat until successful' approach). Completing objectives gives powerups (more engine power, extra guns, extra shields).

Instant action (offline) - choose a plane (from those 'unlocked' in the campaign, initially a DH2 or an Eindecker). Choose a number of AI friends or opponents (up to 15 a side). I couldn't find a way to specify the aircraft the AI flies - they seemed to be some generic Allied biplane and German triplane. Action starts with each side lined up a short distance apart and a few hundred feet up, all armed with a number of rockets, plus guns. Close and start blasting. Kills are frequent and (with rockets) mostly instantaneous. Planes can be set to respawn or not. A fifteen a side fight is fast, frantic and fun, but the limitations are serious - rockets dominate the fighting (in fact I got into the habit, after loosing off all my rockets, of crashing so that I could respawn with a fresh load). AI aircraft types can't be specified. The very high turn rates make for tight twisting balls of aircraft all shooting one another. Fun factor is high (eg playing a time limited team deathmatch, scores even, with thirty seconds to go, trying to get that one last kill...), realism factor is very low.

Bottom line - it's a simple bit of fun, nice to look at, that gives a good visual feel of WW1 air combat, while playing rather like one of the 'XWing' or 'TIE Fighter' games crossed with a standard FPS. I enjoyed it. But I seriously doubt whether any amount of patching, hacking or modding could turn it into a 'serious' flight sim, and anyone buying it with that in mind might well end up disappointed. Buy it for what it is, or pass, is my advice.