Wing Arms
| Wing Arms | |
|---|---|
 European cover art | |
| Developer(s) | Bell Corporation |
| Publisher(s) | Sega |
| Platform(s) | Sega Saturn |
| Release date(s) | |
| Genre(s) | Flight simulator |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Distribution | Optical disc |
Wing Arms is a 1995 mission based Flight simulator video game for the Sega Saturn taking place some time after World War II in an alternate chain of events. Players choose one of seven different Allied and Axis fighter planes and are assigned to six seek and destroy missions against a large, equally unified squadron and naval force. It is an arcade style flight simulator, as the physics are simplified for the sake of playability; the planes do not stall when traveling under stalling speeds and planes do not crash against water and other surfaces when descending from high altitudes.
Story
Some time after the summer of 1945, a group of arms manufacturers throughout the Axis and Allied countries known as Avalon revealed to have played a large part in instigating combat in World War II which resulted in the boom of vehicle and weapons production. As soon as the war ended however, Avalon's riches started to decrease, resulting in their decision to keep the war going by using captured Axis and Allied planes against opposite nations military facilities.
A squadron of unified Allied and Axis planes are assembled aboard the USS Enterprise to deal with the newest products of Avalon and to crush the company for good.
Planes
These are the available planes the player can choose from aboard the Enterprise, each have different speeds, shield strength (which serves as the plane's armor) and are all equipped with up to 30 rockets.
- Mitsubishi A6M Zero
- Grumman F6F Hellcat
- Kyūshū J7W Shinden
- P-51 Mustang
- Supermarine Spitfire Mk.I
- P-38 Lightning
- Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe
Gameplay
Players start immediately by choosing the plane they wish to pilot. From there, their missions start with a quick briefing from the aircraft carrier's admiral via radio. Players must accomplish a particular goal in order to progress, particularly destroying a certain number of plane targets or destroying a particular base, ship or fortification.
After every mission, players are ranked by the types of targets they destroyed (Land, Air and Sea), their total amount of targets destroyed, the time it took them to clear the mission and their current rank. Players can work their way up in ranks with 2nd Lieutenant being the lowest and Colonel being the highest. Players are also given three credits they can use once their plane is destroyed.
Reception
The four reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly each expressed different opinions of what Wing Arms's strong points and drawbacks are, but all but one agreed that it was an overall excellent flight simulator. They gave it an average of 7.25 out of 10.[1] The game received an 82% from Sega Saturn Magazine. They praised the variety of missions and the sophisticated control system, though they felt that the enemy AI in the later missions is too difficult.[2]
References
- ↑ "Wing Arms Review". Electronic Gaming Monthly (79) (EGM Media, LLC). February 1996. p. 32.
- ↑ Automatic, Rad (February 1996). "Review: Wing Arms". Sega Saturn Magazine (4) (Emap International Limited). pp. 68–69.