Wings of War - Xbox Original

Wings of War for Xbox Original

Wings of War for Xbox Original is an action-focused flying game featuring aircraft from the First World War. You take control of early combat planes and search for enemy formations and ground targets above the European landscape. The controls revolve around turning quickly, keeping a target in your sights and pulling away in time. You do not need to follow the full procedures of a realistic flight simulator before entering an aerial battle.

The campaign spreads its missions across thirteen large areas. Alongside mandatory military objectives, you can accept extra jobs and challenges. These diversions earn points and improvements, such as different weapons, stronger armour or engine modifications. You therefore look not only for the next enemy but also for opportunities beyond your main objective. An additional confrontation can help you develop your aircraft further.

You are not confined to the same kind of battle throughout. Alongside aerial duels and bombing runs, there are fixed gun positions on trains, boats and airships, among other locations. These change your freedom of movement and require you to track targets from a different position. This Xbox release is strictly single-player: the PC version’s network battles are not included on this disc. You play with a regular Xbox controller; a special flight stick is not required.

Region and language

Our Xbox Original games are PAL editions and come with a Dutch or English box, unless stated otherwise. By default, you receive the version for the European market. We note it in the product details if the region is different or the box is in another language. In almost all cases, the game is playable at least in English, and often in the other five common European languages too.

Manual

Wings of War for Xbox Original includes the manual unless the product title states otherwise. If the booklet is missing, the title says “No Manual”. This lets you see before ordering whether the game comes with a manual.

The manuals included with our games usually contain at least English and often around six European languages. The exact languages vary by edition, so Dutch is not always included. The booklet explains the controls and the main rules. You can use it to check how to control the game, which actions are available and how its different features work.

The history of Wings of War

Silver Wish Games developed Wings of War, and Gathering released it for Xbox and Windows in 2004. The studio was part of the development group around Illusion Softworks. In its announcement, the publisher explicitly presented the project as an arcade flying game. The First World War provided the aircraft and landscape, while fast action and many simultaneous targets determined the structure of the missions.

That combination gave the campaign room for more than historical aerial duels. Fixed guns, airships, extra jobs and aircraft improvements provide variety within the same areas. The announcement described more than seventy individual mission stages spread across thirteen environments. That does not mean seventy completely different maps. The large areas form a playing space in which successive objectives and optional challenges continually draw your attention towards something different.

The Xbox release focused on a solo campaign and standalone battles against the computer. Network battles with human pilots remained part of the PC version. The console’s emphasis consequently lay on learning the areas, completing successive objectives and choosing improvements for your own aircraft. Direct controls with a regular controller suited Gathering’s aim: using recognisable early aviation for fast battles, without first having to follow an extensive series of simulator procedures.

Similar games for Xbox Original

Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge on Xbox Original also opts for immediate aerial combat above a landscape full of targets. It follows air pirate Nathan Zachary in an alternative version of the 1930s. Wings of War uses aircraft and a European wartime setting from the First World War. Both prioritise action over extensive flight procedures, but their characters, periods and reasons for fighting are distinctly different.

Secret Weapons Over Normandy on Xbox Original likewise offers a story-led campaign with military aircraft and successive objectives. It takes place during the Second World War and emphasises that conflict’s air operations. Wings of War returns to earlier aircraft and combines mandatory missions with extra jobs within large areas. Both require you to find a good attack angle, but you do so with a different generation of planes.

Heroes of the Pacific on Xbox Original uses Second World War aerial combat around the Pacific Ocean. Pearl Harbor and the subsequent campaign provide its starting point. Wings of War chooses an earlier war above Europe, with biplanes and airships rather than the same Pacific setting. Both alternate between aerial and ground targets, while Wings additionally connects optional missions to its large areas.

Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII on Xbox Original connects aerial action with a group of pilots who have their own support abilities. As leader, you direct that cooperation during Second World War battles. Wings of War revolves around your own plane, extra jobs and improvements within an earlier wartime period. The difference is therefore not just in the aircraft but also in how much attention the game gives your squadron mates.

Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter on Xbox Original also revolves around quick manoeuvring and shooting from a flying craft. There, you fight with spacecraft, futuristic weapons and special Jedi powers in a science-fiction story. Wings of War uses propeller aircraft, fixed guns and an Earthbound wartime setting. Both require you to keep tracking moving targets, but Jedi Starfighter builds its attacks around different vehicles and abilities from those of early military aviation.