Let's start with the down side: it's INSULTING when someone ports a console game to the PC and then allows you to only map 2 gamepad buttons. That's what loses 1 whole star for this game, the fact that it has been ported with the clear and arrogant "The customers are idiots, we don't have to expand a lot of effort on this" attitude. When you switch to mouse, the game is a lot of fun. I grew up on X- Wing and TIE-fighter and, while this game is more arcady then those two, chasing TIEs around is still a lot of fun. Graphic is adequate (give the game's age) and voice acting is up to the task. In summation, if you want to fight with the Rogues and can look pass being insulted by the developer, it's a fun game to play.
I would really like to give this game a recommendation, because it's charming, funny, has a lot of heart and I love Double Fine. I would be willing to forgive it it's boring fighting mechanic and pretty empty strategy mechanic (which doesn't have any real strategy to it). If this game only required you to complete one of these two chores (or a less bad "guitar solo" mini game) every now and then to move on to the next funny scene, I would give it 3 stars because that would be an overall fun experience. Jack Black and all his guest stars are just that fun, story is funny and the graphics are very pretty. Sadly, there is also driving. Terrible, TERRIBLE driving. Don't trust the other reviews when they describe driving as "not great". Driving a Yugo is "not great". Driving in this game leaves the impression that it has been designed by a race of ethereal beings from a non-physical plane of existence who tried and failed to imagine the experience of driving based on reading comics and studying photographs. Your car has no inertia and steering...I honestly never had a RL or virtual experience that is comparable to this steering. The closest thing that I can imagine would be driving a tank with super-traction tires on Jupiter. There are few missions that try to spice up the driving with shooting, but the aiming and shooting is, out of necessity, made very easy because keeping the car on course is challenge enough, unless that course is a straight line. I finally quit the game when a mission (won't spoil the story with background) required me to use the to escape a pursuer. There was couple of U turns on the track and...I just don't know. Maybe one of those genius kids who figure out surgery on their own at the age of 6, without ever going to school, maybe one of them could figure out how to complete a semi-challenging driving course in this game without their hearts overflowing with hate and despair, but I couldn't, so I had to quit and delete the game without completing it.
This review is meant to balance the almost universal acclaim that this game receives. Being a sucker for indie games and innovation, and having listened to all the "OMG I HEART UNDERTALE SOOOOO MUCH!" comments since the release, I finally picked up this game installed and prepared to be amazed. As of yet I am still NOT amazed. (Disclaimer: I am only about an hour into the game. This is because, for the moment, playing this game is a chore which I am only doing out of hope that the game is going to start being amazing at some point. Were it not for all the hype this game would probably bee uninstalled from my PC by now. HOWEVER, since I am going to continue playing at least until I'm certain that I don't like it, I reserve the right to change this review if my opinion changes) SOUND: People are in love with this game's great sound and this confounds and alarms me because it sounds like a 26 years old PC game My FIRST thought after the game started was "HOW DO I TURN THIS DOWN!?" So I had to turn off the sound for the whole app. You can't do in the game because, get this, there is no SETTINGS menu. Let me repeat that: In a game, a game which is being sold for money in the year 2016, there is no SETTINGS menu. You can't choose the volume of the SE or Music or... GRAPHICS: ...change resolution (you can switch to full screen via F4 button). Please don't get me wrong, I love retro games so I can obviously enjoy a game even if the resolution is low (i think this is 640:480) as long as one of the following is true: 1) The graphics is pretty (like in many SNES games, old Disney games or Lucas adventures); 2) graphic is simple and functional (Massive Chalice would be an example of that); 3) the game is designed in such a way that the graphic is almost irrelevant (various Managers and such). This game has graphics that look like they have been drawn by a talented high school student during math class. During the battles, the opponents drawn in black & white. The whole thing looks something out of early 90s. It's not a deal-breaker but it's not enhancing my game experience neither. GAMEPLAY: Puzzles aside, the main reason why everyone is so impressed with this game is that it gives you two options in battle: 1) Fight the enemy (time your click for better hit); 2) Choose one of the1-4 "wacky" verbs, read the "humorous" response, survive mini game, rinse and repeat until the opponents name turns yellow. You may find this concept to be interesting and more fun then regular JRPG combat, I am currently finding it tedious (but, I repeat, I am still in the "when does this get fun" part of experiencing the game)
There is only one bad thing about this game: once it ends you have to deal with the depressing fact that you may never play another game like it again. The FMV advanture genre died because most of those games seemed to have been made by people who figured that if they have FMV they don't have to put much effort into the the whole "game" part of the game. The authors of this game were the other kind of people and they created a true gem. The gameplay is great: point-and-cick, the way that an adventure is ment to be played, with many creative puzzles. The story is great: it starts slowly and graduately picks up pace so that the grand finale really feels like the most exciting moment of the game. It has some nice scares (thanks to great directing), many good laughs (mostly thanks to the great acting) and fantastic music score that follows the tone of the story. But my favorite part of this game and the thing that makes this game unique in my eyes are the two main characters and the actors who play them. These are the most complex protagonists that I have ever seen in the game and I will try to explain why. Gabriel and Grace are two of the most unpleasent people that I ever saw in a game or a movie and that is what makes them great. When I say "unpleasent" I don't mean the standard "he is a rogue but his heart is in the right place because deep inside he is a valiant knight" nor "she seems rude but once you get to know her she is a wonderfull strong woman" - NO! Gabriel is an ignorant, self-centered bafoon and Grace starts every conversation like she is trying to pick a fight (this applies but is not limited to her conversation with a ticket seller in a museum). For me it were these character flaws that made them believable and, as a result, made me care what happens to them. I would hate to spend any amount of time with them in real life but I love playing them and sharing this adventure. This game is a piece of art and well worth the $6 price tag.
The most important thing to know before buying WINGS! is: This is NOT a flight simulation. If you are looking for any sort of realistic WWI air combat, if you are dreaming of outmanouvering the enemy with your Immelmann turn, Split-S etc. then the game that you are looking for is Red Baron (also available on GOG). This is a simple arcade shooter. There are three types of missions: 1) dogfights (camera is positioned behind your pilot's head) in which you have to shoot down enemy planes and baloons; 2) strafing runs (camera is left and above your plane) in which you use your machine guns to kill land targets such as trucks, infanty, trains, tents etc. and 3) bombing runs (camera is directly above your plane) where you bomb stuff using your plane's shadow as a crosshair. The strafing and bombing missions are thrown in to break the monothony. You are given primary and secondary targets. If you destroy enough primaries, your pilot will conclude that he did well, if you do not, he will give himself a one line equivalent of the :( emoticon. That's about it. You get no kills either way and there are no consequences for messing up. I don't know what happens if you hit a Red Cross truck, because I don't know how or why someone would manage to hit one by mistake. I achieved the objectives mostly because I wanted to advance the story which is told in text with no cutscenes (except the animation of the hand pinning the occasional medal on you) The "dogfights" are waaaay easy. I'm no Red Baron, but I was regularly downing all the enemies while my squadmates existed to occasionally get in my way or try to shoot the Jerry through me. There is no fancy manouvering because you don't control your speed directly, but if you want to lose a little speed in order to stay on your foes tail you can do this by slightly ascending. At one point I switched the difficulty to Hard to make it more challenging. Next mission - I shot all 4 foes again. Not a bad game, but a repetative one.
