DESCRIPTION

Cinemaware was the Voltron of computer game design in the late 1980s, able to forge an undeniable masterwork from a handful of almost-ordinary arcade mini-games. In the World War I saga Wings, shoot-em-up and dogfight sequences are strung together by the diary of a young pilot. Avoid being shot down by the Hun, and you can experience wartime life through his eyes between 230 missions from 1916 to 1918. Named in homage to the 1927 movie on the same subject, Wings is suffused with class, and the period artwork evokes wistful downtime at the French aerodrome. In arcade missions, you bust enemy surveillance balloons and bomb German U-boats and bases while avoiding Red Cross vehicles. There's a pretty good plane-to-plane combat sim, too, with impressive 3D for the time. All of this is enhanced by the role-playing game element of improving pilot skills. In 2001 Cinemaware announced a remake featuring improved 32-bit versions of the graphics. ~ John Gorenfeld, All Game Guide