Wings of Prey

[markkyle66]

Hey guys! I was looking into buying Wings of Prey which is supposidly similar to IL-2. Just curious if anyone else here has it and what they have to say?! Also, I noticed it's available via digital download from steam or yuplay websites. Does anyone here have any dealings with these sites or should I stay away and wait for the product to come out in stores (Sorry I'm very conscious about my credit card/info)

[Dave63]

I've played the demo and quite a bit and I like it. Some observations that may help you:

 

-What you will notice is that it's NOT IL2. Meaning that it's "lighter". Difficulty levels are scalable. All the trim and all that other stuff is there, but there are things like auto trim available. "I don't have to continually re-trim, so it's arcade", I'd rather fly that trim every five seconds so fine by me. I also like the fact that you can do a 360 turn and still have enough airspeed to fly.

 

-The complexity is no where near as high for things like complex engine management. That doesn't bother me since I'd rather fly than try to burn my engine up, but a big knock from the "I can't burn my engine out so it's arcade" crowd. Excessive WEP will overheat you, though.

 

-The AI doesn't seem to be omnipotent. That's good because I don't give a crap about "the Lobby" or whatever else one uses to fly on line because "that's where it's at". You can sneak up behind the buggers and shoot them in the back while they are picking their nose. Some owners of the full game are complaining about sniper AI gunners, but I have to admit at least in the demo, they're not even close to the super uber IL2 AI snipers.

 

-The on line component seems to be underdeveloped right now according to the "it must have an on line component or it will never sell" minority crowd. If this is important to you, wait a while.

 

-It runs like a champ on a computer that is well below minimum specs and is eye poppingly gorgeous. You can FLY a dogfight over Berlin at dusk with a bunch of planes, ground targets, fire and smoke and it's SMOOOOOTH!!! The dynamic lighting and cloud and rain effects make IL2 look like it was done with crayons. Trees look like trees, water is beautiful.

 

-The damage model is WAAAAAYYY overdone. You can fly a sieve home without realizing it's damaged. Wings snap off, mucho smoke and flame. Very Hollywood.

 

-If takeoff and landings and butt busting 45 minute missions are your thing, forget it. It's mostly air starts near your target areas. I think you can still land and stuff if you want.

 

-Re mapping controls and commands is not very intuitive, but once you figure out where and what you need to do, it's not too bad. Some axis need to be reversed to work properly. There are problems with rotaries X45 sticks, but everything else seems to work properly. The pre mapped stick settings are a mess. They are supposed to be working on a patch to fix the control issues.

 

-I have used steam with no problems. I haven't used the manufacturer's, so I can't speak to that. If your worried about your CC, and who isn't, maybe get a pre paid Visa card from Wal Mart or somewhere? Be advised if you download and don't own your own T1 line, it's a biggun at around 6 gigs for the full game.

 

-It has some issues and shortcomings which the hardcore IL2 folks will never accept, no matter what. But, they conveniently forget that it's just released and hasn't had the benefit of the 375 patches that bring IL2 to it's current state.

 

I hope this helps you.

[markkyle66]

A big thanks for the heads up dave! I hear that if you get it from steam instead of yuplay, the swastikas are removed from luftwaffe aircraft. Is that so?

[Dave63]

There's a thread on SimHQ about that and a work around that's supposed to fix it.

 

http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/2930828/Enabling_Swastikas.html#Post2930828

 

Here you go!

[+EmlD]

Thanks Dave63 for this detailed review...

it sounds like... another game of the "blazing angels" line...

 

I decide to go on flying IL2 and wait for the SOW BoB.

[squid]

Thanks Dave :) I was about to post what exactly is the connection of WOP with IL-2. Did i got it right that Birds Of Prey was an a lot lightened up IL-2 version for Consoles (why maddox is nowhere refered to about Birds Of Prey and Wings Of Prey? not even in the credits?) and Wings Of Prey is a ... Birds Of Prey version for the PC? ...

[JediMaster]

Oleg's team made the base engine of Il-2 which was used for BoP/WoP, but they didn't make them, it was another team.

WoP is indeed the PC version of BoP. No idea why they changed the name...

[+X RAY]

The first major addon for WoP,called WoL or Wings of Luftwaffe is on!it adds several missions and 2 planes to play the game as a german pilot,44 new skins included and the swastika switch enabler too,planes included are the P-39 and the ju-88A

[shotdown]

Oleg's team made the base engine of Il-2 which was used for BoP/WoP, but they didn't make them, it was another team.

WoP is indeed the PC version of BoP. No idea why they changed the name...

 

Probably to make people think "This is not a console game"

Edited April 9, 2010 by shotdown

[rotagen]

I just bought Rise of Flight and well.........BIG disappointment, all eye candy, way bloated, little content., bottom line ZERO FUN to play.

 

 

Then I came upon "Wings of Prey"...saw some youtube vids....easily the BEST TERRAIN I have ever seen in a game and runs FAST and smooth.

 

 

Needless to say I bought it. The vid alone convinced me.

[+76.IAP-Blackbird]

You have to tray SF2 and Starys Terrain addons!!!! nearly photorealistic and damn cool

 

But WoP is not il2