Platform: Nintendo Wii

Genre: Flying / Action

Number of Players: 1 - 2

It is no secret that the popularity of the Nintendo Wii system and its catalog of games is due almost entirely to the innovative motion sensitive and dual-handed controller design. It is the reason I own a Wii and the main reason I continue to replay nearly every game I own, whether I have finished them or not. Because of this, I was very excited to see that Konami was putting out a flying game for the system...both as a chance to play a game from one of my favorite genres and to see how the Wii’s remote would put a unique twist on it. While an entertaining way to pass a few hours, Wing Island does little to put its stamp on either the genre of flying games or the awesome control capabilities of Nintendo’s new system.

The premise is quite simple...a little too simple in fact. You play as Junior, a young anthropomorphic bird who has just found out his grandfather felt an urge of wanderlust and has abandoned the family “flying-handyman” business in order to set out in search of adventure. Now Wing Inc., the business’ planes, the various employees and all the incoming jobs are all yours to oversee and operate. With a squadron of friends and acquaintances to be your wing men, it is up to you to make sure the citizens of the local South Seas islands get whatever help they might ask for.

The tasks you are asked to perform can range from delivering supplies to putting out forest fires to taking aerial photographs...all completed in very similar fashion. By simply maneuvering your airplane to pre-determined points and pressing the appropriate button, your jobs are completed; the only differential is based on the time limit and the accuracy of your attempts. Alongside these hired jobs are also challenges from other pilots. Most of these are made up of simple speed races or balloon popping missions scored on quantity, accuracy and speed. Regardless of which of these challenges you are facing, the “feel” of each and every one of them is remarkably similar and for many they will simply turn stagnant too quickly.

There is no take off or landing in this game, so each mission begins with you already airborne and in route to your task. A small map in the corner of your screen will help guide you towards your next objective; however it appears to be selective and frequently fails to point out the next target unless you are already heading straight for it. There are other on-screen indicators...none of which are of much use to you as you progress through the game. Your airspeed is prominent, but since there is no take-off or landing and your missions are rigorously timed, you will more than likely just want to be flying full speed 95% of the time. Even should you choose to slow down, the precise speed is meaningless.

There is a damage indicator which displays how much of a beating your plane has taken when bouncing off cliff faces, barreling through the oceans surface or smashing into trees and structures. Unlike the majority of flight-simulation type games, crashing into things is more of a nuisance than an actual threat; although damage from previous missions will affect the durability of your plane on future ones unless repairs are completed. The last screen information worth mentioning is the most important...the remaining time in your current mission. You will soon find yourself worrying far more about your time running out (and with it your profits!) than taking a nose dive into the ocean.

Of course there is a little something else on the screen...the game itself. But truthfully, you won’t even notice the graphics or even your game objectives. The game play is so strictly channeled along and monitored for precision and time that your eyes will move back and forth from mini-map to time remaining never stopping to appreciate terrain, lighting effects or even your own aircraft. Perhaps, given the outdated mediocrity of the graphics themselves, this is a good thing. The texture mapping is drab and boring; the landscapes are dotted periodically with trees, the random cow, or if you are really lucky a farmhouse puffing out poorly rendered smoke effects.

The most bewildering effect of them all is when one of your aircraft is destroyed from damage...the flaming wreckage hanging exactly where it came to its demise. Strike the stark face of a stone cliff? The lost plane will simply stay there, glued to the rock and burning. Crash into a boat at sea? The flaming plane will lay crumpled on the deck of the undamaged vessel. In fact, nothing on the ground can be affected by your airplanes wreckage; so forget now about taking out the occasional cow or devastating a villager’s home in frustration as your mission time runs out.

About the only thing of graphical interest that ever occurs onscreen is the occasional solar flare when you turn into the sun, and the tasks themselves are rote and repetitive; so surely this games real strength must lie in its use of the Wii’s innovative controls! Well...no...not really. In fact, the controls are about as basic as can be expected for this system; point the Remote up to go up, turn it left to go left, one button to go faster and one to slow down... Push the remote forward quickly for a speed boost and pull it back towards yourself to slam on the airbrakes. This is utterly simple and poor use of a remote system that is redefining how people play video games.

There are a few flicks of the remote to change your formations when flying as a squad; which you do to complete certain tasks. While the formations each have their uses and benefits like improved turning or higher speed, the remote movements required to change between them are often misread by the game. This results in a frustrating mix of turning around when you want to go faster, or screeching to a halt when you want to spread out your wing men. I’ve seen the Wii’s remote pull off some precision controls, so I have to place the blame for these lapses on the game’s programming.

There are a few things to do outside the story mode of the game, but they both involve only the same tasks that you are trying to take a break from. In head to head mode with two players, you can pop balloons all over again or race the clock all over again...with a friend. There is also a way to fight both the clock AND complete a task you’ve already done...at the same time! There just is nowhere near enough variety in this game to keep it interesting, especially since many of the objectives are frustratingly difficult and you just want to move on...

Come to think of it, frustrating is a great way to describe Wing Island. You’ll be frustrated that you can’t do more with your plane. You’ll be frustrated that you can’t crash and burn, that there are no dogfights, and that you can’t even land or take off. You’ll be frustrated that the graphics aren’t better for a Next Generation console like the Wii, that the screen flickers if too many background pieces are in motion and that the game’s audio is lacking and behind the times. You’ll be frustrated that the missions aren’t more varied and that there aren’t more of them to boot; also that the money you are paid to complete them is paid out slow enough to require MULTIPLE playings of all those tasks before you can build your plane up enough to have a chance at the later tasks...

Well, as stated in the first part of this review, Wing Island is indeed a fun way to waste a few hours, but do not make the mistake of thinking this game is going to be replayable time and again. There is a free flight mode that lets you zip around the levels you have completed without the trials of mission completion, but there is absolutely nothing to do in this mode to keep even free flying entertaining. Wing Island is just under thought out and under developed. While it is great to have a flying game on the Wii, it will be even greater to have one come out in the future that takes full advantage of the controllers, graphics and FUN of the Wii system. I have yet to check out Blazing Angels: Squadrons Of WWII...until then I am afraid that my high hopes are grounded.
 

-aaron-