N-Philes :: News :: Wing Island

Viewing Entry

Wing Island

Posted May 9th 2007 by Terry Harjanto.

Using a bit of imagination, I could easily think of the remote as a flight joystick and the idea of a resurgence of flight games on the Nintendo Wii quickly followed. Unfortunately, considering Wing Island's mundane gameplay and problematic controls, these flight games look as if they're off to an awful start.

In Wing Island you are Junior, a young bird boy who has recently inherited his grandfather's plane-for-hire company. With four other pilots by your wing, your job is to provide airplane-related services to your customers. Unfortunately, a huge majority of these missions are simplistic and lack any depth. Whether you're delivering medicine, dropping flame retardant on a forest fire, or spotting lost bits of cargo in the sea, you're basically just flying from one location to another while occasionally pressing the context sensitive action button.

The time limits in the story based missions may have been intended to put some pressure on the player but they are so short it ends up being frustrating instead. They take away from the game any sense of exploration and doesn't give you room to simply enjoy the flying mechanic of the game which is pretty decent once you get used to them. There is a free-flight mode that allows you to fly around the three different islands in the game, but they have to be unlocked first by completing the missions that are based on them. In the end though, flying around a bunch of islands doing nothing aren't really missions at all.

There are other mission types that involve a little bit more strategizing since you'll need to maximize your speed or ability to turn by using specific formations. Some missions have you taking part in a competition where you have to follow a flight path and pop a string of balloons in a certain amount of time. There are also racing missions where you compete with an opposing squadron of planes and fly through a series of gates first. Unfortunately, these opponents won't deviate from their programmed flight plan. So even if you try to make things interesting by cutting them off, they'll just fly right into your planes and deal enough damage to drop you out of the sky.

The lack of quality in mission design isn't made up by quantity as the three islands in the story mode have eight missions, most of which can be completed in a few three to five minute long attempts. There is also a competition mode but, these missions are little more than racing through gates to get the best time or popping balloons to get the highest score. The only interesting mode is the one-on-one balloon fights against a computer opponent or another player who can use an attached nunchuck. In this mode each player controls one plane with a line of balloons following its tail and must try to pop as many of the opponents balloons as possible.

Those interested in taking Wing Island up for a spin, however, should note that this game isn't anywhere close to a realistic flight simulator. The in-game plane mimics the remote's position: rotate the remote left or right to turn in the respective direction, point up to climb or down to dive. However, if you quickly flick your wrist to turn the remote, the plane will mimic the movement, and this shatters the notion that real flight dynamics and physics have a role in the gameplay. Because of this the experience lies mostly in your hands; if you don't exaggerate your movements, the game creates a genuine sense of flight. But if you flick the remote around willy-nilly, your plane will be performing instantaneous turns that would black out any real pilot. Those looking for a flight simulator will also be disheartened by the fact that every mission begins and ends with your plane in the air, meaning there are no take-offs or landings involved at all.

While basic flying is simple and easy to get into, the more advanced stuff isn't. Changing your squadron's formation and performing special maneuvers are key controller features in the game but don't always work as intended. For example, barrel rolls can be executed by swinging the remote to the left or right. Holding the A button and thrusting the remote forward will put your squadron into a single file formation which makes it easy to fly through small openings. At first, you'll have so much trouble trying to pull of these motion sensing commands that it'll likely dissuade you from playing the game any further. More than once, I've pulled off barrel rolls in the opposite direction than intended. If you stick to it you'll eventually get the hang of things but there will still be times where the game won't recognize the motions. Sometimes this problem doesn't really matter, other times — such as when you're about to fly through a small gate — this results in half of your squadron smashing into a solid surface.

Unfortunately there's nothing to make up for the game's boring gameplay and not-so reliable controls. The graphics in the game look decent, but only from a distance. A lot of the game requires flying at low altitudes, so most of the time you'll be looking at unanimated character sprites, blurry ground textures, and blocky building models. The airplanes themselves look good but they end up looking out of place in such a mediocre world.

Sound also suffers due to mediocrity as nothing will catch the attention of your ears. There are some ambient noises such as the ringing bells of a church tower or the squawk of a seagull, but these are few and far between that most of the time you're mind will be dulled by the constant sound of your airplane's engine. Most of the game's soundtrack features loud booming instruments and stirring crescendos that gives you an impression of the game trying to seem more epic than it really is.

The game's presentation also indicates an apparent rush in development as the game lacks a coherent plot or story despite the existence of many unique characters. Your four wingmen are introduced within the instruction manual but they don't get a single second of screen time in any of the mission briefing or cutscenes. These mission briefings are nothing more than still character images sending text back and forth between each other and are filled with very cheesy dialogue. The cutscenes are actually animated and rendered in 3D but lack the use of any voice acting. Instead, the characters speak in the most annoying and ear-grating beeps imaginable which are intended to mimic the chirp-chirp-chirps of birds.

The developers also should have reconsidered the implementation of gesture controls in the game's menus. Turning the remote left and right to scroll through the menus is simply unnecessary and makes navigating through the game more awkward than it needs to be.

Flatline - Bail out!

For most gamers, Wing Island lacks the depth and complexity to keep them interested for any decent length of time. The game's poor presentation in terms of graphics and sound leaves one disappointed and wanting much more. Wing Island, as a non-combat flight game, may be a good stepping stone for young kids and new casual gamers to get into console gaming, but anyone with any experience with videogames won't find much worthy of their time here.

Posted in: Reviews