[comp.sys.amiga.games] Wings

mkiteam@osiris.cso.uiuc.edu (E.Japel) (12/18/90)

I just got a copy of Cinemaware's WINGS for the Amiga.  WINGS is a combat
simulation for WWI aircraft.  It is not a flight simulator in the normal
sense of the word, as it does not allow the pilot to take-off, land, or
fly outside of the 'combat zone'.  The pilot starts the game with a 
set of 'attributes', Flying ability, Shooting ability, Mechanical Aptitude,
and Stamina.  These attributes increase or decrease, depending on the pilots
combat results.  There are three basic categories of combat, bombing, strafing,
air-to-air.  The air-to-air breaks down into three subgroups, normal
air patrol (looking for enemy aircraft), ballon busting, and escort.  The game
assigns the patrols which the user flies (the pilot has no choice).  A mission  is successful when the pilot completes the assigned mission (i.e. shooting
down all planes, destroying a certain percentage of ground targets, etc.).
If you have three unsuccessful missions in a row, you get a reprimand, 
the fourth failure results in your dismissal from the aircore.  
 
The graphics are very good, and the action fast.  My only complaint is
that you cannot 'save' games.  If your character dies, you have to 
create a new character.  You don't have to start at the beginning of the
game, but your new character will not last very long at a higher level.  
(my work around was to copy my 'disk 2' every so often to save my status
at that point.)

All in all it is a very worthwhile game to play!

nad@tegra.COM (Nancy Durgin) (12/19/90)

In article <1990Dec18.145134.23339@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> mkiteam@osiris.cso.uiuc.edu (E.Japel) writes:
> [ Mini-review of Wings deleted ]
> 
>The graphics are very good, and the action fast.  My only complaint is
>that you cannot 'save' games.  If your character dies, you have to 
>create a new character.  You don't have to start at the beginning of the
>game, but your new character will not last very long at a higher level.  
>(my work around was to copy my 'disk 2' every so often to save my status
>at that point.)

Actually, you just have to copy the file "player.dat" (I think that was
the name -- the one whose date just changed, anyway), not the whole
disk.  I did this a lot when I was playing the game, and had one pilot 
make it through the whole war (what, me cheat? ;-).

>
>All in all it is a very worthwhile game to play!

Yup, I thought so!

-- 
==============================================================================
Nancy Durgin          | (Usual disclaimers | Tegra-Varityper, Inc. 
uunet!tegra!nad       | apply...)          | Billerica, Massachusetts
==============================================================================

ztsindi@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu (Bill Gant) (12/19/90)

Posted for Clayton J. Miner...Text to Follow
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In article <1990Dec18.145134.23339@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>, mkiteam@osiris.cso.uiuc.edu (E.Japel) writes...
> 
>The graphics are very good, and the action fast.  My only complaint is
>that you cannot 'save' games.  If your character dies, you have to 
>create a new character.  You don't have to start at the beginning of the
>game, but your new character will not last very long at a higher level.  
>(my work around was to copy my 'disk 2' every so often to save my status
>at that point.)

Say what?  There is a game save feature, but it is pretty damn silly if you ask 
me.  To save the game you have to quit.  What a bozonic thing to do!  As for
not being able to restart the game where you died, that's EASY!  If he dies or 
the mission is a failure, re-boot!  Hey, it works for me!  ;-)
> 
>All in all it is a very worthwhile game to play!

Yup yup yup yup un-huh un-huh un-huh yup yup yup yup yup yup yup yup (ad 
infinitum, ad nauseum, as Democratic convention [sorry, cheap shot...])
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colas@avahi.inria.fr (Colas Nahaboo) (12/19/90)

In article <52263@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU>, ztsindi@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu (Bill
Gant) writes:
> In article <1990Dec18.145134.23339@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>,
mkiteam@osiris.cso.uiuc.edu (E.Japel) writes...
> >The graphics are very good, and the action fast. 

They could be faster, but perhaps you have to nuke the OS to do this :-)
(another flame war start ? :-))
But the game is quite good and entertaining, especially with a good stereo!

> > My only complaint is that you cannot 'save' games.
> Say what?  There is a game save feature, but it is pretty damn silly if you
ask 
> me.  To save the game you have to quit.  What a bozonic thing to do!  As for

If you have 3 megs of ram (or more), the best way to play WINGS is to install
it in ram: (just launch the HD  install procedure and copy it in Ram:), so
that, after each mission, just quit, copy player.dat to a floppy that stays in
your drive, and re-launch wings. I think the whole thing just takes 30 secs.

Being able to HDInstall in ram: is very nice, unlike these bozos at sierra
who check if the destination has enough room to hold the files... failing
miserably with ram: !

--
Colas Nahaboo, Bull Research France -- Koala Project -- GWM X11 Window Manager
Internet: colas@mirsa.inria.fr, Phone: (33) 93.65.77.70, Fax: (33) 93 65 77 66
INRIA Sophia, 2004, rte des Lucioles, B.P.109 - 06561 Valbonne Cedex, FRANCE

kent@swrinde.nde.swri.edu (Kent D. Polk) (12/24/90)

In article <1990Dec18.145134.23339@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> mkiteam@osiris.cso.uiuc.edu (E.Japel) writes:
>I just got a copy of Cinemaware's WINGS for the Amiga.  WINGS is a combat
[...] 
>The graphics are very good, and the action fast.
[...]

I wouldn't rate the graphics and action all that good, but it is still
fun. I think the storyline adds a lot to what would been much less of a
game otherwise.

>that you cannot 'save' games.  If your character dies, you have to 
>create a new character.  You don't have to start at the beginning of the

I believe all you have to do is make a copy of "Reel 2/pilot.dat"
before you start again.

>All in all it is a very worthwhile game to play!

Appears to have a problem determining altitude, as I have crashed into
the ground several times while chasing opponents - I appeared to be at
a higher altitude than they were.

The neighborhood kids like it more than F18, Falcon or F29,
which are a little too much (8-12 yrs old).

Be sure and "cpu nocache" before running it on a 3000. Yep, it can't
handle the instruction cache for very long, but it is hard disk
installable and exits gracefully.

====================================================================
Kent Polk - Southwest Research Institute - kent@swrinde.nde.swri.edu
        "Well... can't you get a Novell card for your Cray ?"
====================================================================

hjalmar@cbmswe.UUCP (Peter Hjalmarsson) (01/18/91)

In article <4191@oldipso.rss.ips.oz.au> colin@oldipso.rss.ips.oz.au (Colin Yuile) writes:
>I have a 1 meg version of wings which refuses to work unless the second
>drive is unplugged. My machine is an old 1000, with a 1 meg expansion card.
>When wings boots it says that it has added the extra memory, but it seems
>it needs that little bit extra. Any Ideas?

There is a small PD program called 'add21k' that removes the resources
occupied by the second drive. That might solve your problem. Unfortunatley,
I don't know where to get the program. I just checked with Akvarium, and
it is not on any Fish disk, although a similiar program might be available
there.

(OK, this program probably is _very_ system-unfriendly, and I would not
recommend it normally, so no flames please.)

Since Wings is _very_ system-friendly, it should not be any problem to add
it to the startup-sequence of your Wings Disk. Unfortunately this means you
cannot run it from the HD. Pity.

Best Regards, Peter Hjalmarsson
Amiga Support, Commodore Sweden
...{rutgers|pyramid|uunet}!cbmvax!cbmehq!cbmswe!hjalmar

PYC136@uriacc.uri.edu (Andy Patrizio) (07/01/91)

And The War to End all Wars has ended... Lt. Colonel Simon Templar returned
home, having flown 241 missions, with 326 kills. All five medals were awarded,
including the Victoria Cross long before Farrah got it.

Cool game. But what Air Force in it's right mind lets a pilot fly after 325
kills?

.signed,

   / Andy Patrizio                |  Bitnet: pyc136@uriacc.bitnet        \
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