After many years of success withWings Over Flanders Field,the first of only two mainstream WWI themed flight simulators around,the developers behind it OBD Software decided to try out a newsimulator based on WWII.

Bringing in many of the features that made the original a hit, inthis article I take a look at WOTR to see the hype that surrounds it,as well as to see if it serves as a worthy 'successor' to the originalwhile keeping with the theme of World War II.

Download And Install

Installation of Wings Over The Reich is a simple process as astand-alone product, but does break away from the grasp of digitalstores that are almost the standard of these days.

Purchasing the game from their web site, transactions are securelymade through the third-party 2Checkout before giving you a downloadlink to install the game. Download the installer, run the file and thegame is ready to play. It is also very strongly recommended to headover to the web site and install any updates on top of the initialrelease.

In terms of documentation and manuals you will need to learn thebasics, the web site is also full of resources that you may finduseful such as a key guide amongst other things. The forums is alsouseful to find extra help if required.

Navigating The Menus

When you first launch Wings Over The Reich, it takes you into thefront menu of the game and the theme song starts. Now I don't usuallyhum along to game theme songs, but this one has a very BritishPatriotic feel to it, and I caught myself humming along withoutrealising it! A good start so far.

The menu does have an older mid-2000s feel to it, but navigation asa whole is not particularly difficult. Heading into the campaign issimple, as is the decision making for your next battle, and going intoquick combat is also easy to do.

Initially I had issues with the game loading, but this was quicklysorted out after messaging the developer and running update for thegame. Sometimes there will be a small pause on 'loading runtime', butthis doesn't usually take more than a minute as the simulatorprogram itself loads in the background, separate from the menu.

Aircraft

In its current form, Wings Over The Reich gives you two Allied andone Axis aircraft to fly. You get the Supermarine Spitfire Mk IA,Hawker Hurricane Mk I and Messerschmitt Bf109 E4. There are then anumber of AI only aircraft, all Axis, that populate the skies. Theseare the Junkers Ju88 A1, Junkers Ju87 B1, Messerschmitt Bf 110 C4,Dornier Do17 Z2 and Heinkel He111 H2.

These aircraft all look great and really fit the simulatorenvironment. External and cockpit modelling is done to a really highstandard with all flight surfaces defined and animated, with smallerdetails included through the use of bump mapping and high qualitytextures. OBD Software have done a fantastic job at replicatingreal-world aircraft for their simulator and is something they deservea lot of praise when it comes to keeping the now 75 year old planesauthentic.

Audio is also well defined and finely tuned to sound realisticregardless of what you are doing, whether its flying low over theEnglish Channel or following close behind a steam train carryingsupplies cross-country. Sounds are dynamic and with a good headset,really immerses you into the world.

Flight dynamics are really well tuned in WOTR too. Using datatables over blade element theory, these have been really well definedto give each aircraft their own characteristic in the air. TheSpitfire is both quick and nimble but requires a lot of control tokeep tame, while the Hurricane is a much more steady beast - keepingit in a straight line is a lot easier, but the drawback makes itnowhere near as nimble as the Spitfire!

Flying the Spitfire in particular is especially fun, which has seensome major works in the recent 1.5 update to make it flyable. Being aSpitfire Mk.1, it comes equipped with your eight standard M1919Browning machine guns and classic Merlin engine.

Lastly I have to talk about the damage modelling on theiraircraft. Something that distinguishes a good combat flight simulatorfrom a bad one is the damage your aircraft can receive and how itaffects your flying. Flying into enemy fire and being shot at a numberof times, depending on where you are hit determines how your aircraftis affected. I've had a number of occasions where I've lost most oreven full roll control as my ailerons have been shot up and have alsolost my engine on a couple of occasions too. When your pilot is shot,flying in first person covers your screen up with blood and makes yourcontrol reaction slightly slower to indicate damage and pain, thingsthat determine the rest of your battle, or just bailing outaltogether. While the damage may not be as well defined or soft-bodyas that in IL2 Sturmovik, it certainly keeps it at a realistic levelthat puts you right into the seat of your aircraft.

Fighting The Enemy

Dogfighting in WOTR is certainly a challenge, especially forbeginners! This is WWII close combat aerial fighting, no auto aimtracking, no computerised support.

One thing that makes this stand out against other fightersimulators out there is the fatigue system built into enemy and alliedaircraft alike. The longer you fly and the battle goes on, the moretired the pilots become. This means while the dogfight may start outas a high-paced action packed shootout, towards the end the pilotswill start to slow down or even retreat/land altogether.

This fatigue system is also closely linked to aircraft damage andmaintenance too. I have noticed that on some occasions allied AI whentaking off, may straight away return back to base soon after beingairborne if the engine or another vital system fails. This I feel islinked to aircraft maintenance which is a factor of the campaign aswell as quick missions too. If the aircraft doesn't feel right or thepilot feels something is not quite right and therefore not up to thechallenge, they will make the decision to break formation and returnto base.

The campaign in Wings Over The Reich is also both challenging andrewarding. Depending on how battles go, whether you succeed, divert,bail out or are killed altogether will determine the outcome of thewar. You could be four years into a campaign and killed outrightending your game there, or push through enemy lines and make it toGermany with ease. Depending on how you and the AI play, your aim isto gain as much air superiority as possible, while supporting groundtroops in their push against enemy lines and capturing airfields forallied use.

The World Environment

The scenery in Wings Over The Reich I must say is surprisinglygood! I wasn't too sure what to expect as there isn't too much sceneryfrom the 1940s that still stand in the same way today, so a lot ofground class is used to define fields, roads and cities. From the airand even on the ground, the level of detail across the entire map ishigh and flying at 6,000 feet is enough to give you a scene not toodissimilar to what you would expect in the real world!

After running the 1.4 version update too, the world environment sawmany improvements to the landclass definitions as well as the bordersbetween ground textures and variety.

In and around the UK you have the landmarks you expect to see fromStonehenge to the Houses of Parliament, and flying a Spitfire lowaround the Cliffs of Dover is enough to get anybody patriotic! Headinginto mainland Europe, the scenery is then transformed into the Frenchand Belgium landscape that was taken over so quickly by German forcesin Blitzkrieg, with miles of field surrounding your aircraft as youfly into battle.

Night flying and battles are also a sight, with ground spotlightsshining into the sky, lit up by the flak trying to bring youdown. This is both really challenging and exhilarating as you fly inand around enemy aircraft, all in the aim of gaining air superiority.

Seasons have also been nicely defined with the landscape changingdepending on what time of the year you fly in. Snow covered thelandscape during the winters while summers would be bright and clear.

The ground is traversed by AI vehicles, boats and troop movements,both allied and enemy. Locomotives will follow train lines betweencities and towns while vehicles will generally follow roads, unlessheading to specific destinations. Seaborne movements are a lot moredynamic as they don't particularly have a set path to follow, makingfor some interesting scout and shooting scenarios. Be aware for AIaircraft too, whether they are high-altitude bombers or escortfighters. These will be sure to give you some hassle!

Clouds and rain however do feel a little basic, if notdated. Clouds are volumetric, but otherwise don't add too much to thesky environment. I would certainly like to see the weather aspect ofthe game improved in future updates, bringing it up to scratch withthe modern technologies that are now available! The developers areaware of this and it's something they are certainly looking into.

Opinion And Closing Remarks

I have certainly enjoyed playing Wings Over The Reich and willcertainly continue to play it! The dynamic campaign is certainly a lotof fun and each play through will always be slightly different,especially when deciding the outcome of the war!

Flying in WOTR gives you a strong feeling of flying the old fighterplanes over southern England and Normandy, and really immerses youinto the world, putting you right into the seat of the Hurricane,Spitfire or Messerschmitt you fly.

The campaign is also intuitive and gives you a lot of opportunityfor decision making. How does protecting the ground troops affect airsuperiority? Will leaving the ship convoy to join in another missionfurther afield affect their survival rate on arrival? These are alldecisions you need to make which could potentially change the outcomeof the war.

If you're looking for a realistic WWII simulator, then I don'tthink you can get much better than this!

The Technical Bit

Minimum Requirements

• Intel 3.0 GHz CPU Speed or higher
• NVidia Graphics card, 660 GTX or above with 1.5 GB VIDEO RAM
• ATI graphics card with 2 GB+ RAM
• Windows 7 (64-bit) or newer
• 6 GB RAM or higher

Review PC Spec

• Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Steam Edition
• Windows 10 Professional
• 6th Generation Intel® Core™ i7 6700K Processor
• 16 GB RAM
• NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 745

Michael Hayward

Purchase Wings Over The Reich