Wings of Prey

[Art Blade]

Boys and girls, the moment has come..

Found and dusted off my Thrustmaster HOTAS and it's connected. Disc1 (two DVDs) in the drive.

Starting to install the game  :-X

[Art Blade]

Visit airwargame.com for more information about the future updates!



1. Installing and launching the game
1.1 System requirements
Minimum
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 3200 MHz (or analogous)
RAM: 1024 MB
Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce 7600 256 MB or ATI Radeon X1650 256 MB
Hard disk space: 10 GB free disk space for game files
Operating system: Microsoft Windows XP SP3, DirectX 9.0c
Sound card: DirectX compatible (AC'97 or analogous)
Internet connection: 56 kbits/sec
Keyboard, mouse

Recommended
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 2400 MHz (or analogous)
RAM: 2048 MB
Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 512 MB or ATI Radeon 4850 512 MB
Hard disk space: 10 GB free disk space for game files
Operating system: Microsoft Windows XP SP3 with DirectX 9.0c
Microsoft Windows Vista SP1 / Microsoft Windows 7
Sound card: DirectX compatible (AC'97 or analogous) with 5.1 channel support
Internet connection: 512 kbits/sec
Keyboard, mouse, joystick

The game is not guaranteed to run on integrated graphics adapters and laptop computers.

ATTENTION! ATI Radeon X2100 and older graphic cards are not supported by the producer when used with Windows 7. More detailed information can be found on the producer's website.



1.2 Additional software
You need to install additional programs on your computer for the game to run properly. You can install additional programs and drivers from the game disk or check for and download updates from the following websites:

Microsoft DirectX - http://www.microsoft.com/directx

1.3. Installation
If you bought the electronic version at yuPlay:
Open the catalogue, where the game was unpacked. Then open "redist" catalogue and run setup.exe. Follow the instructions on the screen.

If you bought the electronic version at another portal:
Run setup.exe. Follow the instructions on the screen.

If you bought the game on disc:
Insert the disc in the DVD-ROM. If autorun is on, installation should start automatically. If autorun is off, run setup.exe file from the disc. Follow the instructions on the screen.

1.4. Game activation

The game is protected with online activation. Online activation of the game is registering the game version you purchased by entering a serial number.
After the game is registered, it will not require the DVD disk to run.

When launching the game for the first time, you will need to activate it. Please enter the serial number into the white box. The serial number is inside the game box or (if the game was purchased in an online store) sent to you by e-mail. ( or Serial number can be find in your "profile page" in "my purchases" on yuPlay.com.)
You can activate the serial number in one of the following ways:

With access to the Internet on your (home) computer.
The application is activated automatically after a Serial Number is entered. Such activation process is invisible to user and is considered the most convenient and preferable.
Enter your Serial Number and press 'Next'. The activation is performed automatically.
With access to the Internet on another computer.
Activation by email
Switch to the 'E-mail' tab in the activation selection window. Send the Serial Number and the Hardware Code to the indicated email. The reply message will contain an Activation Key that should be entered to the corresponding field of the application window, and then the "Next" button should be pressed (just as with the activation on the website).

Activation of Multiplayer
If you bought the electronic version at yuPlay.com, your game is already active in the Online mode, and all you have to do is to log in to the program by clicking "Log in" and enter your username and password for your yuPlay account.

If you bought the game in another place, follow these instructions:

To play online with other pilots, you need an account on yuPlay. Setting it up is very easy.

1. Run the game (default shortcut is in the «Wings of Prey» program folder).

2. Click on "Log in", then choose "New User".

3. Enter your e-mail address that you want to use for yuPlay registration, and click "OK".

4. Congratulations. You have just created an account at yuPlay, the password will be sent to the e-mail address you provided.

5. Now click on the "Game Activation" button and enter the Serial Number. This is the same code you entered when you activated your game in the system.
You can find the code in the disc case or it should have been given to you when you bought the digital version of the game.

6. When you enter the code, click "OK". You should have received access to the "Online" mode in the game menu.

[Art Blade]

So far, finished installing. Now going to run the game...  :o :)

[Art Blade]

Cool, I LOVE language selection. And it automatically checked for (and downloaded) updates, 1.78MB.

[smg id=2469 type=link align=center width=400 caption="WoP setup screen"]

[Art Blade]

Activation was as easy as described. It told me I had two activations left.

The game then starts with some nice WWII b/w footage and changes seamlessly to game gfx that picks up where the footage ends. Nice idea  :-X

Next thing is I clicked the options to see if there was anything for my Thrustmaster T Flight-X Hotas. Man, it has a list with truckloads of controllers to select from, and yay, mine was amongst them.

[Art Blade]

OMG. There are SO many things you can have to set up before actually daring to start playing.. very nice though. Better too many than too few options :-X

[Art Blade]

Argh, there is an option somewhere you can check, "historical decals," that seems to freeze the game.. but it doesn't. I had to bail out starting the task manager and there I saw a little pop-up asking me for my email and password for yuPlay, and there was an option "anonymous" which doesn't w@&k if you don't fill in the blanks (to either register or log in). But.. a simple hit on ESC made it vanish, and I could return to WoP. There it stated that I needed to verify on the game's homepage that this option is available (erm, perhaps some translation problem, it's a Russian game alright). The site for you to check is about to follow, there it is.. a DLC or mod for historical decals. And patches etc.

http://yuplay.com/story.php?title=Wings-Prey--Luftwaffe-historical-decals

[JRD]

Excellent report, mate! :-X

Feels like I'm looking over your shoulder as you install the game!  :-D

I read somewhere that Historical decals were forbidden in Gemany. Something to do with a regulation preventing suastikas (spelling?) to be shown anywhere. You think it has some sort of conflict? As if the game "knows" you are in Germany due to your IP!  ???? (I know... unlikely)

[Art Blade]

Thanks :) No, swastikas are not completely forbidden. They are allowed as long as they are part of what is considered art (no capital A) such as films, paintings, books etc. Vidgames however are not considered art, hence no swastikas are allowed. But I didn't really try to download that mod because it isn't really that important right now and if you check the link, it didn't convince me right away (comments about d/l problems from different countries, only 4/5 stars etc.. might kind of cripple the game). And the biggest of all cons, I'd have to bloody register with yet another site  >:(  ;D

[Art Blade]

Now.. my first screenshot that actually registered with the game. I couldn't capture the intro, some setup screens, played a training mission (kind of sandbox) and no screenie.. IrfanView didn't get it from the clipboard either.

Only when I chose to watch the replay (YES, A REPLAY!  :-X) could I manage to create my first screenshot :)

[smg id=2470 type=link align=center width=400 caption="WoP first screenie"]

[Art Blade]

That was just a test, haven't read the loser manual yet (not sure if I will) and I randomly clicked stuff on the menu. Some led to register with yuPlay again for MP experience (NO for frack's sake, I'm not going to play MP) and the Training option is sandbox style. You are allowed to determine almost everything to the smallest detail before you train yourself to.. yes, to what? In my case, it was to prove that I have absolutely no clue what I'm doing, and I'm training hard so I'll be getting better at it. 

;)

One of the things you do in that Training setup is pick a plane to fly. A massive list of types which I don't know what they are, so I took off in a bloody bomber to start dogfights with it if only I had known were everybody was. (Well, there is an option under profiles for stats and "hangar" where you can check specs of all planes and you can rotate them to get to see what they look like and later go to training remembering one of those plane types to pick. I didn't expect to go to training already so I forgot to remember). So I bombed (unlimited bombs) the living daylights out of grassy plains to demonstrate utter dominance and how mean I was and on top shot trees and clouds that looked dangerous or suspicious.

After 10 minutes training was over, I had actually shot down one fighter (or it was my gunner.. I saw how my turrets fired without me touching anything). The stats for that free play were amusing. For accuracy I didn't get a percentage.. all it read was "incredible" LOL ^+-+

[PZ]

Very impressive graphics of the environment  :-X

[Art Blade]

Yes.. looks good  :-X I took a low-fly over houses and stuff, almost could count the bricks of 'em. They cast shadows and all, looks really convincing, not like molten cheese cubes in a three-days-old salad. Bombing something looks quite nice, you see a flash and smoke and debris shoot up, the debris I saw looked like it came from blowing up a massive wooden barn. The planes look good, the one fighter or whatever it was (it had wings) that I shot down actually lost part of its wing, as I was able to watch in that replay.

You can save your replays! Man, like back in the good old days. They are responsive if you hit some keys you can toggle views and supposedly flip from plane to plane and to your own plane, cockpit view seems only to be available when you chose that view during the actual game. The camera resets to TPS view at times, most probably when you did in the actual game. There seems to be either an "action" cam that follows your plane independently (not like nailed to an invisible pole sticking out of your plane following your moves accordingly) so you watch your plane move around while you keep the same camera angle. Or you "follow" your plane as if playing a TPS.

During the actual game you get a cockpit view (as long as the plane you're flying has got one.. apparently not all planes feature a detailed cockpit) or a "virtual cockpit" which resembles the bumper cam of car games, like you don't see anything of your own plane, more like a flying eye with a HUD. Else, a TPS view and a closer TPS view. There is a zoom that allows you to guess what, zoom in on what you're looking at. Not bad, that feature. Actually, the game supports head tracking devices that would connect with that zoom function.

As you have seen in my setup screen I have everything maxed out except, as usual, no AA and no AF. Running the game on my monitor's native res of 1920*1200 it is surprisingly smooth. It feels like cutting butter with a white-glowing axe. Great  :-X

[Art Blade]

I haven't seen birds so far, real birds, erm, I mean our virtual feathered friends. I'd really  like to talk one into a headbutt contest.. like one lusty seagull vs 10,000 lbs British steel heading at each other at around 400 mph.. man, I'd love to watch that replay in slo-mo.  >:D

[PZ]

... not like molten cheese cubes in a three-days-old salad.

lol!  :-X

[Art Blade]

hehe :)

I have no clue what I'm doing, and I'm getting better at it! I just passed some flight school kind of tutorial. Well, at least the first part. The controls (my joystick) still feel not balanced enough, a little too sensitive. Like, If your toe itches it moves through your body and ends in a tiny tremble in your index finger which causes the plane to do summersaults. Can't be right I guess, or can it? :) You don't want to know what a coughing fit might do to your plane, then, while trying to unobtrusively follow your instructor's commands. In my case I heard the radio go, "well done, you seem to know what you're doing!"  ;D

Actually there is more than just the joystick to adjust. The sound is important, too. Can't be good if all you hear is your engine and music while what your instructor is telling you just sounds like a faint murmur. Then you're lucky you didn't waive subtitles.. but keep trying to decipher what's on the screen while you're missing that you're passing your destination area already.. Well done!

I might try again and find out what that nice chap tried to teach me. Actually I am lucky I already know the basics about flying WWII planes ;)

[smg id=2471 type=link align=center width=400 caption="WoP flight training 01"]

[Art Blade]

Here an example of how the landscape appears to be really detailed.

[smg id=2472 type=link align=center width=400 caption="WoP flight training 02"]

[Art Blade]

just found out that during playback of a replay you can freely turn your camera around the plane using your mouse. Good if you want to see stuff you didn't while actually flying that thing.  :-X

[Art Blade]

Here you can see a successful dogfight, plane shot alight, and the pilot bails out (parachute diagonally up and left of his plane, second pic). Oh, the scenario is Berlin, and in the second pic is a landmark (that headland in the river Spree is called Museum Island) that does exist, so it's accurate.

[smg id=2473 type=link align=center width=400 caption="WoP dogfight 01"]
[smg id=2474 type=link align=center width=400 caption="WoP dogfight 02"]

[Art Blade]

I keep practicing (training) dogfights to get maneouvres right and stuff, and this is a pic taken from my latest replay, camera view is "target cam" so I'm the one who's shooting down that pane :)

[smg id=2475 type=link align=center width=400]

[Art Blade]

So far, the game is good. No hiccups, no issues, very smooth graphics, nice sound effects, voices sound good (British flight instructor), occasional radio messages sound good.. a lot of details in every aspect, including an encyclopaedia and a "hangar" and tactical tips (flight maneouvres à la Barrel Roll or Max Immelmann's Turn) -- all very nice indeed :-X And I love to save and watch replays  ;D We can even up/download them, if any of you wants to share/check them :)

The tutorial is what I'm doing now, aiming for the debriefing's "Perfect" stats, and sometimes the tutorial is not keeping up with me, or in other words, I'm already doing stuff I'm asked to do later and that might cause a little confusion. No big deal, for example I prefer to fly using cockpit view (FPS). So when my instructor told me to switch to cockpit view, I actually had to switch to external view first and then back to cockpit view, things like that.

The tutorial is good if you have a massive joystick (mine has 12 buttons and two sticks (2 axis and 3 axis) plus a coolie hat) and have yet to get used to which button does what. Since there are more than 12 options, you might need the keyboard and mouse as well, so I do recommend the tutorial.

For a quick game, you can either go to training where you can set all kinds of parameters to your liking or do single missions that may be escort, recon, defend and whatnot. The actual game is as usual a campaign based game. I'll keep that for later.

In general, so far, I'd say what our old member retiredgord used to say: "Lotsa fun"  ;D :-X

[Art Blade]

I've completed the three main tutorial missions that basically teach you how to lock on a target and making use of your target cam (in game it means your head tilts towards the enemy and locks your view on it as long as that button is pressed). During replay (if you choose to save and/or watch them) you can try to figure out how to do better next time, you'll soon understand if and whenever you did something stupid.. the vid reveals it all ;) ).

Here a nice view of a combat situation.
[smg id=2476 type=link align=center width=400 caption="WoP flight training 03"]

[fragger]

Terrific reviews so far, Art :-X :-X :-X Man, the graphics look fantastic! Now that's a landscape I could be happy to raise hell over ;D Excellent cockpit details too, appears to be very authentic. I actually got to sit in a Spitfire cockpit a few years ago at an air museum, and the game one looks very accurate, as far as I remember. I notice the recommended specs aren't too steep either, which is nice - for me at this point in time, anyway ;)

Did you choose the Spitfire for your training kite, old boy? If so, very good choice :-X The Spitfires would have to be among the best-looking planes of all time. You have style and taste, my friend ;D

Terrific screenpics, too :-X

[fragger]

Forgot to mention:

...haven't read the loser manual yet...

^+-+

[Art Blade]

haha, thanks, fragger  :-() The tutorial puts you in a Spitfire, whether you like it or not, but I agree it's a good-looking plane -- and I voluntarily chose it for training :)