Friday, February 11, 2011

Wings of Wor (Mega Drive)

Horizontal
Checkpoints OFF
4 Difficulty levels
6 Stages (loopable)
Ship speed by icons
- - - - - - -
Developed by NCS Corp.
Published by DreamWorks in 1991


All I could think of when I laid my eyes and hands on Gynoug (corresponding Japanese release title) was that right there and then I had a Birdman game to play. How cool was that for a teenager grown up on Hanna-Barbera cartoons? Sure, it had nothing to do with the series except for a slight resemblance from the main character, a winged man/angel who's out to battle the most undescribable creatures from the Mega Drive shmup library, courtesy of the same guys behind the Cho Aniki games. You can rest assured though, there are no homossexual undertones in Wings of Wor. From an artistic standpoint, it's surely one of the finest shooters on the system, but it also offers solid gameplay and some decent challenge.

Other important reminiscence I have from this game is that I always found the song on the 1st stage to be awfully cheesy. This is quite unique for me because every other song in the game is great, with heroic motifs that greatly enhance the shooting experience. And you don't have to wait too long to hear them, since most stages have two songs - the second BGM starts playing right after you beat the mid-boss. Another nerdy note is that I think the first song on the 3rd stage could've been taken directly out of Sega's puzzler Columns. However, don't let the soothing music fool you in this level, stay sharp and look out for the blue weapon.

Gee, what kind of mutant experiment were you submitted to, buddy?

Superb art design is what defines the strongest asset of Wings of Wor. The atmosphere is predominantly dark, with very specific themes for each of the 6 stages and a handful of creepy boss encounters. The travel inside the bloodstream of a living organism in stage 5 and the flight among the clouds amidst beautiful parallax in stage 6 are certainly some of the most impressive 16-bit shmup graphics out there. The gigantic bosses are in a league of their own, and the works of H. R. Giger are always mentioned as an inspiration since you have all sorts of weird creatures with both mechanical and human-like traits (watch out for the infamous cock-boss!). Everything is amazingly crafted and original, and some boss attacks even approach a bullet-hellish feel, providing for some intense moments. They're not over-the-top difficult, nonetheless they surely put the player's dodging abilities to the test.

Basic gameplay is pretty straightforward. Items are brought by flying crystals. Destroy them and get naked red orbs to increase shot strength and naked blue orbs to increase the spread pattern. When these same colors appear in a slightly different and bigger orb they will change the shot style: red gives you the spread weapon and blue turns it into a straight shot that extends a bit to the rear, giving the character a short-range protection against popcorn stuff (very important in stage 3). There's also the yellow shot type, which gives you a forward/rear shot. Little feathers increase the character's speed, and hidden 1UPs are uncovered when you shoot their area. Besides these 1UPs, the game also grants extra lives for every 200.000 points.

Beyond the gameplay basics, what really stands out in Wings of Wor is the array of special weapons, which have limited ammo/time and can be very useful. They are labeled by alphabet letters. There's E (energy balls), S (aura shield), T (thunderbolt), L (lightning bolt), H (magic arrow), W (wild fire), G (ground attack) and O (option). You can stock up to 3 of them, always activating the oldest one you got with the A button. Once activated and applicable, the weapon is used by pushing C (autofire enabled). Two of them are time-based (S lasts for a few seconds, W is permanent until you activate the next weapon), five are ammo-based (E, R, L, H, G) and one is hit-based (O). Some special weapons only appear within a specific stage, but if you manage to stock the same weapon consecutively the icons will merge into a more powerful version of them upon activation. Three Gs in the 4th stage and two Os in the 5th stage are a good example of a much better use of the special weapons.


A credit ends before the first stage is over
(courtesy of YouTube user ShiryuGL)

With the exception of the last stage, which consists of a boss rush with all mid-bosses and a previous boss before the fight against the last creepy creature, Wings of Wor has long levels and fortunately a good deal of variety throughout. Well, maybe it goes a bit too far in stage 2, but that's okay because the difficulty ramp is well implemented - the action picks up right afterwards, as well as the need for more careful playing. I recommend point blanking bosses whenever possible for faster killings (and some more of that exquisite muffled sound you hear when your shot damages something), and don't be shy to use the special weapons. Extra scoring is obtained by sticking to the same weapon type, for which repeated items will give you a few more points.

I believe this game is quite underrated even among shmup fans, so I urge you to check it out if you're into the genre and haven't tried it yet. It loops and offers a second round with a slight increase in bullet and enemy count, but after you beat the last boss again the game ends. This is another case where the default difficulty is EASY, so remember to go into the OPTIONS screen to change it accordingly. You'll see there's a "hi-score" display in there, but it didn't work for me. Sometimes it would display a completely different hi-score, or even freeze in zeros. Therefore, if you want to keep track of your score remember to pause the game once the boss is beaten. The angel hero hovers there for a brief while before flying away.

Here's my high score on NORMAL, both loops beaten:

12 comments:

  1. This is a bit weird how I just got a copy of this through the post yesterday, I leave you a comment on youtube about it and then you put this up.. Always enjoy reading your reviews Ed, and still got plenty to sift back through too.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Weird indeed. Hahahaha
    I noticed your post on my Youtube channel.
    I've been wanting to spend some time with this game for a while now, and I finally did it during the last weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  3. One my all time favorite shooters on the Sega Genesis.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great game, especially the boss designs and the high bullet count for a 16 bit system. I even like that cheesy stage 1 theme. Still need to get the game though. Anyway thanks for caring about my suggestion hehe!

    By the way, the Japanese version has normal difficulty as default, it even misses the easy setting completely.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Tks, guys.
    Interesting info on the Japanese release, Battletoad. And tks for the suggestion, I think I might dive into SnS in the near future - even though I remember I sucked in SnS 2..... hehehe

    ReplyDelete
  6. The only thing I remember about this game was the cover art. Which if I seen now I think it had nothing to do with a side scroller shooter.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great article and I agree on Stage 2 dragging a bit in the second half but everything about this game is magic for me, even the negatives. I love the way the music changes as soon as the mid-level boss is defeated, I love the sprite work, I love the weapon power system, I love the muted explosion sound of a defeated enemy, I love the corny high-pitched scream when you die, I love it all!

    I'm close to a 1cc at the moment which is a shock to me considering I had to abuse save state just a few weeks ago to get through at all. I'm happy to know it only loops once as well. When I finish it up I'll post my score.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Awesome! Wings of Wor is a rock-solid shooter and deserves every bit of love it can get.
      I'm looking forward to your high score!

      Delete
    2. I DID IT! I HAVE SUCCESSFULLY 1CC'D A SHMUP! I AM A GOD! WATCH OUT EDWARD! THERE'S A NEW SHMUPPER IN TOWN AND HIS NAME IS JUSTIN MCKINLEY! YES!

      Oh yeah, my score is 3,402,500! w00tZ!

      Delete
    3. wooo-hoooooo
      :D
      But maaan... Less than 1000 points to beat my score? Why didn't you beat it???

      Anyway, congratulations!

      Delete
  8. masterpiece of a shooter which has everything for him
    even a great boss rush, yeah. in fact i'm not into boss rush but this one kinda make sense since you're in what appears to be heaven, so it's an hello again to some of these fuckers you previously butt-kicked :D
    have you tried the 2loops 1CCing in HYPER mode? that a tough affair... fortunately =)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Is there a difficulty setting named HYPER on Gynoug?
      How awesome is that!
      But no, I never tried it, I guess it would be great to come back to the game on it.

      Delete