Wings Over Vietnam

I was moved to write this review due to the extremely negative, and, I believe, uninformed, review from 21 March 2005 above. I am not connected to Third Wire in any way. I am a flight sim user and prefer the Ubisoft Oleg Maddox designs above most other flight sims. I took to WINGS OVER VIETNAM immediately because of the enormous attention to detail in this design. If you want an idea of how hard it was to bomb targets in Hanoi and Haiphong, give this design a try. If you want to understand why our pilots had such a hard time shooting down North Vietnamese MiGs, give this design a try. If you expect to annihilate targets with impunity, or rack up huge scores of shot down aircraft, this item is not for you. The graphics are decidedly not impoverished or crude. The handling of overcast, clouds, and monsoon conditions is splendid. The depiction of flak and SAMs is unimpeachable. The modeling of the cockpits is very convincing, including panicky MiG calls, the cool informative tactical commentary from the controllers offshore on USN ships, and the screech and howl of various warning devices. The modeling of the MiGs is positively excellent. Usually you will only see a grey blur in the distance, but, if you manage to get close enough, you will feel like you have a real tiger by the tail, and all the detail is there (I once was hesitant about firing on a MiG because, from the angle at which I was approaching, it looked American, but, at close range, the red national markings were visible on the wings, and I gave him cannon. This kind of experience is what sets the great designs apart from the mediocre ones.). In sum, this is an excellent simulator and history teacher. I recommend it without reservations. By the way, a superb flyable MiG-17, -19, AND -21 add-on is going to be available from some mod makers---see the Third Wire website.

There are very few flight simulations dedicated to the air war over North Vietnam. The few that have taken on this period provide loose interpretations of the historical record and are lacking in historical accuracy. Wings Over Vietnam by Third Wire Games is an exception to this trend.

WOV attempts to simulate air combat over North Vietnam from 1965 to 1972. Most of the major U.S. fighter and bomber types from the period are provided. Additional U.S. and flyable communist aircraft types are available as after market "add-ons". The game includes instant action, single mission and dynamic campaign modes.

Campaign missions are identical to the missions found in single mission mode. The only difference is that in campaign mode your actions in previous missions will influence the nature of the missions you will fly in the future. The game is designed to please casual gamers as well as your "hard core" flight sim nuts. As a result the game is extremely scalable, however, if you want a realistic flight experience you must play with all settings on hard!

The flight models provided for the individual aircraft types have been thoroughly researched and offer a very effective and believable simulation of the "real thing". The dials and lights on the aircraft control panel function realistically however the game suffers from a lack of working switches and buttons. A good example of this problem is the lack of an aircraft trim function.

The game's AI coding in the "out of box" version is very weak. Aircraft controlled by the AI do not like to fight in the vertical plane and as a result end up getting shot down while flying in a straight line. This problem can be reduced by using one of the many "patches" available for the game.

The games weapon systems are very well done and for the most part behave like the "real thing". SAM's can only be dodged if you see the launch and follow up by taking evasive action. The early AIM-9's miss most of the time, just like they did in real life. At low altitude the AAA is thick enough to walk on especially over Hanoi and Haiphong! The air to air cannon effect has been the subject of much debate on the WOV forum because of the fact that very few aircraft can survive more than a one second burst from cannon fire of any calibre.

The graphics are a mixed bag. The aircraft textures are very beautiful as well as the AAA and bomb blast special effects. The ground textures do well at creating the feel of flying over Vietnam but they lose a great deal of realism at altitudes higher than ten thousand feet. The graphics engine isn't very good at simulating high altitude. Sound effects for the most part are very good, especially the bomb blast, AAA blast, and jet engine sound effects. I consider the air to air cannon sound effect to be very poor.

Like in many flight sims, the radio chatter can be quite annoying. Most of the time radio warnings such as "SAM Launch!" are meaningless because the speaker never bothers to identify himself or the person he is warning! Radio messages also lack the raspy tone that voice communications were known for at this time.

All its issues aside, WOV is a hell of a lot of fun to play. I am a big fan of the warbirds of the 50's and 60's era, so this sim is a "must have" for people like me. The game controls are all programable and work well with my CH flight control gear. If you are a flight simer looking for a break away from Falcon4 or Lock On then I would highly recommend installing Wings Over Vietnam on your hard drive.

I have just got to write this as a rebuttal to the previous review..This game is fantastic. I don't know what kind of system the previous reviewer is running, but this game works flawlessly on mine. As far as "falling asleep during the game because the missions are too long to reach the target" there is an option in the settings to "start game near target." It really helps to read, not just jump in and start banging away! The targets will blow up if you HIT them. No crazy "third person camera" problems here.

It just drives me crazy when people bash perfectly good games just because they either don't have a decent machine to run it or they just plain don't know how to set it up!

It's a great game, folks.The aircraft are beautifully modelled..Way better than I had expected.