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WWII: Aces Review for the Nintendo Wii

WWII: Aces Review for the Nintendo Wii

A World War II flying game on the Wii sounds like an exciting prospect full of serious potential due to the system’s range of unique control options. If the thought makes you envision gloriously tense, Wii Remote-driven dogfights amidst swarms of enemy fighter squadrons and dangerous bombing runs against tanks, ships, and artillery, then you’re not alone. It’s really all the possibilities of what could have been that make the reality of Destineer’s WWII Aces so much more disappointing.

WWII: Aces screenshot

You’d think by now publishers would have finally caught-on to the tiny little secret that the bulk of Wii owners who actually like to play the thing aren’t going to voraciously consume just any piece of crap that has motion controls tacked onto it and call it yummy cake. Ok, that might be a bit harsh; the gameplay in WWII Aces isn’t complete crap, but it’s pretty close.

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The game lets you play key air battles from WWII through three expansive campaigns across a total of 72 missions. You’ll play as the British Royal Air Force, German Luftwaffe, or Soviet Air Force. Some of the scenery, crummy voice-over accents, and back-story will change from one side to another. However, much of what you’ll be doing remains the same in each campaign. It boils down to a whole lot of “machine gun this” and “bomb that” over and over again. Admittedly, the dog fights are cool at first, and it is occasionally satisfying to nail every single target on a bombing run, but the formula grows tiring quickly. That’s when the frustration begins to creep in.

WWII: Aces screenshot

Any temporary fun you might derive from flying around and blowing stuff up is quickly sucked away by the inexplicable, asinine difficulty of certain missions. Escort and protection missions tend to be among the worst since the skies tend to get so chaotic at times that just trying to stay alive yourself takes a front seat to defending whatever hunk of junk you’ve been assigned. Occasionally, you’ll be working away at mission objectives only to find yourself suddenly surrounded by dozens of enemy planes all swarming around you like bees with little warning of the reinforcements. More often than not, you’ll be harassed by gaggles of fighters that all take to ganging up on you viciously to ensure that even the best fancy flying to dodge their fire will still amount to your plane being splayed across the countryside in a heaping wreck of twisted, charred metal. This frequently happens just after you’ve completed your objectives and are given orders to return to base. There’s nothing quite as infuriating as surviving long enough on a mission to complete your objectives only to get shot down seconds before reaching the safety of your hangar. Now I understand why they put the warning screens reminding players to ensure the Wii Remote is securely fastened to your wrist during play: so you don’t accidentally throw it through your television screen in a fit of seething rage.

Given the kind of game it is, WWII Aces features some agonizingly long load times. More than 40 seconds seems like a long time to wait, but when things finally do get underway, it’s hard to understand what the wait was for. Graphically, it barely holds up to early Game Cube standards. The load times would be excusable if there were actually something exciting to do or look at when they conclude. The game lacks detail and polish in pretty much every area, from the bland level design to generic-looking enemy units you’ll run up against.

WWII: Aces screenshot

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The default controls are simply awful. Holding the Wii Remote sideways, you’ll tilt it to move the plane around while tapping the buttons to drop bombs and fire machine guns. Simple movements work fine, but any fancy maneuvers require sharp, jostling motions that offer imprecise results. In some instances I attempted to make a hard right turn and ended up in a left turn or a loop-to-loop. This is particularly irksome when you’ve got half a dozen fighters chewing away at your tail flap with gunfire.

WWII: Aces screenshot

One thing the developers did manage to get right is the fluidity of your plane’s basic movements. It’s fairly responsive to the tilt controls; the problem is, when you throw the other maneuvers (sharp turns and loop-to-loops) into the mix, the whole thing sort of falls apart. The alternate control variations are not a vast improvement, but they’re far more functional. Another control scheme maps the movement, pitch, throttle, and firing controls to the Nunchuk attachment, and the sharp turning and loop-to-loop buttons to the Wii Remote d-pad. With this setup you’ll be tilting the Nunchuck to control the plain, fire munitions, and speed up. A third option lets you also control firing with the Wii Remote. The second option turned out to be the least miserable of the three.

Playing missions in co-operative split screen makes the game uglier and chuggier, but it also doubles your chances of progressing far enough along in the campaigns to feel that you’re not getting completely screwed out of your $40 investment for the game. The game’s other multiplayer options fall flat. There’s no simple option to just fly dogfights against a friend. Instead, you can challenge one another to see who can destroy the most enemies or survive the longest, among a few other uninteresting modes.

Some of WWII Aces’ killjoys would be overlookable if the game was visually impressive or at least played reasonably well. A long campaign doesn’t help if the gameplay itself is intrinsically bad. Poor graphics, partially shoddy controls, boring objectives, and frustrating, repetitive missions make WWII Aces one to steer clear from unless you’re a glutton for punishment.

RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 1.9 Graphics
Uninteresting and bland graphics are quite dated. 2.5 Control
All of the control schemes are flawed, but at least one is manageable enough to play the game with. 3.0 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
Bad voice over work, but the sound effects are decent. 2.0

Play Value
It’s just not fun.

2.2 Overall Rating – Poor
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.

Game Features:

  • Acrobatic Dogfighting: simple motion controls enable you to perform intense acrobatic flying that will have you rolling, looping, dodging, and shooting like an Ace! Unleash complex maneuvers like barrel rolls with a simple flick of the Wii Remote.
  • Mission Gameplay: based on historical campaigns WWII Aces features over 70 diverse missions including strategic bombing, air support, paratrooper drops, and more!
  • Multiplayer: Fly with a partner in any mission in split-screen co-op mode. Or, (no comma) go head-to-head in competitive split-screen multiplayer!
  • Real Planes: WWII Aces features the planes that turned the skies over Europe into a killing field. Get behind the guns of legendary planes such as the Spitfire, Ju-87 Stuka, Mosquito, and He-11. Fly in the battles that shifted the balance of the war, including Dunkirk and the Battle of the Bulge!

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    • Compatible across virtually all gaming platforms and devices
    • An unmatched, immersive gameplay experience (THX 7.1 surround sound capable, detachable mic, and more)
    • Gel padding is incredibly comfortable across a wide range of head sizes


    We earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.
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