Wings of Death

Wings of Death is a vertical scrolling shoot 'em up developed by Eclipse Software and published by Thalion Software in 1990. It was released originally for the Atari ST and then ported for the Amiga.

I'm going to be straightforward with this, Wings of Death is a blast, and I'm sure when you finish reading this review and playing it, you'll think the same thing.

The title is a shoot 'em up developed by Eclipse Software and published by Thalion Software in 1990. Primarily created for the Atari, it was soon ported to the Amiga, where it was received with unanimous acceptance.

The story of the game puts us in the shoes (or rather claws) of Sagyr, a wizard who was transformed into a winged creature by the evil witch Xandrilia. As simple as it sounds, the goal of this entry is to find the witch, defeat her and reverse the spell so that Sagyr becomes human again. An evil witch? Spells on the protagonist? All right, I admit, the story will not inspire books and Hollywood adaptations because of its creativity, but it accomplishes its goal: laying the foundation for gameplay.

When the game begins, and the enemies start to appear, the premise of the story starts to work. In theory, the game works like any shoot 'em up; the hero goes through seven levels full of enemies that can be dodged or destroyed. The exciting thing about the title is that Sagyr can transform into different winged beasts, including a dragon. Yes, a freaking dragon. If you didn't stop reading the review to play and use the dragon, another detail you have to know is that when destroying enemies, you get power-ups that will allow you to improve even more the weapons the character has. The controls feel really fluid and comfortable, so surviving the hell of bullets in this game is not (so) stressful.

The graphics are beautiful. Each terrain is very detailed and handles its own theme and color. Apart from the classic scenarios, like the jungle, others are much more creative and visually impressive. For example, on one level, you can see how gigantic humanoids tried to go through the ground and were frozen in the attempt. Added to very innovative enemies, the title, knowing that it is on a fantasy setup, also seeks to have a quota of realism, which can also be seen in the graphics.

Without a doubt, what most caught my attention in the game is its sound. The only thing that bothered me a little is the voice of the narrator, who even seemed offended by the items in the game. Every time he had to mention the weapon that my character was holding, he did it in the most uninspired way possible, as if he had just been woken up from a nap fifteen minutes before the alarm clock went off.

Leaving this behind, the soundtrack is impressive. The 8-bit tunes handle some tones that can encourage anyone (except the narrator) and motivate you to keep playing. It is also very varied: in some levels can appear absurdly frantic and catchy rhythms and the next level, more mysterious and conservative music. Another important detail is that even if some tracks make you feel that you are facing a challenge, the speed and sounds will always make you feel empowered, it is very well achieved.

Going back to what I said in the beginning, you have to play Wings of Death. The game is an audio-visual jewel that knows how to throw the right amount of difficulty and enemies so that you never get bored. Even if you have already played it, you will always want to come back slightly more.