"Red Wings: Aces of the Sky" Review

Playing fast and loose with concepts such as history, physics and bullet damage, "Red Wings: Aces of the Sky" takes a whimsical approach to the exploits of the Red Baron.

It's a game pulled out of Snoopy's daydreams.

Developer All In! Games takes a childlook fascination with the early days of aerial combat.

Forget the grainy black-and-white images of sputtering biplanes stored in your memory bank. In the "Red Wings" universe, the Triple Alliance face off against the Entente in battles that might be better described as cockfights rather than dogfights.

Whizzing bullets, swopping divebombs and impossibly effective spread attacks pummel the screen with pixellated shrapnel. You may mistake the combatants for 21st century stealth jets for the way they handle and distribute damage.

The leaps of fancy are largely welcome, because an ultra-realistic WWI aerial combat game would be a brittle and choppy grind filled with frustrating one-shot deaths and mechanical failure.

As breezy and free-flowing as the action is, though, it also feels a little slipshod and inconsequential. With World War I trappings serving as little more than skins for default mechanical birds of prey, there's not much authenticity to fuel the engines of those who lap up historical detail.

In an effort to please as wide an audience as possible, All In! sacrifices altitude by failing to pay tribute to the most rabid of era fans who might serve as the backbone of its community. Maybe a rougher flight would have made it possible to soar higher.

Publisher provided review code.