Origin has long been known for their ability to push computer hardware to the limits, and Wings of Glory is no exception. One should expect a rather sluggish game if Wings of Glory is running on anything but a Pentium. However there is one difference between this new Origin game and the Origin games of old, and that is the technology. One would hope that for all of the computer muscle it needs, Wings of Glory would be a technological wonder, with an unprecedented amount of detail and beauty. Unfortunately, one's hopes would be dashed. Wings of Glory's graphics are fine indeed, however they're nothing special, and certainly aren't any better than a lot of the games coming out these days.

	If you were to look at the back of the Wings of Glory box, you'd see what look to be some incredibly crisp, detailed planes in various action poses. These shots are of gameplay; however don't forget, they're the size of postage stamps, and when you blow up a postage stamp to a fifteen inch poster, you tend to loose that sharp edge. The graphics are extremely pixelated at any range, and it's sometimes hard to determine whether your looking at an enemy plane, or a far off town on the horizon. Wings does have it's graphical moments, but you'll probably spend the majority of your time shooting at little blobs of color.

	One aspect of gaming that Origin has gotten down pretty much to a science is the proper use of music and sound effects. Wings of Glory has such added touches as the sound of creaking wood in tight turns, the whistle of the air at low rpm, the ripping of wood by speeding bullets, and one unusual sound, the scream of a dying enemy pilot as he tumbles towards the ground. The sound effects are probably Wings' strongest point. The music is your typical Origin soundtrack, with a bit of an eerie twist to it.

	Something that Origin is known for, and to tell you the truth, I'm sick of, is the incorporation of cinematic storylines into their games. It seems that every game has a plot that has to evolve as the game progresses. It was a cool gimmick in the early days of Wing Commander, but it's getting a bit old. On the up side the characters in Wings of Glory are decent and the voices are OK. Luckily, Origin has added an extensive array of single mission options which add immensely to the replayability of this game. Unfortunately, the player can only fly for the RAF in the campaign mode.

	The gameplay is rather mediocre with the control being so so and the speed of action being a bit faster than a snails pace. Wings of Glory may surpass Red Baron is graphic beauty, but falls well short in the playability factor.

	There are some features of Wings of Glory gameplay that add greatly to the game and bring an average game up to a moderately decent game. One of those features is the virtual cockpit, now standard on every flight sim. What's special about Wings' virtual cockpit is that you can lock your eyes onto a target. The virtual cockpit takes over automatically when the enemy starts to go out of your view. This is very helpful, but tricky to use; one must have a very good sense of three dimensional space. Another special little twist to the game is the ability to blank your cockpit off the screen and fly in full-screen mode with just a crosshair. This is unrealistic but fun. Probably one of the most subtle yet nice graphical effects of this game is the pieces of plane that fly off when a plane is being shot, not to mention the varying degrees of smoke. It's about time someone used this effect properly.

	Overall Wings of Glory is a decent game that could use a wee bit more speed, a good network option, some more aircraft to fly (there are only five flyable planes), and some higher resolution. Though I personally prefer Red Baron, Wings of Glory is the first game to come along to even approach Red Baron's level of fun and playability, and I would consider it a decent buy.