Birds of Steel Hands On

Developer: Birds of Steel / Publisher: Konami / Played on: PlayStation 3 / Release Date: March 2012 / ESRB: Teen [Mild Language, Mild Suggestive Themes, Violence]

Despite taking place in World War II and having a title styled as ____ of ____, Birds of Steel has one powerful and unique boast; when it calls itself “realistic” it actually means it. This is — or can be, depending on how you configure it — a simulation in the strictest sense of the term. I’m talking your plane will handle differently as you consume through your fuel. This is the sort of game that doesn’t use an arbitrary number of hit points to represent your plane’s health. Each bullet is modeled in its placement and damage to the plane. You can get shot in the fuselage all day, but one bullet through the cockpit and you’re out.

Of course, Birds of Steel doesn’t HAVE to be that exacting, I just love that the developers have the balls to push it that hard. If the idea of running out of fuel and ammo doesn’t rub your fancy, you can set the game’s physics and rules to “simplified,” which removes stalls, spins, and adds more markers to help you out. I played a mission under the simplified rules and the game behaved similarly to other arcade flight games I’ve played.

Of course, real men don’t play on no “simplified” rules, so I kicked it up to “realistic” for the next mission. Apparently, real men also stall out and crash the very first time they try to turn the plane. “Realistic” is no joke, and flying WWII-era planes is nowhere near as simple as I assumed. This mode enables full flight simulation, meaning that when I tried to turn and bank the plane as hard as I could, I completely murdered my air speed and foolishly spiraled into the ocean.

However, this allowed me to experience Birds of Steel’s novel approach to death. Though you can’t respawn, if you die or crash, you can just switch to a different pilot in your wing. Lose your entire wing though, and the mission’s over. So, I assumed control of another brave pilot that probably wouldn’t be going home after the battle. I try to turn with a gentler touch, and actually manage to get the beast pointed towards the bombers I’m to shoot down. These bombers have no fighter escort, by the way. We’re talking huge, fat, defenseless targets… and even taking them down on “realistic” controls was extremely challenging. Wind buffeted my plane back and forth and every adjustment would cause the plane to sway wildly. Just controlling these machines requires finesse and skill, which gives me a greater appreciation for anyone that’s actually good at it in simulation or reality.

Birds of Steel will also offer tons of online content, including a dynamic campaign that captured my interest. With a dynamically generated map and list of missions, you and four other players can engage in sorties to gradually capture territory and eventually conquer the area. It sounds like a great way to spend an evening with a group of friends. There will also be a competitive mode in which you have to destroy your opponent’s airfield while protecting your own. This mode revolves around coordination — ten fighters might be able to slap every bomber out of the air, but they won’t do any damage to a ground target.

Stack that on top of over 100 unlockable planes, an in-game badge system that tracks your accomplishments, and a cool decal system that lets you decorate your plane with marks signifying your prowess in battle, and flight buffs have an awful lot to get excited about. The fact that there hasn’t been anything to be excited about in a while helps. Next to IL-2 Sturmovik (the console version of which was actually made by the same developer), Birds of Steel is your only source for World War II sim on a console. Good thing it looks awesome.

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