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Way back in time I used to play a fighting game called “Gekido: Urban Fighters” (Gekido was released for the PS1 back in May, 2000) quite a lot. In the matter of fact, I actually enjoyed “Gekido” more than I did with “Fighting Force” (I grew up playing games like “Double Dragon” and “Streets of Rage“, so that´s my kind of game). Any ways, since it´s been almost thirteen years since I heard anything about Gekido and its developer Naps Team (I´m counting from the release of “Gekido Advance: Kintaro’s Revenge”, which took place back in 2003 for GBA).

It´s said that there will be plenty of intense action moments and heated dialogs in “Iron Wings” (WW2 drama incoming!).

Well, guess what? Just the other day Fabio Capone (one of the founders of the Naps Team studio in Italy) reached out to me (Robin Ek, TGG). So we talked about the old Gekido memories (Fabio hopes that he and the Naps Team will be able to launch a Kickstarter campaign for a new Gekido game sometime in the future), but that was just the half it. You see, Fabio also told me about Naps Team´s brand-new game project (which I had no idea about before he told me). So, what is this “new” game project then? Well, I´m glad that you asked, because it´s a really impressive WWII flight arcade game called “Iron Wings” (for Windows, PS4 and Xbox One):

“Hi Guys,

I’m Fabio Capone the developer of GEKIDO & SHADOW FIGHTER, do you remember that ? I’d like to pitch you about our latest project , IRON WINGS.

IRON WINGS isn’t just a new generation WWII flight game, we want to tell a story about how hard life was in the ‘40s for afro-americans and women who want to become pilots. The Plot is original ( as Indiana Jones ) but it’s based on true events. We are coming out of the blue, we know that ,so please do whatever you can to help us get the word out, share, back, whatever else is a precious help for us. We did everything with our savings and our passion , and we want to show the world that WWII flight simulation games can really change.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart” – Fabio Capone, Naps Team

In “Iron Wings” you (the player) take on the role as Jack and Amelia (two pilots), and it´s your job to try to take down the Nazi aerial menace (which you will get a chance to do through an action intense campaign full of different missions).

Well, now that I´ve checked on the Kickstarter page for “Iron Wings” (am I the only one who thinks about “Wings of Fury“?), and watched every single available Youtube video for the game. I have to say that the game made me think about a mix of “War Thunder”, “Ace Combat”, “Il-2 1946” and “Battle of Britain 2: Wings of Victory“. However, “Iron Wings” seems to offer its own and unique twist to the combat flight arcade genre:

“Iron Wings is a World War 2 story-driven arcade flying shooter. Player takes on the role of the two pilots, Jack and Amelia, as they attempt to take down Nazi aerial menace across a rich campaign of missions, each with numerous objectives and enemies as well as side objectives. While fast paced action goes you will also have to consider some strategy, assigning your partner primary objectives to shoot down, in order to succeed. Iron Wings is primarily and arcade game, a flying shooter, where shooting won’t be enough, where each weapon or tool mounted on each of the two planes will have its role on completing each mission, and you’ll have to deal with the decision on what to do and how to do it.” – Naps Team

In “Iron Wings, ” you will face many different kinds of enemy vehicles and architectures.

I also believe that the same thing could be said about the game´s story as well:

“Iron Wings follows the story of two childhood friends who join the war in a special air force squadron. Under the guidance of Colonel David Ruse, their objective is to locate and stop the general Adler ahead of the ‘Ahnenerbe’, a secret team of Nazi archaeologists and scientists. Game starts during a fund-raising in NY and rapidly moving into war operations with the Operation Husky (the invasion of Sicily) following the real events in the search for Adler. Pilots will face aerial and ground missions from NY, rebuilt in deep detail as in the ‘40s, and other USA locations as Black Canyon, to many of the real battlefields along Europe, from Sicily to Naples passing through Poland and Germany.”

Furthermore, it appears as if “Iron Wings” will include ground fighting game mechanics as well. Because in one of the gif pictures on the Kickstarter page you can see Amelia (one of the playable pilots) use a gun in a close combat street fight. Sure, I don´t know if that part is to be included in the final version of the game, but I truly hope so. As it would be a neat feature. Nevertheless, I like what I´ve seen from the game so far, and I´m far from the only one who feels that way. As “Iron Wings” got greenlit on Steam Greenlight just recently (which it did in a rather short period of time, so I may add).

When you’re up in the air, you can switch back and forth between the two pilots and planes. Furthermore, you can assign orders to the A.i pilot at anytime (each plane also carries a different set of tools and weapons to be used for different tasks).

I was also informed by Fabio Capone that THE Brian Fargo is now a backer of “Iron Wings” on Kickstarter, and that the Kickstarter staff highlighted”Iron Wings” as their “Projects we love” pick. Even so, “Iron Wings” has a long and hard journey a head of itself. Because the game needs to collect 100,000 Euros on Kickstarter in-order to become a reality…And at this very moment, there is about 91,000 Euros missing. However, there is still hope to be found. Because there is about 24 days left on the Kickstarter campaign. In other words, that might just be enough time for “Iron Wings” to reach it´s Kickstarter goal on time. On a personal level, I truly hope that’s the case. As I see a lot of potential in “Iron Wings”, and it´s been a long time since I played a really good arcade flight combat game.

And with that said, what do you think about Iron Wings so far? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section down below!

Robin “V-Act” Ek
The Gaming Ground
Twitter: @TheGamingGround