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Genre: Arcade/action

Format: CD

Developer: Freeverse Software

Publisher: Freeverse Software

Minimum System Requirements: Mac OS X v10.4, 800MHz G4/G5/Intel Mac, 512MB RAM, 32MB video card 950MB hard drive space

Review Computer: 2GHz 20" iMac, 1GB RAM, 128MB ATI Radeon 9600

Network Feature: No

Processor Compatibility Universal

Price: $24.95

ESRB Rating: N/A

Availability: Now

Demo: Freeverse.com (175MB)

Official Website: www.freeverse.com/wn2/

I'm going to gush over this game; gush the way the little girls used to gush over Justin Timberlake. I'm going to give it a 5 out of 5 rating, and I'm going to say it's one of the best arcade/action games I've played on the Mac. Understand, though, that I'm quite a fan of Freeverse games, I'm a bigger fan of arcade/action games in general, and Time Pilot—the game upon which Wingnuts 2 is based—is one of my favorite arcade games ever.

Why all the love? Because Freeverse nailed this one. Nailed it so hard you couldn't pry it loose from its awesomeness with a crowbar. I greatly enjoyed the original Wingnuts, but it was a bit too difficult, a bit too repetitive, and a bit too much like its inspiration. With Wingnuts 2, Freeverse seems to have taken an honest, critical look at the original, addressed its shortcomings and added new features to create a game you'll want to keep on your system until...well, until the coming rein of Baron von Schtopwatch.

The premise is the same as with the original Wingnuts (with a bit of mystery thrown in). The Baron (or, more accurately, Ze Baron) is bent on world domination, and his method of achieving this is apparently to fill the skies with all manner of hostile aircraft. The ground, too, as anti-aircraft guns, jeeps and tanks look skyward for the opportunity to down your aircraft. In the original Wingnuts, the ground targets were the hardest to hit. They're still tricky, but not as annoying. A bomb reticule appears before your plane only when a target is near, and you generally have a chance to drop your bomb before you're fired upon. Power-ups will give you more destructive bombs, and some of your planes are better equipped for bombing runs from the start.

Before I get back to the enemies and power-ups, let's talk about your planes for a minute. In the original, you had just one plane. Here, you have a whole fleet of varying planes, each with its own strengths and weaknesses, and each with the ability to increase its power. Most of the planes are modeled after real military aircraft (P-51, F-86, A-10, etc.), and each colored in a pleasant blue to differentiate it from the enemy aircraft. Likewise, the enemey planes are mostly patterned after actual aircraft, and there's no home country here; you'll be shooting down American planes as well as German, Japanese, etc. If your airplane begins to take too much abuse or is low on fuel, you can always land on your carrier and switch to another. This will prove helpful not only for repairs, but also for upgrading (if you see a weapons upgrade floating about, for example, it's often worthwhile to land your current plane and retrieve the upgrade with a different plane that's in more need of the improved weapon) and for making sure you're attacking targets with the proper plane; obviously, to destroy a powerful ground target, you'd want a plane with powerful bombing abilities. Be careful, though. Although new planes are awarded to you as you progress, if a plane is destroyed, you won't get it back. Before I knew what I was doing, I lost my beloved P-51. Chuck Yeager would be so disappointed.

It's important, therefore, to keep your aircraft carrier in good shape. This presents an additional challenge, as your missions will carry you all over the map, and yet you'll need to stay within quick reach of the carrier to prevent it from being destroyed. Two things help you out here: first, the carrier is tough, and second, it hovers around the screen, so you can simply stay nearby and wait for it to get to your objective. There's no time limit, after all. Plus, after you've thinned out the enemy planes, the carrier will be able to fend off the attackers while you take care of other things.

There's another new element for you: goals. Wingnuts 2 doesn't just ask for you to destroy as many enemy targets as possible (although you will certainly have to do that in each mission), you'll also need to retrieve certain artifacts, rescue prisoners, etc. Again, this keeps things interesting and gives you a reason to keep playing level after level.

Two other elements bear mentioning. First, the graphics. Freeverse is one of the developers smart enough to realize that video games aren't necessarily supposed to look real, they're supposed to look fun. The visuals in Wingnuts 2 are a joy to look at it. A clever combination of advanced OpenGL style graphics and particle effects allows for an excellent use of color and transparencies, creating effects that not only alter your strategies (good luck finding ground targets when you're flying through a hurricane) but also make the game visually exciting. The ground maps are static, but that's for the best. With all of the action in the air, the last thing you'd want are animated waves distracting you from your enemies and their homing missiles. Another nice touch is that when the action gets really intense—say, against larger bosses—the camera pulls further back, allowing you to see more on the screen.

The second element I want to be sure to cover is the Freeverse sense of humor, which remains intact. The ever-pleasant and non-confrontational Jen Carols is on hand to offer strategies, warnings and encouragement, and a rogues gallery of villains—including Baron Von Schtopwatch himself—pop up from time to time to make sure you understand just how hopeless your mission is. My favorite joke was probably when Schtopwatch helpfully explained during a fight against one of his boss planes that if I destroy it, he will just get a bigger more powerful plane, and if I destroy that, an even bigger more powerful plane, and if I destroy that...you get the idea.

I also enjoyed that Freeverse used plasq's Comic Life Deluxe to create the cut scenes. Nice product placement, guys...and did you really name a level after an obscure David Bowie/Rosanna Arquette movie?

If I had to make a complaint (and I do, because I'm like that), I'd say that the size of each level hurts the playability. It takes a while to get through these, and there's no way to save your game in the middle of a level. You can pause at any time, but that's not always a viable solution, and it doesn't help when you lose your favorite plane at the very end of a level, forcing you to start all over again if you want to keep your fleet intact. I also had a problem with my Logitech Rumblepad 2 gamepad and Attack 3 Joystick, as Wingnuts 2 wouldn't work with either. You can use the keyboard to control your ship, of course, but that's a difficult way to go on the tougher levels.

Wingnuts 2 is simply a joy to play. The action is intense without being overpowering. It's challenging without being oppressive. It's fun to look at, and it's funny to listen to. It takes a while to play through, and the included level editor will allow for replayability...provided you're willing/able to create your own levels or wait for others to do the same. For the sake of this review, I wasn't willing to do either. It's not like I have the time, though. Being vice-president of the Unofficial Justin Timberlake Fan Club - Northeast Ohio Chapter is quite demanding.

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