Wings of Wor (Genesis) review on HonestGamers

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Review by Felix Arabia
June 30, 2007

It’s easy being a critic.

For every small bit of joy brought forth by a hard working soul comes more than enough slop and mediocrity to bury that one ray of light underneath a heaping mound of garbage. Because it can be so tedious to sift through the treasure and trash, it seems justified to release one’s anguish in a scathing review. I would know this through personal experience. Just read my DS reviews.

And yet sometimes, when a game rightfully deserves to be lavishly praised, the words just aren’t able to come out. Wings of Wor is aweome, and it’s easy to write about. While it may be brilliant, it’s far from irreproachable. There are some little stretches where the game goes from absolutely exciting to merely interesting. The marbled halls in the third level are a good example of this. One thing for certain, though, is that Wings is different. That’s the one thing that makes any sense. It doesn’t make sense.

Label me as audaciously awkward – even perfectly perverted – but I have to get this out of my system right now. Wings is best known for a rock-hard wang, a protruding a pecker, if you will. Ironically, this infamous totem is kept tucked away until the end of the of a rapturous series of stages. After an arduous affair into a pulsating, riveting journey through a cellular route colored with pinks, purples, and reds, you’re finally rewarded with a shafting boss whose greatest asset happens to be its grey ramrod.

The penis has the power. And it’s not afraid to flaunt it.

But let’s back up a moment. Wings of Wor, a stellar horizontal shooter in its own right, gets mostly remembered for some smutty design that appears for only a small portion of an otherwise lengthy quest. It’s unfair because what we have here is a grade-A adventure through a wondrous series of worlds bordering on the berserk to the flat out inane. And it’s all done through the actions of a winged warrior known as Wor.

When seeing him before the title screen, Wor looks like he could wrestle you to the ground with the force of a dragon’s claw. When seeing him during the actual game, he appears disappointingly small. But he’s a fighter; he’s not going to let his primitive design upset his natural ability to fire swarms of blue bullets into the ranks of enemies.

Wor’s journey begins inside a watery cave of all places. Where so many shmups have begun over a menacing forest, or beyond the periphery of an enemy base, Wings starts things off with a claustrophobic jaunt through a stalagmite-encrusted, subterranean realm. The quick music sets the tone for Wor’s rampant rampage against fire-spewing volcanoes and misshapen mutants, and after clearing a screen-shaking earthquake (before having to dodge kamikaze palm trees), he comes to the den of a giant rock monster. After piloting through its intricate bullet patterns and turning it into a crushed pile of dust, things change. The evil underground void decides to invite you deeper into the lair.

Things are now bordering on dangerous.

With the music evolving into a maddening orchestration, what started as a mere trip turns into a dangerous encounter into the surreal. From there, Wor will battle a predecessor to Choaniki’s man train en route to a royal battle over a navy blue lake while battling bullet-crapping seagulls and fire-spewing gargoyles all to the tune of a crazy confection bordering on bizarre. This second stage eventually leads our winged hero underneath the calm water currents into a chaotic mess of jellies and barracudas yearning to sink Wor to the bottom. It’s frightfully fun; it’s intriguingly new.

Where many a shooter have been satisfied on using stale steel craft, where shooter after shooter has decided to play it safe by going with the flow, Wings courageously sought to reach an entirely new ground through its use of mythology. Where power-bombs would have served any other game, now magic scrolls rain electrifying thunder bolts and angelic angels’ fury onto whatever happens to be dumb enough to stand in the way of Wor.

Wings of Wor really is a magnificent shooter. The fact that it’s on the Genesis and not the Turbo CD only makes my head spin. It would have been right at home on NEC’s awesome add-on even if it doesn’t have any cinematic sequences. It does have six excellent levels, though, each fittingly tuned to the fine hum of outlandish musical scores. And it does have the penis. What more could you want in a shooter?

It’s ~~tough~~ easy being a critic.

Rating
9	Outstanding The majority of games simply aren't this good. It stands aside from the crowd and you'd be crazy to miss it.
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Game Profile & Content

All

Staff Score (Avg): 8.5 User Score (Avg): 7.5 Press Score (Avg): N/A
Reviews: 4 Guides: 1 Cheats: 3 Ratings: 5	High Scores: 0 Screenshots: 6 Videos: 0

Title: Wings of Wor
Genre: Shooter
Publisher: NCS
Developer: NCS
Release Date: 1991
ESRB: N/A

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