Epic Wings

Welcome to the review of Epic Wings!
A game that exists since many years but that I noticed only recenty (because Epic Wings II came out).

For a second I believed it was related to Esper Wing Chronicle due to some common elements between the two (both are games about a conflict between angels and devils in a fantasy setting with many modern elements, like guns, cars and helicopters!). No, Epic Wings is a story about a boy that is killed...
Wait!
... he is resurrected as a paladin to fight evil! Devils and demons especially. Or fallen angels, but this is the very same thing, isn't it?

Epic Wings is a traditional Jrpg where we play as a hero that is joined by some like-minded individuals to fight a crusade against evil. This means creating a party and kicking demon's asses, an activity that is never too old!
What you can expect from Epic Wings are dungeons with random encounters and bosses (some mandatory, some secret and extremely powerful), little puzzles, secrets, optional party members that require some side quests to be recruited (like finding two keys to free them from a cell... sigh I was never able to find the second key, sadly!).


After hunting demons and vampires we are fighting in the arena tournament! A classic!

I already mentioned the random encounters (besides the obligatory/optional bossfights), but how is combat? Well very classical with side view battlers and abilities that require TP, MP or both (some non-magic users still have Mp, but nevermind): the protagonist Snock is the classical paladin (resistant to damage, with some powerful special attacks and healing spells) that fights with swords and wears heavy armor. Soon you will get a rogue and an archer that are more damage dealers (later also a healer mage and a knight, and I won't tell you about the other ones or I will spoil most of the fun!), and even if some opponents are real damage sponges, don't underestimate the powerful critical attacks that our party members can inflict.
Combat difficulty is medium (for most fights, of course) but most level ups will be earned with the defeated of the bosses, so you can avoid some encounters running away, if you want. Anyway after some levels the party will be rather powerful, with Snock's smite multi-attack, Manuel berserker mode that makes him nearly invincible (and uncontrollable) and other very useful skills!

On the other hand there are some extremely difficult optional encounters, and an extra dungeon that opens when the protagonist reaches particular level. So if you want some additional challenge, here it is!
Speaking about challenges and difficulty, I was puzzled when I saw SO many healing spots in the very first dungeon, that makes it extremely easy. Wait! This happens only once and made me underestimate the following area that had stronger enemies and NO healing spots at all! (ok it's my fault, but the first dungeon was EXTREMELY easy due to that) But as I wrote earlier if you stock some potions and other consumables before adventuring you will be perfectly safe (I even never used the resting place inside the castle, for example).

So far everything great: classic gameplay well done and not too difficult, now let's see the flaws of Epic Wings.
Unfortunately mapping is medium. Not bad or terrible, I do not mind the mixture of tech and medieval themes, but there are some errors like some items and forniture that compenetrate other objects (like a jar fused with a piano inside the castle). Also the chest/loot placement in some cases could have been a bit better (like when you find a row of chests), anyway I cannot complain too much for what concerns the dungeons since they are often not as long as I feared, and you can also save the game anywhere. Graphics are ok, some backgrounds and opponents are a bit blurry (due to re-scaling) but nothing too terrible, in any case if I am right it's for the most part Rtp, but at least this gives a coherent appearance to the whole setting.

Then there is the biggest problem I had: typos. Lot of them and sometimes the use of terms like temple and church to indicate the same thing. Yes, the story is not bad, but the writing could have been better. Anyway I am pretty sure that no one of us play this kind of games for the dialogues... still they could have easily been better written (Ok I am not a native english speaker, still I was bothered by the great quantity of typos). Some parts of the story could also have been better made, for example you kill a bad guy and BAM! The place is filled with good paladins (who called them? Who lead them here?). Or in another place we see a cutscene and suddenly the characters seem to have witnessed that (ok Snock has a sixth sense for demons, still this could have been handled better). This is really a pity since I liked the story and the fantasy/mythic/modern setting of the game.


... yeah Manuel, and also a military helicopter!

The Verdict
Epic Wings isn't a bad game at all. It reminds to me of Total Chaos, another game with many characters and many dungeons with random encounters (similarly with the option to save where you want). Total Chaos had better dialogues and story, but I prefer the shorter dungeons of Epic Wings. Both were simple and classic jrpg games with some flaws, but still enjoyable and fun (it is also not too difficult so it won't frustrate players). Said this, Epic Wings is a decent game that offers 15-20 hours of pure adventuring and many entertaining situations, this may be a flawed game but not without some charming aspects.

My advice is this, if you want to play a classic dungeon delving game with random encounters and not too difficult combat, you're welcomed! Just mind the little flaws already mentioned before, just don't expect and overly original game and it is a bit rough around the edges but still quite good and entertaing. My rate is 3/5, Epic Wings a game that does not stand out, but it's not a bad game either. Try it now, it's free!