Birds of Steel takes to the skies

KONAMI and Gaijin Entertainment take the chocks off stunning WWII combat epic

Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH has announced a stunning new blend of flight combat and battle theatre genres, with the advent of Birds of Steel for PlayStation®3 and Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft.

Developed by Gaijin Entertainment, Birds of Steel is a breath-taking combat simulator featuring some of the most pivotal air battles of World War II, including the battle of Midway, Guadalcanal, Coral Sea, the historic attack on Pearl Harbour, the Mediterranean Maltese island, Germany’s Ruhr Valley, and others. Players can select how detailed they want each campaign to be, and are offered a wealth of single and multi-player campaigns.

Birds of Steel offers 20 historical and a wealth of fictitious missions, spanning eight world-famous campaigns, and users are given access to over 100 famous planes from the entire axis and allied forces rosters. A number of planes ideal for each campaign can be selected, and have been faithfully recreated in terms of handling, capabilities and weaponry. The classic Spitfire, P-51D Mustangs, and Messerschmidt 109 are all lined up for combat, as players opt to player opt to fight for the Allies, Japanese or Axis forces.

The game features a breath-taking level of detail, with the weather effects of each war zone brilliantly brought to life, while the handling and battle-scarred planes are susceptible to damage and will suffer in terms of control accordingly. Similarly, a series of camera views allow users to witness their skills from a series of external views, or within the varied cockpits of the 100 planes. The missions are presented in a pre-conflict briefing, and players can also see how their contributions related to the overall path of the scenario, with new planes available on the completion of specific goals. Birds of Steel also offers the user a number of control systems, ranging from simplistic arcade-style movements, to entirely faithful control systems that offer total control over every aspect of flight.

Birds of Steel also enjoys a huge online element. Players can support co-op missions alongside friends, or enter massive multi-player online dogfights to see who owns the skies. Gaijin are busy creating a series of absorbing missions for online users, with team death matches, co-op strike missions, airfield raids, and tournament play all set to throw open the skies for the most intense aerial combat ever to grace the PlayStation®3 and Xbox 360 systems. Squadrons can even edit their finest hours to showcase their skills, and share them with their peers.

“For far too long, first-person shooter fans have been tied to the foot soldier point of view, but we aim to bring the seat-of-their-pants skill and daring of dogfighting and aerial combat to a wider audience,” said Martin Schneider, General Manager, Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH. “Birds of Steel pushes the throttle of realism by giving fans what they’ve been missing when it comes to co-operative online gameplay, incredibly realistic visuals and game dynamics, while spanning the entirety of the war’s air campaigns.”