“WWII Aces”
Genre: Arcade-style simulation
Developer: Arcade Moon
Publisher: Destineer
Platform: Nintendo Wii
Price: $39.99
ESRB rating: T (teen)
Grade: C

Frustrating.

That’s the word best suited to sum up “WWII Aces,” an arcade-style shooter from game maker Destineer that simulates real World War II air battles and dogfights.

The strategy of the game sounds simple enough: Shoot down enemy planes before they do the same to you. And sure there has to be some degree of challenge to make “WWII Aces” moderately entertaining, because nobody wants to spend this much for a game and grow weary of it too soon.

But even on the game’s “easy” settings, “WWII Aces” left Game Guy thinking that if air battles really were this difficult all the time, no way could either side have survived the war.

“WWII Aces” asks players to tackle individual dogfights or whole military campaigns using fighters, bombers and experimental aircraft from British, German or Russian air forces. The games can be set up to use just the Wii wireless remote for both flying and shooting, or use a combination of the remote and accompanying nunchuk, though this latter arrangement takes some practice to master.

Because military strategy differed so greatly among the three sides in the war in reality, the air campaigns in the game also differ. For example, German planes employ more offensive maneuvers to match the invade-and-conquer approach the Nazis adopted through the war’s early years, whereas the British and Russian forces took up primarily defensive tactics.

But unless players have intimate knowledge of World War II air strategies and are well-schooled in dogfighting, they’ll have a tough time working through the “Campaign” mode, which consists of a series of random battles with specific goals that must be met to advance, rack up points and win gold, silver or bronze campaign medals.

The “easy,” “medium” and “hard” settings speak more to scoring than difficulty level, a realization Game Guy reached trying to win the very first British mission — defending a small ship fleet against two German submarines. The game instructions said only to “1. Protect the ships from enemy aircraft” and “2. Destroy the subs.”

However, the mission pits the one player against 15 German fighters plus anti-aircraft fire from the subs — hardly reasonable odds. It took three tries before Game Guy realized he’d have to win without accompanying air support.

He’s still trying.

More engaging and somewhat easier is “Dogfight” mode, in which players can adjust the number of opponents and frequency of their attack. Though the mode lacks gold, silver or bronze prizes, it at least includes a two-player setting for head-to-head battles — perhaps the most enjoyable aspect of the game.

“Dogfight” mode also comes with three sub-levels: “Time Attack,” which challenges players to race the clock in eliminating opponents; “Master of the Sky,” which requires shooting down a certain number of opponents; and “Fly and Die,” which asks players to shoot down wave after wave of planes until they’re shot down themselves. (On this at least you can adjust the number of planes coming per wave and the frequency of engagement.)

Player planes have two targeting sights always on the screen, one for shooting and one for dropping bombs. Little red arrows floating around on the screen point out the enemy aircraft, and the player’s gun sight turns from black to red when shots are on the mark. A “damage meter” in the lower right corner of the screen shows how many more hits players can take before their planes start to smoke and eventually just blow to bits.

Because “WWII Aces” is a Wii title, and Wiis are not as powerful as Xbox 360s or PlayStation 3s, the graphics are weak and the action somewhat herky-jerky. More distracting though are the failures in programming logic — the irregular interaction of the planes with the artificial environment. For example, planes will crash if they hit structures such as buildings and smokestacks, yet it’s possible for them to fly through trees and into other planes, even drag their wingtips along the ground, without hampering performance.

Maybe the next iteration of “WWII Aces” will overcome these flaws and sport a “Campaign” mode that even rookie pilots have a chance of winning (as real rookies did during the war). This edition, however, is a little too frustrating, and a little bit visually underwhelming, for its price.