Along with their other E3 games, Konami also announced Birds of Steel for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, a WWII air combat simulator with “MMO gameplay”. Birds of Steel spans some of the more important air battles of the war, including the battles of Midway, Guadalcanal, Coral Sea, Siege of Malta and the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Since it’s an online-heavy game — but not quite an MMO — there’s an emphasis on cooperative missions with friends. You can also fight it out with up 16 other pilots at a time in the versus arena. There are “Capture the Airfield” and tournament modes, too, and you can save replays of your battles.
Konami say Birds of Steel has over 100 famous fighters from the axis and allied forces. They mention names like Spitfire, P-51D Mustang, Zero and the Messerschmitt 109. Completing missions unlocks new planes. You’ll be able to fly using a cockpit view, and to keep things realistic, weather conditions and time-of-day changes will come into play as well.
Birds of Steel will have both historical — 20, Konami say — as well as fictional missions, spanning 15 campaigns, including DLC. It’s being developed by Gaijin Entertainment (not to be confused with Gaijin Games).
