Is there a Firefly in your Future?

Firefly

The Firefly has finally lit up our screens.  This plane has been leaked at least twice in the past, latest being last November.  Lets take a quick look at the stats:

Damage: +10%:  Tied for Second in class behind Striker
Agility: +12%:  Lower/Middle of the Agility pack
Critical Strike: +6%:  First in class
Missile Reload:  +10%:  First in class tied with Sparrow

We have another agility class plane that wants to be a weapons class plane when it grows up.  With boosts in critical strike, missile reload and damage, the Firefly can be looked at in two ways:

1.  An agility class plane with mediocre agility characteristics but with weapons boosts
2.  A low-level weapons class plane with lots of agility and speed.

The mix may be pleasing to some players that want a little bit from both classes, although you don't get the best of either class. 

The Firefly has been added to the Comparison Guide  and also to the Fleet at a Glance - check it out!

The Widow is back in Town

Originally priced at 180 - the Widow now costs 205 coins

Well, it looks like Z2Live has gone and brought back the Red Widow which should make some of you readers very happy.  This beast has always been one of the best of class in the weapons genre.  Originally released on 2/3/12, the "Red Widow" has excellent Missile Reload and Agility and solid damage boosts also.  Throw in +5% critical strike and this sucker is a tough plane to beat.  The only thing that the Red Widow may be lacking is missile lock speed.  Critical strike rating increases the probability of getting 2X damage on a hit.


See the Red Widow perform in the YouTube video below:

See PLANE COMPARISON TABLES for detailed assessment of all the planes performance ratings including the Red Widow which has been added.

You may recognize the Red Widow as the plane of our beloved VARGAS in the campaign.

 The Red Widow, just like the Marauder, is based on the real life F-35 Lightning.

Real life shot of an F-35

Underbelly of an F-35 with weapons bay doors open

Click here for more real life picts of the F-35 Lightning

The Wobblin' Goblin is Re-Released

WM-10 Striker

Alas, a long time favorite of many fighter fans has finally been added to the MSWM lineup.  The WM-10 Striker is modeled after the F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter, nicknamed the Wobblin' Goblin in its early years due to flight control stability issues.

Lets take a look at the stats:

Damage +12%:  This is Best in Class for Damage, overtaking the Sparrow by 2% and similar to the Sparrow, is comparable to lesser weapons class planes in the damage category.

Agility +13%:  In the middle of the pack, but only 2% behind Reaper and Stilletto which are both tops in fleet for agility.

Speed +12%:  Tied with 3 other planes for second in class behind Reaper which edges it out by 1%.

Armor +7%:  2nd in class behind Wasp and one of the few agility class planes to have armor upgrades.

Overall, once again, Z2 has pushed the envelope and produced a top agility class plane that is one of the best in class.  Identical boost categories as the Reaper (which has been my favorite agility class plane), the Striker is slightly behind Reaper in agility and speed, but packs more damage and has better armor than Reaper.  I think that I still like Reaper better since I value speed and agility the most for an agility class plane, but the Striker is a great plane also and has considerable more style than the boring F-4 based Reaper skin.  A great new addition to the fleet, although kinda funny that the stealth fighter has no stealth.

The Striker has been added to the Comparison Guide  and also to the Fleet at a Glance - check it out!

The Striker is based on the real-life F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter.

New Rounnd of Beta Testing for Metalstorm

There is a new round of beta testing that Z2 has announced.  Last time they had beta testing, it was for Metalstorm Aces (which still isn't released in most countries yet).  Not sure yet what this testing is for.

The Zephyr Returns

Real Life Name:  Dassualt Rafale

It looks like Z2 has brought back the Zephyr.

I have to say, for 205 coins, I am hard pressed to see why one would want to buy a Zephyr when you can get a Thresher at bargain prices or many other better agility class planes.  Below is a head to head look of the Zephyr compared to a Thresher.  As you can see, they have the same agility, Zephyr has more energy (which is handy for agility class), a big Overheat Limit addition (only handy for prolonged cannon firing which is rare for the quick encounters one has with agility dogfighting) and slightly more Evasion, but quite a bit less speed.

My recommendation is to save your coins for something a little more interesting (such as the variety of other better performing agility class planes).

See PLANE COMPARISON TABLES for detailed assessment of all the planes performance ratings.

The Zephyr returns

Thresher shown here for comparison

A real life shot of a Dassault Rafale

Click here for more picts of the Dassault Rafale

FA-12 Liberty - Welcome Back!

FA-12 Liberty:  Weapons Class 

Real name: F-16 Thunderbirds

Happy to see the FA-12 Liberty returning.  This is one of my favorites in the weapons class.

Who wouldn’t want to be a pilot in a famous Thunderbird fighter?  Maybe one of the most famous fighter jets in the world, this plane with its awesome eagle artwork on its underbelly is one of the coolest and most striking planes in the fleet.  Performing in air shows around the world, more people have probably seen the Thunderbirds perform than any other planes (with possibly the exception of the Navys F-18 Blue Angels - Heh Z2Live - when are you going to come out with a Blue Angel equivalent??).

The Liberty is a formidable weapons class plane

The FA-12 Liberty, in my opinion, is a great choice for a weapons class plane.  If you look at the PLANE COMPARISON TABLE, you can see that this plane BEST IN FLEET for missile locking speed and also BEST IN FLEET for missile tracking of all planes out there!   It can’t fire missiles quite as fast as a Hawken or Hurricane, but the missiles it does shoot are more likely to hit the mark.   The Liberty is also one of the faster of the weapons class planes (although don’t get too excited about that, any upgraded agility class planes will still smoke it with regards to speed).

Z2Live held a competition awhile back on its MetalStorm Facebook page for best shots of a Libertys "flipping the bird" in combat - the winning photo is shown 3rd above in the header of this site.

The Liberty is a special edition plane, so if you want it - grab it quick.

The characteristic bird design in full view

Formation of real F-16 Thunderbirds

 

Real Thunderbirds showing their stuff

 Click here for more great shots of the F-16 Thunderbirds

 

 

K-15 Mako - a Classic Revisited

K-15 Mako

K-15 Mako - is back!

The Mako once ruled the sky as the best of best for the agility class.  It is still one of the best, but with the onslaught of releases of new planes over the past year, it may no longer be THE best (although I will leave that to you all to debate!).  This badboy looks and behaves like a custom built ferrari - fast fast fast!  It was once fastest in fleet - now it is 2nd fastest in fleet, relinquishing the crown to the Reaper.  The Mako is also AGILE but is now 3rd most agile in fleet, with first being, you guessed it, the Reaper.  The Mako does have quite a bit more energy than the Reaper which is important for the energy starved agility class.  Lastly, we have the damage boost which has dropped to the middle of the class behind quite a few of the newer planes.  The Mako is still a great plane, but I'm afraid that, unless you really value energy, the Reaper is still THE agility plane to have, but don't go by my opinion, see PLANE COMPARISON TABLES and judge for yourself.  I have to say though, the Mako looks much more like a REAL agility class plane than the Reaper.

The Mako is based on the real life Israeli IAI Kfir

Click here for more picts of the Israeli IAI Kfir

Fleet-at-a-Glance Quick Reference Sheet - Updated

Below is a a quick reference guide to allow viewing of the complete fleet at-a-glance.  This will allow you to see all the planes quickly for comparison and familiarization.  I've re-posted just in case any new readers have not seen this yet in the Table of Contents.

Agility Class Planes

Weapons Class Planes

Defense Class Planes

Aurora For Sale

Christmas Eve Release of the R-19 Aurora.  Finally have some time for the review (the last of 2012!).  Yet another plane based on the MIG-3 skin (thanks for the comments - very similar to an F-15).  This version is a basic blue/gray with yellow highlighting.

Lets take a look at the stats:
Armor Regen:  +3%:  Best in Class.  This is the first weapons class plane to ever have armor regen.  3% is the same level as an upgraded Agility class plane.  Its nice to slowly regain your health during a match but unfortunately, 3% is really just a trickle and a far cry from the Green Eagle, Dragon or Raven.

Damage: +10%:  This level of damage falls in the lower half of the weapons class fleet.  Not bad but not very good compared to many of the other weapons class jets.

Energy:  +11%:  2nd in Class:  This gives the Aurora a good boost in energy if you feel that you need it.  I tend to run out of energy quickly with agility class planes but not as often with weapons class planes, so I don't see this as too valuable, but your own flying style may be different.

Speed: +15%:  2nd in Class:  The Aurora is good and fast!  This could be valuable when going full throttle across your opponents field of view to avoid incoming Bisnos.

So we have a fast weapons plane with lots of energy, mediocre damage and some armor regen sprinkled in. Overall a decent plane.  Not one of my favorite, but not horrible either. 

The Aurora has been added to the Comparison Guide  and also to the Fleet at a Glance - check it out!

Rattlebox for sale

Whew, its been awhile since there has been a new plane to review.   Had to dust off my fleet-at-a-glance files and plane comparison table.  Its been a few months.

If you remember, this is the result of the design-your-own-skin contest back in September.  Interestingly, this new plane doesn't really look like the contest winner, although its does have snake-like similarities I guess.

Original winner of contest

Lets take a look at the stats:
Damage:  +7%:  3rd in class
Agility: +10%:  Near the bottom in class
Speed:  +7%: Middle/Bottom of class

What can you say?  Are you willing to spend 100 coins for this?  Your call, but there is nothing that I can say that is positive about this plane.  It has no outstanding characteristics and is completely unremarkable.  This rattler has no fangs.

The Rattler has been added to the Comparison Guide  and also to the Fleet at a Glance - check it out!

Real-Life J-20 aircraft