Armed with Wings

The Armed with Wings series is a three-part Platform Game created by Daniel Sun. Besides the original trilogy, there is also a spin-off called Red Moon, along with another spin-off taking place during the events of Armed with Wings 3, titled Culmination.
Story
The series takes place in a world where everything is made of Blackmist, a substance which bestows its power upon an individual. Blackmist is also a being, who appears as a winged angel when in corpreal form. This state of existence is known by the sanctified title "Armed with Wings". Additionally, many of the main characters of the games are accompanied by a small eagle, who helps in the solving of puzzles.
In the first game, you play as the Lone Warrior, "Armed with Wings". Originally a commander of a failed rebellion against the tyrannical king, Vandheer Lorde, the Lone Warrior is captured and subsequently executed during the initial scenes of the game. However, the Lone Warrior is mysteriously resurrected and resolves to continue his efforts to overthrow the king. With the help of an avian ally you, as the Lone Warrior, fight your way to the throne room succeed and depose Vandheer. The Lone Warrior succeeds, but Vandheer lives to fight another day.
In the second game, Vandheer Lorde is the playable character. It starts with the King making his escape from the palace, with the Lone Warrior now the ruler of the kingdom. As Vandheer cuts his way to freedom, he is confronted by one of the five rebel generals whom he slew long ago. Vandheer defeats the general, but is still unable to return to his palace and reclaim his crown. In his time of need, Vandheer arranges to meet with Brother Hawken, and Lady Eivana, who were once members of his court. Another unnamed warrior is present for the meeting. He reveals to them the existence of the 4 blades of Eden, which have the power to destroy Blackmist, then announces that he intends to hunt the blades down. From there, he battles several other rebel generals as he collects the blades, which are scattered across the kingdom.
In a surprising turn of events, Brother Hawken turns on Vandheer and wounds Eivana and then flees, announcing his alliance with the Lone Warrior. Vandheer strikes the impudent Hawken down, then makes his way to the palace where he ultimately battles Armed with Wings/The Lone Warrior. With the help of the Blades of Eden, Vandheer Lorde batters the Lone Warrior to the brink of defeat. But before the killing blow can land, the Lone Warrior reveals that he is Blackmist, an omniscient entity who has aided and taken the form of Armed with Wings. The Lone Warrior/Armed With Wings/Blackmist rises and traps Vandheer in a cell for all eternity. Or, so the Lone Warrior intended.
Vandheer's imprisonment occurs in a cutscene at the beginning of Armed With Wings 3. After sealing King Vandheer, the Lone Warrior/Blackmist begins to leave the scene, only for a powerful entity to appear. The being, known as Network, vows to free the evil King, only for the Lone Warrior to intervene. The two godlike entities proceed to have a battle of cataclysmic proportions. No victor emerges from the duel, however, as Network and Armed With Wings are so closely matched; instead, both parties are nearly destroyed on the windswept plain, and essentially stripped of their power. The captions proceed to say, "Blackmist is shapeless, and in time there will be more."
After a time lapse of presumably a decade or more, the story then follows a young boy named Leo, the son of Eivana (but without a father). The backstory of why the former Armed With Wings died shows a fatally wounded Eivana's blood recede into her body. It could be that she was healed for the purpose of giving birth to the next Armed With Wings. Some not all think that when the blood receded into her body she was impregnated with Leo/Armed With Wings. In a war torn yet resolute world where the once great kingdom of Vandheer Lorde is gone and all that remains are small villages. There are, however, a number of remaining dark creatures which plague the land and serve a dark, powerful force.
A local warlord, Gaaz, storms Leo's village and takes Eivana and the rest of the villagers prisoner. Determined to save his family and friends, Leo embarks on a quest to defeat Gaaz and free his loved ones. The warlord is defeated and Eivana survives, but it is then revealed that Gaaz has been sacrificing villagers to revive Network. Now in a semi-corpreal form once more, Network resumes his efforts to free Vandheer Lorde. Meanwhile, Eivana and Leo venture back to Vandheer's prison in a misguided effort to seek the King's aid. However, the now embittered Lone Warrior, waiting at the base of the prison, persuades them otherwise. It is at this time Network arrives, sweeps the trio aside, and smashes Vandheer's prison. Now walking the earth again, Vandheer Lorde makes short work of Leo, the Lone Warrior, and Eivana; the three barely escape with their lives.
The three return to the village to recover, where the Lone Warrior reveals that Leo is the new incarnation of Armed With Wings. The Lone Warrior and Leo leave to confront Vandheer and Network; Eivana remains behind. Leo and the Lone Warrior catch up to Vandheer and Network. They find Vandheer alone; the king briefly muses to himself about how his empire has collapsed in his absence, then reveals to Leo that Network has alreadly left to "harvest" his mother. Shocked, Leo begs the Lone Warrior to return to the village with him to save Eivana, but the Lone Warrior runs off in pursuit of Vandheer (the King had reminded the Lone Warrior of the entire rebel army's slaughter years ago).
Offscreen, the Lone Warrior chases Vandheer, only to be killed by the latter (the chase and duel are the subject of the brief spin-off game, Culmination). In the meantime, Leo returns to the village, only to find that Network has already fed upon his mother and returned to his full form. With both the Lone Warrior and Eivana dead, Leo steels his resolve and confronts Network. The demonic being is defeated, much to its surprise. Network then invests its power in Vandheer. Leo and the King duel, with Leo victorious. Now fully revealed as Blackmist/Armed With Wings, Leo revives Eivana and the Lone Warrior, then cuts Network and Vandheer Lorde down.
During the events of the third installment, the fallen Armed with Wings (no longer having wings), now known as The Lone Warrior, chases after Vandheer Lorde only to be killed by him. This is chronicled in Culmination.
The spin-off game is titled Red Moon. Set before the events of the original Armed With Wings, the playable character is Lady Eivana, who is working under Hawken's direction. Hawken has been plotting a coup against Vandheer, and has decided to execute the plan using the powers of the coming Red Moon (presumably a time of lunar eclipse). The coup fails, and Vandheer crushes Eivana and Hawken. A shadowy figure, Network, interrupts the fight as Hawken and Eivana flee Vandheer's wrath.
Gameplay
In each of the games you play as a different character with different abilities. In the first game, you play as Armed with Wings, a rebel commander with a single sword style and an eagle. You must go through levels containing enemies and puzzles, which are solved using the eagle.
In the second game, you play as Vandheer Lorde, the antagonist of the previous game. He is able to use punch, kick, and sword attacks, as well as a grab and a projectile attack. He is also able to jump, a feature that did not exist in the previous game. Most of the levels involve jumping around various obstacles and fighting enemies. There are multiple obtainable weapons in this game, each of which has a special ability. This marks the inception of a customizable loadout in the series.
In the third installment of the series, you control Leo, a child with an eagle like the first game. Like before, the eagle is used to solve puzzles while Leo takes care of the many enemies and bosses. There are three styles of sword attacks, three styles of fist attacks, and a large variety of special attacks unlockable. In addition to jumping from the previous game, there is also wall jumping.
In Armed With Wings - Culmination, you play with the Lone Warrior ( Armed With Wings ), but now, he has special abilities like wall jumping and a much wider variety of combos. Culmination was made using a more advanced engine than Armed with Wings 3. Unlike Armed with Wings 3, which was written in Actionscript 2.0, Culmination is written in Actionscript 3.0. There are minor changes from the Armed with Wings 3 Engine. The Eagle is removed, and there is a single sword style. However, you gain more abilities within this sword style by charging up your special meter, which is charged by hitting enemies with your attacks. On the flipside, however, you can lose these abilities by not attacking enemies for a certain amount of time.
The Red Moon presents a one combo and two special attacks, a blast that goes almost to the other half of the map. One in air, one on the ground. It's also the only game within the series with actually speaking and lip-synced characters.

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See Also

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