I finished WiHp1 today. I loved it! Here's a quick review, possibly tainted by a combat high. There will be spoilers for AoA and WiHp1.
MissionsSome of the missions are so grand in scale that the player seems to take a back seat. I don't see this as necessarily a bad thing; it's sometimes the most believable way to show the story. Besides, there is no shortage of missions in which the player does play an integral role.
WiHp1 is full of cool gameplay ideas; like Trebuchet strikes, SSM strikes, calling in specialist strike packages, and even hostage negotiations! I like how damaged warships attempt to jump out rather than let themselves be destroyed in a futile gesture(although, why the Yangtze's fighters don't flee with the Indus is a mystery).
I have no idea how the mission checkpoints work, but they're an excellent idea. They're a little buggy with regards to remembering surviving wingmen and subsystem damage.
The campaign badly needs in-mission voice-acting
(let's make it happen!); I often have to check the comms log after battle.
StorySo far, WiH seems quite divorced from AoA, but I get the sense that the events of both are building up to intertwine. Some of the out-of-mission interactions between Laporte, Simms, and the other Wargods are a bit cheesy, but it works to humanise the wingmen to some degree, and it adds some flavour and depth to the universe. The Project Nagari subplot moves slowly; I expect that it will become more important later, but at this stage it could have done with some more depth.
I felt that the 'real' story is the epic game of solar chess between the Admirals. Between his manipulation of the Vasudans and the trap for the Wargods, Steele has been built up into quite the tricky adversary. It feels, at times, that the player's nation is fighting an unstoppable foe; there are glimmers of hope, and times when that hope is snatched away (the mission with the Vasudan logistics ship comes to mind). It's good storytelling.
Blue PlanetThe best part about Blue Planet is that the universe is so deep; the creators clearly care about the world they are crafting. For example, the they haven't randomly added new ships to existing FS2 assets; they've thought about the design and strategic philosophies of the UEF and GTA fleets. Every ship has a role to fulfill within its fleet, and a backstory to its design (also, they're beautiful). Fleets now use novel tactics and weapon systems, particularly using AWACS to great effect. It all comes together to feel like a believable evolution from the FS2 era.
The tech room entries add a lot of flavour to the universe (particularly the politics of the GTVA and UEF), and go some way towards addressing one of my few gripes about BP:AoA: the GTVA's motive for invading Sol, and the rationale behind immediately attacking Renjian. I'd like to see some entries on the new GTVA ships, written from a UEF perspective.
The music, as with AoA, is excellent! It sets the tone perfectly, and is never intrusive.
MultiplayerIt's obviously not finished, but so far it can be a lot of fun.
I'm really looking forward to the next installment; and, of course, the voice-acted version.
