In a few short summer months—from July to September 1940—a
colossal struggle occurred, its outcome determining the victor of
what began as a European war, but emerged in history as World War
II. Given the record of each of the combatants, the odds heavily
favored the all-conquering German Goliath, with an air force, the
Luftwaffe, that had not yet met its equal.
That campaign has been recreated in “The Battle of Britain,”
a sim that concentrates everything in those critical months into
a game that captures, precisely, the true scale of this epic adventure.
From the developers of MiG Alley—-Rowan Software—we
have a battle re-creation that could well be rated as the “most
realistic” air-war game yet released.
The RAF’s finest hour allows you to be one of the special
few to fly, fight and command a Spitfire or Hurricane high above
the English countryside fighting hordes of ME-109’s, ME-110’s,
and JU-87’s. You can even try and change history by becoming
a German pilot or commander, or, unbelievably, a gunner in a Dornier
DO-17, Heinkel HE-111 and Junker JU-88 bomber. The scope of the
sky battle covers 800 square miles of England, with more than 1,200
aircraft in the sky at any one time, and you are in the middle of
all of this.
There are three ways that you can play this sim—a campaign,
a quick mission or a historical sortie, based on an actual engagement.
In the campaign mode, you can select any one of four starting points
to enter the air war: Attacks on British shipping in the English
Channel, attacks on British radar installations, raids on factories
and airfields, and finally the London “Blitz.” You can
view the battle as an overall commander utilizing authentic campaign
maps or as a pilot.
Your quick missions take you from basic training to combat-formation
flying and finally to dogfighting. Every mission is a re-creation
of a real engagement, until you reach Adler Tag (Eagle Day)—Sept.
15, 1940, still celebrated in England as Battle of Britain Day.
Need more challenges? Multi-player options for up to eight pilots
are available via the internet.
Accuracy includes hi-res landscapes carefully portraying the English
countryside, interactive virtual cockpits and an AI program that
makes your enemy eager for combat and super-intelligent to boot.
Even radio chatter—in both English and German—adds a
touch of realism to this great sim. Other key features include 28
specially designed missions, ranging from training, to familiarization
flights, to actual historical engagements.
With accuracy foremost in their minds, the developers painstakingly
have recreated all of the British RAF fighter stations, as well
as the Tower of London, Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, Parliament,
Big Ben and St. Paul’s Cathedral, just to mention a few historical
landmarks. Add to this list of options realistic weather effects
that can provide either safe refuge or deadly obstacles.
What if this is your very first flight sim, and you’re a
novice pilot? Never fear. The program will teach you how to start
your engine, get up into the air, and—with a little luck—land
safely.
This game is geared to help you run the gamut of emotional experiences
and leave you in a sweat after an air-combat encounter with more
enemy airplanes than you can handle.
The scope of the game is so realistic that you really understand
Churchill’s tribute to the Battle of Britain pilots. History
records this struggle as the first setback that the German military
juggernaut suffered up to that time, and it was those few pilots
that made the difference.
A really significant feature of this sim is that you have the ability
to “tweak” your setup screens. For example, there are
two screens for adjusting your video settings. We recommend a joystick
to get the most out of the games capabilities. The flight model
can be set anywhere from arcade simplicity to the most challenging
realistic sim plot that you can handle, such as airframe stress
failure and manual propeller-pitch control.
You have, in this unique sim, a combination of a great combat-flight
sim and a real-time, historical strategy game. Our advice is to
take advantage of the opportunity to go on training flights in each
of the aircraft depicted.
Each of the planes have quirks that you have to master. The ME-109
was notoriously dangerous to handle on the ground, and the Hurricane
and Spitfire engines would falter in a negative G-maneuver (British
carburetors are monsters, as those who ever have owned a British
sports car know only too well). One of the unique features of this
sim is the ability to play “what if,” by flipping over
to the German side and trying to reverse history.
Empire Interactive is the U.S. distributor. More of this firm’s
game titles are available on the internet at www.empireinteractive.com.
System requirements include: Windows 95/98/Millenium, Pentium II
with 333 MHz or higher, 64 MB RAM (minimum), 6X CD-ROM Drive, 450
MB free hard-drive space, 8 MB DirectX compatible 3D video card,
DirectX compatible sound card, keyboard and mouse (minimum). Joystick
recommended.