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Release Date: 1988
Fly as an American or Japanese pilot in one of 4 operations in the Pacific Theatre during WWII. They include The Battle of the Coral Sea, The Battle of Midway, The Battle of the Eastern Solomons, The Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands. This simulation can also qualify as educational software because the manual features tons of historical information. Twelve aircraft (including variants) and about 20 types of ships are represented. The player can fly authentic aircraft of the era - Wildcats, Dauntlesses and Avengers on the U.S. side and Zeros, Vals and Kates on the Japanese side. Realism settings such as invincibility, unlimited ammo and unlimited fuel, starting altitude and the caliber of the opposition pilots were present, so it's a very customizable game. Each mission starts with a briefing, giving the pilot a general outline of what was needed to do. It has a cockpit point-of-view, switchable with the keypad for a look around the aircraft. Instruments are few: airspeed, altimeter, bank and pitch, fuel, rate-of-climb, RPM, compass and indicators for fuel and engine/airframe damage. The cockpit also has levers for landing gear, speed brakes (if equipped) and flaps. The manual includes details Fighter Tactics instructions, such as deflection shooting or how to perform overhead approaches from the same or the opposite course. Mission types include escorting bombers as well as fighter interceptions, which were generally quite challenging and gave a great view of the diversity of the missions that were flown in the Pacific in 1942. Allied players flying Grumman F4F Wildcats will find themselves often vastly outnumbered in a desperate attempt to save their carriers from waves of Japanese Aichi D3A Val dive bombers. There are also dive-bombing and torpedo-bombing missions on both sides. The graphics throughout the game use a sprite-based (so-called) 3D engine, which is based on bitmaps which are rotated and scaled depending on the player's view. Muzzle flashes and tracers are present, the aircraft takes hits and catches fire, smokes or explodes with the pilot bailing out with a parachute. Enemy artificial intelligence (AI) also is of high quality. Enemy aircraft will twist, turn, jink and realistically evade enemy fire. The performance characteristics of the various aircraft are realistically modeled so that, for example, the more nimble Japanese Zeros are very good at outmaneuvering U.S. fighters such as the F4F Wildcat. Excellent pilots achieve promotions and several medals. It's the first of the Lucasfilm/Lawrence Holland WWII air combat trilogy. |
