By Eric T. Baker

B-17: Flying Fortress—The Mighty Eighth from Hasbro Interactive lets players recreate the exploits of the U.S. 8th Air Force during World War II. The B-17 was the 8th’s primary bomber, flown on deep, daylight raids against German war industries and other strategic targets. Daylight raids allowed the 8th’s bombardiers to use the planes’ Norden Bombsight to hit specific targets rather than the blanket bombing of nighttime raids. Daylight bombing required the bombers to fly in massed, tight formations in order to survive attacks by Luftwaffe fighters.

The B-17 game lets players simulate commanding a bomber flying at 30,000 feet. The game puts players in the perspective of any of the bomber’s crew, the escort fighters, or even the Luftwaffe Interceptors. The game can be used to command either a whole squadron, or just a single plane. Scenarios are available to simulate single missions or a whole tour of duty.

Each bomber is crewed by 10 AIs, each with their own statistics, and they learn with experience. Each virtual crewman can panic, patch others up, man the guns, and fly the plane. The players can take over any crewman’s character and their good play earns the AI experience, allowing it to improve faster. This encourages players to learn the intricacies of each role: flying, gunning, bombing, and navigating.

The virtual bombers of B-17 are painstaking recreations with high levels of detail. One point of particular detail is the sound, much of it recorded from actual B-17s. The sound engineer captured a B-17 in flight, recording the sounds of the immense machine from every perspective. When players move the characters around the aircraft, they hear exactly what it was like to sit in a turret, or to be the pilot, the navigator, or the bombardier. Players hear the rush of air past the waist gunner’s open gun window, a noise that virtually obliterates all other sounds. Plus there are the deafening booms of bombs exploding and the high speed whoosh as a P-51 streaks past.

Strategy First Inc. and BreakAway Games have released Waterloo: Napoleon’s Last Battle. The game combines beautiful graphics and music that captures the mood of the time period with a computer AI that gives gamers a good fight. Based on Sid Meier’s Gettysburg engine, Waterloo lets players simulate Napoleon’s most memorable battle. Waterloo accurately depicts Napoleonic warfare in one of the most famous battles of all time.

There are 25 historical scenarios. Each side has unique orders of battle. All the famous troop types are included: dragoons, hussars, cuirassiers, and the Old and Young Guard. The graphics include famous landmarks such as the Hougoumont complex, La Haye Sainte, and Plancenoit Church. Sixty historically accurate,hand-painted uniforms, each reflecting the grandeur of the period, are on display.

In addition to fighting the historical reality, players can design their own battles, picking their own forces and battle objectives for unlimited play. Multiplayer allows up to eight players over LAN, Internet, or on Gamespy Arcade.

Back to the issue this appears in