I remember back in the day, watching over my father's back while he played Flight Simulator for the Commodore 64. That game looked like so much fun and flying and landing a plane looked so easy until I got on the controls and crashed every time.
As time went on, I got to play F-14 Tomcat for the same Commodore system. The games were making leaps and bounds at this time and my parents must have assumed that it was time to get me a plane game, too. They assumed correctly and my father would end up watching over my shoulder to see how I was doing. My father even played from time to time, but I was actually better in this circumstance. It was so cool. Fight planes in the Middle East, compete in Top Gun school, train, go on vacations, get a tongue lashing from the Admiral or even earn medals. That is still my favorite fighter pilot game out there and I haven't played one since. I passed on Aces Over Europe, Aces Over Japan, and Red Baron, but something about B-17 Flying Fortress, made me want to play. It reminded me of the good old days.
B-17 takes aspects of Flight Simulator and F-14 Tomcat and then turns them on their ears. This has to be one of the best fighter simulation games yet, but of course F-14 is still tops to me. Still, this is the first really complex game I have been able to play and when I say complex, I mean complex. Yes, it is kind of hard, because you are responsible for learning so much. You can be the pilot, the co-pilot, one of the gunners, or anyone else on the plane. When you control one character, the computer controls the other characters. The hard part is learning the controls to fly the damn plane without crashing it. I just stuck to being one of the gunners, waiting for an enemy plane to come within my sites, so I could blow its' friggin' wings off. Absolute exhilaration is what made this game so much fun to play.
In fact, my only gripe comes with the speed of the game. I go from room to room and each scene takes forever to load. Forget about watching a flight campaign film, cause that took a whole five minutes to come up on the screen. The flight campaigns take forever, too, as I fly, sit and wait and wait, and wait until someone attacks me. Thankfully, the good folks at Microprose gave me a button to advance through the boring stages of the game. That's cool and it's also a good way to keep gamers of all kinds, interested.
Other than that gripe, I have nothing but good things to say about the game. The graphics are mind blowing and superior to many plane games I have played in the past. Skies look beautiful, the planes are so realistic, you'd think you were watching a BBC War Documentary, and the maps are finely detailed. The B-17 itself looks great on the inside, with so many areas to glance through. The characters on the plane move realistically from place to place on the plane and when shot, slump over and die realistically, nothing like a realistic death scene, to have you heaving your lunch. Yummy!! The sound in the game is phat as the engines and weapons sound like the real thing. The constant updates from various crewmembers are really cool. The gameplay is about as true to life as you can get, sometimes, too true to life, as you sit and wait for what feels like hours until an enemy plane flies in your path. The missions are cool you can choose several. You can choose a bomber mission where you guide the lead bomber into battle, or a squadron campaign where you take control of the whole squadron and pick off your enemies one at a time, or historical or training campaigns, which are self explanatory. Earn promotions for doing an exceptional job and most importantly, avoid death, which will be hard if you are a beginner. Don't worry. The more you play, the easier it gets.
Other cool aspects include historical campaigns, the ability to rename crewmembers so you can fly with the ones you love, and more. You can even pick the art displayed on the plane. I will picked the naked girl picture.
Badseed's Bottomline: 4.5 out of 5. This game is fantastic. There are so many ways to play one mission, let alone a game. Take the time to master them all and you will certainly have enough replay value to last you a lifetime. There are a lot of buttons to remember, but as you get better, it all gets easier, and plays even better. I would still play F-14 Tomcat if I could, but since I can't, I am thoroughly enjoying my experience with B-17 Flying Fortress. It is far superior to any flight simulator you have ever played in the past. Don't worry dad, you can play later. Send your comments and questions about this article to Badseed@ybfree.com.