B-17 Flying Fortress

Rating:
Summary: B-17 is a great game!!!!
Review: B-17 Flying Fortress is a good game for several reasons. It has great historical accuracy. It has real targets that were of importance to the 8th airforce at that time. Some of the game modes are:1) Bomber campaign. In this, you command a B-17, and 10 men who flew it. It has a file containing everything about every crew member. 2) Squaderon campaign. In this you command a squaderon of B-17s. You pick targets,pick the planes that go on the mission,pick ordanance, change waypoints, and assign recon missions. There are all the targets on the map in Germany and France, and you pick 3. They are Primary, secondary, and tertiary. Everything about each individual plane is the same. 3) Historical mission. Fly 6 historical missions in WWII. 4)Quickstart missions. Fly 6 missions ranging from landing a crippled B-17, to shooting down P-51s in an Fw-190. 5) Training missions. Fly 6 training missions including Taxi and takeoff, approach and landing,feathering/restarting an engine,bombing:good conditions, bombing:poor conditions, and gunnery training. As far as technical information, it is exact! The cockpits are exact, I know because I have a book with photos of all the cockpits of all the planes you can fly, plus I've been in a B-17. You can fly the following: B-17, P-51, P-47, P-38, Me 109, Fw 190 and the Me 262 jet. The rest of the B-17 is accurate too. The game also goes into detail with the Norden bombsight. The graphics are impressive! Overall this game is great, and I highly recommend it! It's worth the investment.

Rating:
Summary: Very realistic
Review: This game is probably the most realistic flight sim I've ever played. It looks like every switch, dial, and control that was on the real B-17 is accurately reproduced in this game, and all of them are fully functional with the click of a mouse button. Once you've played this game, you will know the real pre-flight procedure in a real B-17, you will know how to feather an engine in a real B-17, and you will know how to operate a Norden bombsight. Because of this, though, the learning curve is very steep. Don't expect to be flying your first mission for a while.

The graphics are pretty darn good, even though the game is 2 years old now. Personally I think the system requirements are vastly underestimated on the box. I have a Duron 1.2 GHz with a GeForce 4 (although only 128Mb of system ram) and it just runs tolerably at 800x600 with the detail levels up. The box claims it will run on a 300 MHz P2...I have a hard time believing that. Maybe in 512x384 with all the detail levels turned down, at like 25 frames per second. :) It's no wonder so many people have had problems with the game with such misleadingly low system requirements...

In conclusion I would definately recommend this game to anyone who is a WW2 aviation buff or anyone who is tired of the hackneyed fighter-based aviation combat sims and wants something a little more immersive and dramatic.

Rating:
Summary: just okay
Review: I have most of the major flight sims and now I have this and have only worked with it a bit but I find it a little too overcomplicated, it's taxing even for someone who is a flight simmer and is already flight tested and combat tested.
The graphics are good but first there was the necessity to download a patch which at 25mb is the largest game patch I've ever seen, the list of fixes is enough to make you question why they released it in that form anyway.

Although the amount of interactivity is less with the bombers in Janes Attack Squadron so is the level of overhead.

If you are really a B17 nut though and you want total realistic immersion in that plane then you'll like the sim.

Rating:
Summary: Gear Up !
Review: If you like Microsoft WWII Flight Simulator - Air Battle Over Europe, then i recommend you buy this game. Its fun and easy to play but does require a fast machine with good overall graphics. If you like combat flight simulation, then B-17 will give you atleast an hours worth of fun.....role play from pilot to bomber to waist gunner...however, a little slow at the beginning (ie: take off and air time toward the waypoints and bomb run) but picks up during the bomb run and the return toward home. Buy it. You will like it. And let me say to the c130 pilot, give me a break, every fly a B-12? I did in 1944.

Rating:
Summary: BOMBS AWAY!!
Review: I finally got my hands on a copy of this. Its a version from Europe, for some reason the American release date isn't for a month or so. Regardless I'm sure the game will be the same. So let me tell you about it. My first impressions are, holy smokes. This game is going to be a huge hit. I'm not sure where to start. Well for one, the graphics are simply amazing. You can fly a huge variety of planes, be it American or German. But the best plane to fly is the B-17 of course. You can man all 10 positions in the plane, and during a mission can switch back and forth. During attacks you are so busy keeping track of everything the time just flys by. You can man a gun turret, pilot the aircraft or even be the bombadier. And if you are unfortunate enough to get shot down, well, don't fret, just switch planes and continue the mission. You can jump into any plane you want, be it the bomber, or your escorts. There are tons of missions to choose from as well. You can do the standard quick missions, training, longer missions from start to finish and various campaigns, both historic and some created ones. I'm amazed they packed this all onto one cd. This game has been in the making for so long, but it was definetly worth the wait. Anyone who likes WWII flight sims will fall in love with this game. I've only had it for a few days since it came in the mail. If you can't wait, get it from a Euro dealer, otherwise, it shouldn't be much longer till North American audiences enjoy this.

Rating:
Summary: They weren't kidding when they said SIMULATION
Review: I have been waiting for this game since I first read about in mid year 2000. When I found out it was available, I rushed out to get it that same night! First off, let me start by saying that the design, concept and graphics all rate 5 stars. This is one ambitious game! Playing as any 1 of 10 crew positions was something I couldn't wait to try. The graphics are something you really have to see to believe - you just better have some serious RAM and a decent video card to really appreciate it! However, there are some serious disappointments. This game is hard. And I mean HARD. Just trying to complete the Training Missions was so complex and difficult that I just gave up and jumped into some Historical Missions to learn as I go. Flying is EXTREMELY difficult and the Pilot Helper Option is really no help at all. As for learning the Norden Bombsight, Pilot Cockpit Instruments or Navigation...well, good luck. Email me if you figure it out! I blame alot of this on the Instruction Manual which is great for historical information but very vague on how the instruments and gameplay works. My main gripe however, is the TIME it takes to complete a mission. A single mission over Germany and back took me close to three hours. And that was with the Time Option increased to x8 most of the mission. You will find yourself flying over France or over the ocean for hours with NOTHING to do. I am all for a simulation but there has to be a fine line between SIMULATION and GAMING. My father came over to check out the game and we started a mission, watched half a football game, ate dinner and we still were not over the target area. I am hoping that once I get better at flying the airplane or learn how to work the bombsight or learn how to navigate, it will become more enjoyable. I really want to like this game because it is such a great concept. But I have owned it a month and still cannot fly the bomber without HEAVY computer assitance. I would reccomend this game - but please have PLENTY of pantience and time to invest!

Rating:
Summary: Problems with the Windows XP Professional
Review: I bought this game a few months ago. I didn't have any problems loading and playing it with the Windows NT platform. I was very dissapointed that I wasn't able to play with the XP. Any suggestions?
[e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: Lots of practice and patience
Review: This is an excellent game, but not one that you can really jump right into. It takes a lot of playing to get used to the (MANY) controls and commands. Microprose was quite thourough and everything is pretty darn authentic. If you've got the time and patience this game is very rewarding.......one downside, no joystick calibration? or force feedback....otherwise excellent!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent But....
Review: Things seem a bit repetitive after a while, plus I found it near impossible to hit anything in the turret gunner mode, but other than that its great

the graphics are wonderfully detailed (read: need a GOOD computer), it offers some challenge, and alot of flexibility

if they would add some dedicated fighter missions then it would be spectacular(I know this detracts from what its called but they added the ability to fly the fighters they should have added a few campaigns) get it if your a WW2 fan, other than that stray away...

Rating:
Summary: Another great flight sim
Review:

I had another B-17 game some years ago. This one is significantly different. This is a real challenge! First, the instrumentation and interior graphics are very good.
They could be improved by allowing the flyer to operate the flight deck controls with the mouse, but that is nitpicking. The exterior graphics are not state-of-the-art,
but they are plenty good enough to really experience the game. The sound is good and realistic.

I had better identify my equipment so that you can judge my viewpoint. I have a 1.8 MHz Pentium 4 with a half-gig of RAM and my OS is Microsoft Windows ME.
Video is ATI. I use a CH Flightstick Pro USB and CH Pro Pedals USB with Control Manager. (The brakes do not work with this simulation.

Everything else works fine and the loading was easy.

As to my experience, I'm in my mid-seventies and made my first solo in the mid '40s. I've flown a variety of single engine aircraft over the years, but have little
multi-engine experience, and that only as air crew, except on the computer. I've also built and flown a variety of radio-controlled aircraft. I have flown just about
every decent simulator on the market since 1989, but my specialty is WWII aircraft since that is my generation. I'm partial to the Pacific Theater, and particularly
love the F6F "Hellcat" as a fighter plane--it accounted for nearly 80 percent of all the Japanese aircraft shot down in air-to-air combat in the Pacific, and had a 19-1
kill ratio. Not bad. It also made more aces than any other allied single-engine fighter plane.

I mostly fly fighters. I think the best combat flight sim (for graphics and flight characteristics) currently on the market is IL-2 Sturmovik. Jane's WWII Fighters and
and Microsoft's Combat Flight Sim 2 are neck-and-neck for second place, and I'm looking at MS Combat Flight Sim 3 with high
hopes.

This is a good sim. It is very realistic in the flight characteristics of a large multi-engine prop driven aircraft. The sounds are very realistic as well, and for those who
think it is a difficult game--it is! But then, so is actually flying such an aircraft, but it can be learned. Practice, practice, practice!

The ability to move from one crew position to the next easily is not realistic, but it is great fun! One thing I appreciate is the very thing that bugs many; the fact that
you can spend hours on a single mission--in fact, you can spend several minutes stacked up, orbiting your own airfield just waiting to land after a mission. Oh, you
can avoid it by speeding things up to 8X time, but of course the actual aircrews were simply stuck with it. That's just the way it was!

In real life, it was hours, weeks, sometimes months of boredom interspersed with moments of sheer terror. "Hurry up and wait" was as typical of WWII as "Kilroy
was here."

But, do you want to get a feel for how it really was (without the gut-wrenching fear, of course) or do you just want to play another game? One thing about the
boredom of hours of droning engines--it lulled the crew, so that when the action suddenly started when a Bf-109 or FW-190 or (God help us!) an ME-162
suddenly bounced you out of the sun, it was all the more unexpected.

This is of course not like being at war. Not even close. The people who really flew in these ships actually died, as you know. More than 50,000 men from the 8th
died over Europe. That's the entire crew of 5,000 different aircraft. Losses were high. It was hard to get through the 25 missions required, alive. For the Luftwaffe, it
was, if anything, worse! There was no limit to the number of their missions. They flew until they were killed or the war ended, whichever came first.

I recommend this game if you have the patience and the equipment tofly it properly. If you are simply looking for something that will allow you to shoot down lots of
"enemy" quickly, this is probably not for you.

Joe Pierre, USN (Ret)