Dom Robinson reviews
B-17 Flying Fortress: The Mighty Eighth
for Sega Dreamcast
Distributed by
Hasbro Interactive
Even if you're not a study of history, fans of the David Puttnam-produced film Memphis Belle must
apply here as you take on not one, but ten roles on the legendary B-17 bomber. Strap yourself in, wear
your headphones and blast out Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries as you relive World War II.
The Mighty Eighth were the US Army Air Force 8th Bomber Command. They had the unlucky task
of running daylight bomber runs over the specified areas of occupied Europe, striking military targets
with pin-point precision. Missing the target during the game won't kill anyone real, but for those who
flew about the clouds it was a matter of life and death. Here, you'll take on all ten roles - Bombardier,
Navigator, Cheekgunner, Pilot, Co-Pilot, Engineer/Top Turret Gunner, Radio Operator, Bail Turret
Gunner, Left and Right Waist and Tail Gunners - aboard the plane from managing the campaign,
through shooting down the German Luftwaffe intent on stopping your mission, to dropping the big
ones themselves.
The options available to you include Quick Start, which drops you right in the thick of the action for
those who just want a brief blast, training missions which sharpen the skills of your team and to add
realism, Historic missions - those that the brave men actually went on to help win the war, with maps
of the actual terrain on which they fought including England, the Netherlands, France, Germany and
Belgium.
There are also two campaign modes: Historical - this is the main game mode which provides you with
a single plane and the crew with which to complete your tour of duty should you succeed. Do well here
and you must consider the Squadron Commander campaign - controlling an entire squadron of twelve
B-17s and 120 crew members with over 200 targets to plan and demolish.
In addition to piloting the "Flying Fortress", you can take on the role of an escort fighter in the P38
Lightning, P47 Thunderbolt and the P51 Mustang, or for a change of pace, Stan Boardman's
favourites, the Germans, in the form of the FW-190, BF-109, ME-262 Schwalbe and the ME-163
Komet.
With a fully-working cockpit, there's great attention to detail, but it can get overbearing if you're not
used to flight simulators. On a final note, my namesake, Dominic Robinson, was the Project Leader
and Programmer of this game. I was asked in the 80s if I had written the ZX Spectrum classic,
Uridium. Sadly, I'm not him, I didn't write that game and I wish I had his bank balance...
Overall: 3½/5
This review used to be on Freeloader.com but they have since closed.
Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2000.
Amazon.co.uk Widgets
DVDfever .co.uk - Est. February 25th 2000
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
Even if you're not a study of history, fans of the David Puttnam-produced film Memphis Belle must
apply here as you take on not one, but ten roles on the legendary B-17 bomber. Strap yourself in, wear
your headphones and blast out Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries as you relive World War II.
