Post by Keith Heitmann on Jul 28, 2002 14:44:29 GMT -5
I've just been fooling around with my latest freebie called "Pearl Harbor" by ASAP Games, one of those owned by Vivendi Universal. It's a "fun flyer" air combat game based on the the air war in the Pacific.
It's strangely addictive even though it is flown entire from outside the aircraft from a vantage point above and behind the aircraft. You have a choice of the F6F Hellcat, P-38, F4U Corsair, P51, P47, Dauntless, TBD-1 Devastator, TBF Avenger, B-25 and B-17 bombers. The type of aircraft availalble depends on the period, location and requirements of each mission. The F6F is pure fighter. The F4U is a fighter-bomber, as is the P-51. The P38 and P47 are rocket armed fighters. The TBD-1 and TBF are your torpedo bombers.
There are 10 missions total with each one getting more difficult. The last few missions have multiple goals such as destroying and airfield, a certain number of ships of a certain kind, and bombing special targets.
The game isn't a heavy handed aircombat flight simulator that requires the memorization of a thousand buttons and controls. You fly your plane with the keyboard arrows (no joystick), simple up, down, left, right, and with the shift key a left roll or right roll. You fire your guns with the spacebar and the secondary weapon (torpedoes, bombs, etc.) with the CTRL key. Throtte control is A to speed up and Z to slow down.
You have to defend your airfield or carrier to prevent its destruction while accomplishing your mission goals. Once you wipe out the airfields and carriers the enemy loses its airpower. Some missions are very tricky and time consuming requiring many runs to accomplish.
I've manage to beat the first nine and have come with in a hair's breadth of winning the final 10th mission only to have the game end because enemy destroyers and battleships have managed to sink my carrier.
The nice thing about this game is that it has a small hard drive footprint, requires no CD in the drive to play, and it has a virtual re-enactment of the entire attack on Pearl Harbor which you can watch as it unfolds. You cannot fly in that battle, it's watch-only type "video." Each step of the attack comes with a onscreen explanation of what is taking place.
The nicest surprise is that it comes with a full 3-CD set of the Audiobook "Pearl Harbor" the novelized version of the recent movie.
ASAP Games is at www.asapgames.com
You can get it from the Vivendi Universal online store page at www.vugames.com/vug/home.do.
It's strangely addictive even though it is flown entire from outside the aircraft from a vantage point above and behind the aircraft. You have a choice of the F6F Hellcat, P-38, F4U Corsair, P51, P47, Dauntless, TBD-1 Devastator, TBF Avenger, B-25 and B-17 bombers. The type of aircraft availalble depends on the period, location and requirements of each mission. The F6F is pure fighter. The F4U is a fighter-bomber, as is the P-51. The P38 and P47 are rocket armed fighters. The TBD-1 and TBF are your torpedo bombers.
There are 10 missions total with each one getting more difficult. The last few missions have multiple goals such as destroying and airfield, a certain number of ships of a certain kind, and bombing special targets.
The game isn't a heavy handed aircombat flight simulator that requires the memorization of a thousand buttons and controls. You fly your plane with the keyboard arrows (no joystick), simple up, down, left, right, and with the shift key a left roll or right roll. You fire your guns with the spacebar and the secondary weapon (torpedoes, bombs, etc.) with the CTRL key. Throtte control is A to speed up and Z to slow down.
You have to defend your airfield or carrier to prevent its destruction while accomplishing your mission goals. Once you wipe out the airfields and carriers the enemy loses its airpower. Some missions are very tricky and time consuming requiring many runs to accomplish.
I've manage to beat the first nine and have come with in a hair's breadth of winning the final 10th mission only to have the game end because enemy destroyers and battleships have managed to sink my carrier.
The nice thing about this game is that it has a small hard drive footprint, requires no CD in the drive to play, and it has a virtual re-enactment of the entire attack on Pearl Harbor which you can watch as it unfolds. You cannot fly in that battle, it's watch-only type "video." Each step of the attack comes with a onscreen explanation of what is taking place.
The nicest surprise is that it comes with a full 3-CD set of the Audiobook "Pearl Harbor" the novelized version of the recent movie.
ASAP Games is at www.asapgames.com
You can get it from the Vivendi Universal online store page at www.vugames.com/vug/home.do.
