ECTS: Rowan's Battle of Britain

At ECTS, Empire Interactive is showing off a playable version of Rowan's Battle of Britain, a World War II flight simulation developed by Rowan Software - the same team that designed MiG Alley, the recipient of GameSpot's best flight simulation award for 1999. Battle of Britain is designed to accurately recreate the seemingly insurmountable odds faced by the RAF against the relentless Luftwaffe air raids; the game is capable of displaying literally hundreds of detailed plane models at a time.

Battle of Britain uses an enhanced MiG Alley engine, and carries over many similar gameplay features. One of the most distinguishable elements of Rowan's Battle of Britain is the ability for the player to take advantage of the cloud cover, and use it to hide until he's right above the enemy, and then attack from above. The game will let you play either the RAF or Luftwaffe in one of five aircraft including the Spitfire, the Junkers 82 Stuka, and the Hurricane. Of course, each plane handles differently, and is designed to best suit specific roles such as interception, dive-bombing, and so on. In addition, players can opt to fly the game in its standard tactical mode, or assume the role of a commander, in which Rowan's Battle of Britain takes on many additional strategic elements.

When it's released this October, Rowan's Battle of Britain will also support up to eight players in a number of multiplayer play modes.