Rowan's Battle of Britain Preview
Will the follow-up to last year's MiG Alley be as good? Read on to find out.
The Battle of Britain was the first major World War II battle carried out solely by aircraft, which makes it ideal for the subject of a flight simulation. However, it has always suffered a bit of neglect from game designers. Even with the proliferation of World War II flight sims over the past couple of years, no one has ever done a comprehensive game that details the battle exclusively. That's about to change, though, with the impending release of Battle of Britain, which is developed by Rowan and will be published by Empire Interactive. GameSpot's 1999 Sim of the Year, MiG Alley, was also developed by Rowan, and the same innovation and attention to detail present in that game have carried over to Battle of Britain.
As the name suggests, Battle of Britain re-creates the titan struggle between the British Royal Air Force and the German Luftwaffe in the summer of 1940, when Hitler ordered Goering, his air force commander, to neutralize the RAF in preparation for an amphibious invasion of England. The game will depict every significant feature of the battle, from early dive-bombing raids on coastal shipping to all-out assaults on London. The historical airfields all are re-created, and famous names like Biggin Hill will live again in your campaigns as the Germans attempt to knock it and other vital targets out of commission. Battle of Britain will depict the entire battlefield with a high degree of historical accuracy.
The graphics in Battle of Britain are excellent; the terrain, the cloud and weather effects, and the aircraft models are exceptional. The terrain engine has been upgraded since MiG Alley and even goes so far as to re-create famous London landmarks, such as Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London, St. Paul's Cathedral, and more. The cliffs of Dover are quite striking as well. Effects like sun flares round out the experience. The aircraft models are superb, with an impressive level of detail. This detail extends beyond polygon count to such things as historically accurate tail markings as well as movable flight surfaces. In addition, the virtual cockpits are outstanding and have fully interactive instruments.
Clouds played a significant role in determining the outcome of the Battle of Britain, and the game depicts clouds in ways that are both aesthetically attractive and critically functional. Volumetric cloud cover will let you sneak up on your targets or shake pursuers when threatened. Accounts of the battle are filled with descriptions of fighters hiding in cloud layers until a bomber flight passed by in order to flash out at the last second and take the enemy unawares. You can fully duplicate these tactics in Battle of Britain.
Battle of Britain will include a full mission-recording feature, which will let you engage the camera manually, slave it to the trigger, or just record the whole darn thing from takeoff to landing. The mission film can also be edited, so you can just focus on the instant of combat. Once you have recorded and edited the film, you can save it for replay and review.
- GameSpot Score8.4great
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- Empire Interactive
- Rowan Software
- WWII Flight Sim
- Release: Jan 31, 2001
- ESRB: Teen
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