Battle of Britain - First Look - By Derek "Crossbar" Bond
Battle
of Britain (BoB) is Rowan Software's latest entry in flight sims. Covering
the famous air battle between the Luftwaffe and the Royal Air Force in
summer and fall of 1940, BoB features flyable versions of the Me-109E,
Me-110 and Stuka for the Luftwaffe and the Spitfire and Hurricane for
the RAF. BoB will allow the player to fly "Quick" mssions and campaigns.
Quick missions are single missions with adjustable parameters. Much like
MiG Alley, BoB will allow the player to choose mission type, number of
planes, altitudes and skill levels of the AI pilots involved. Mission
types include anti-shipping, dive bombing, fighter engagements, escort,
intercept and more. There are also some "Historic" missions featuring
huge German bomber formations attacking targets in Britain. The player
can assume any role in the engagement except bomber pilot. A nice feature
is the ability to man the gunner positions on medium bombers like the
He-111, Do-17 and Ju-88. It is an absolute blast to squeeze into the
ventral gunner's spot and try to fend off attacks by multiple squadrons
of Spitfires and Hurricanes with your single MG15!
BoB has it's lineage deeply rooted in it's predecessor, MiG Alley. Players
familiar with MiG Alley will find themselves right at home with BoB's
graphical user interface. There are a myriad of options and user preferences
available, even more than MiG Alley, meaning BoB should be scalable for
smooth gameplay on a variety of systems.
Campaigns
One of the things I like most about MiG Alley is the dynamic campaign,
the Spring Offensive. When I first learned that BoB would have a campaign
simulating the entire battle in real time, I was intrigued. After all,
you need a powerful campaign engine to do a dynamic campaign on such
a grand scale. I was eager to see how Rowan would attempt to pull it
off. The depth of the campaign is phenomenal. As the player, you will
be given the choice of playing the campaign as Commander or as a pilot
for either the Luftwaffe of the RAF. As Commander, you are given full
reign to conduct operations as you see fit. You choose which targets
to attack or defend, the aircraft that will perform these duties, which
squadrons to send into action and which ones to hold in reserve. Additionally,
you may choose to participate in any mission. Control of an aircraft
can be assumed at anytime. If you want to fly the entire mission in real
time you can. If you want to wait until formations are engaged and skip
taking off and flying to the target, that's your option. You can even
opt to let the computer fly all of the missions and play the campaign
as Goering or Dowding!
The campaign is broken down into four phases. The first is the "Convoy"
phase (10July to 11August) Play as either side as the Luftwaffe attempts
to destroy shipping in the English Channel. Phase two (12August to 23August)
is "Eagle Attack" focusing on the Luftwaffe's attempt to destroy the
RAF in the air and on the ground. The third phase is the "Critical Period".
From 24August to 6September the Germans attack the British aircraft industry.
And the final phase is the "Blitz". From 7September to 15 September the
skies are filled with bombers and fighters as the Luftwaffe's focus falls
on London. Each day is divided into 3 sessions, during which the missions
are carried out. Due to it's dynamic nature, successes and failures will
have a direct effect on the outcome. If you spank JG51 during a morning
raid, they may not be operational for a few days. Knock out the Chain
Home radars and the British lose their eyes. Destroy the Hawker factories
and fewer Hurricanes will be available as the battle carries on.
I am very impressed with the scope, power and flexibility of the campaigns.
All of the actual sqaudrons that took part in the Battle of Britain are
represented in the game. All of the airfields are there too. Aircraft
feature squadron and individual markings. Nice touch. In the Beta I played
for the purpose of this review, there were no unique squadron paintschemes,
only the numbers and letters on the fuselage are different from squadron
to sqaudron and from plane to plane. But I imagine that like MiG Alley,
players will be able to create skins for more accurate paint schemes.
Whether they will be able to be actually assigned to individual sqaudrons
is unclear to me at this point. But that would certainly be welcomed.
Overall the campaign is very impressive. It's as scalable as you want
it to be. The player can assume as much or as little responsiblity as
he pleases. Unfortunately, the Beta I played was rather buggy so I was
not able to test the campaign balance as I would have liked. But if the
final release is stable, flight simmers who like campaigns are in for
a big treat.
Aircraft
As mentioned earlier, BoB has flyable versions of two Messerscmitts,
the Me-109E and Me-110 ,and the Ju-87 Stuka divebomber for the Luftwaffe.
RAF pilots can take to the skies in either a Supermarine Spitfire or
a Hawker Hurricane. Flight models are a mixed bag. Buffeting seems overdone,
as it happens in virually any turn above 3 G's. Departures appear to
still be in the working stages. No matter what I did, I could not get
the 109's or Spits to spin. But given the fact that this is a Beta, many
things may still be partially implemented and it's smart to save judgement
for the final release. Bail outs are great however. Hurricanes and Spits
feature sliding canopies which can be opened at anytime. Nice touch.
The German fighter have hinged canopies which are better left in place
until it's time to bail out or until you're on the ground. Once, my chute
failed to open, so it looks as though Rowan may have even modeled chute
failures or injuries resulting from striking the plane.
The weapons also need some work. My Spitfire seemed as though only two
guns, one on each wing, were firing at any one time. I did not experience
the full force on impact that I would expect 8 simultaneously firing
machine guns to produce. In this Beta it takes alot of rounds to shoot
down a German fighter, not to mention those big twin-engined bombers.
The German armament is certainly more powerful, as the 20mm cannons have
good punch. Rowan does model gun covergence, which will make many propheads
happy. Unfortunately, I see no way to customize individual convergences.
So we may be stuck with a generic "all guns converge at same point".
Again, since this is only a Beta, these may simply be things Rowan is
leaving for later. We'll see.
Purists will be happy to know that Rowan has included engine control
management in BoB. The player can choose to manually work prop pitch,
boost control, magnetos, fuel cock, primer pump and even the starter
button. There is also aileron and rudder trim (except the109, which did
not have this feature).
Graphics and Sound
Gpaphically, BoB is a mixed affair at this point. Aircraft models are
good. Tracer effects have improved over MiG Alley. Rowan has also extended
the horizon further than was done in MiG Alley. Terrain is good. Special
effects like flame and smoke still have the cottonball effect like MA
did. In Beta form, the graphics don't appear as sharp as they do in MiG
Alley. For me, the jury is still out. We'll have to judge the final release.
A big addition both graphically and tactically is the introduction of
3D cloud formations. Huge billowing cumulus banks can obscure vision
and allow for a tactical bounce or a narrow escape. In one instance,
I was in a Spit attacking a formation of about a dozen Do-17's when the
entire formation dissapeared from sight in the clouds! Very nice. Perhaps
they will add them before release, but in this Beta there are no targeting
aids of any kind aside from a padlock system. No range indicators or
targeting diamonds. Without these, and with the 3D clouds, finding and
attacking targets can be very challenging and should reward the smart
pilot in multiplayer. It is very difficult to instantly spot a distant
aircraft. And that's the way it should be.
Sound is well done. Flak explosions are deafening. Radio chatter is good,
but could probably use some more variety, but then again that can be
said about virtually any sim. When you fly for the first time in the
gunners position in a droning formation of Ju-88's being atttacked by
fighters and flak, BoB just sounds amazing. Very immersive.
Multiplayer
I did not have an opportunity to test the multiplayer component of BoB,
but Rowan intends to have support for Deathmatch, Team Play and Quick
mission on TCP/IP, modem or LAN. If Rowan can implement smooth net code
for Bob, it should be very popular among on-line players.
Conclusion
Overall, I think BoB will hold it's own among the new generation of WWII
flight sims. The size of the battles, number of planes in the sky, and
great dynamic campaign gives Rowan's Battle of Britain a strong feature
list. We'll just have to wait and see if Rowan can follow up the buggy
MiG Alley with a polished product. If they do, they may just have a winner
on their hands.
