F19 Stealth Fighter


Title		F19 Stealth Fighter
Game Type	Flight Sim
Company		Microprose
Players		1
Compatibility	All
Submission      Andy Thomas (andy@adamantium.demon.co.uk)

Review
This was a Microprose flight Sim, later called F117A Nighthawk to reflect
the final designation of the jet.  Interestingly you could fly two models
in the Sim; what the jet really looks like today or what everyone thought
it was going to look like - the longer knife shaped aircraft called the
F19.  Quite where that design came from I don't know, but I saw it on toys
at the time as well.  I assume someone was using the SR-71 as a basis and
taking an educated guess as to what a more modern plane would look like.
Before I get into the game, I'll mention that while it is playable on an
A1200, I found that I tended to release a bit more chaff than I intended
to, because the game's looking for keyboard presses so much faster than on
the A500 it tends to get a bit carried away!  Another small details was
that the game came with a keyboard overlay - so helpful when you need to
find the eject key in a hurry!

The game itself wasn't really for speed freaks.  In order to play it
properly you had to fly very low, and very slow, in order to avoid
detection.  Missile views and views from target were all spot on. Modern
weaponry was well represented, with Mavericks, Paveways and Durandals all
playing their part.  In order to get the highest scores you had to learn
how to shoot with the gun effectively.  Do-able with air targets certainly,
the slow AWACS planes in particular (and those were the ones that tended
to pick you up and lead other jets to you, so you had to kill them) but
nosediving at ground targets to strafe them was a little harder.  However,
given your limited weapons payload, effective gun use was quite important.

Scenarios ranged from Middle East to Central Europe.  Missions had primary
and secondary objectives for the big points, and taking out annoying radar
sites got you more points, as did removing enemy planes from the skies.
Getting positively ID'd when playing the cold war style game resulted in a
penalty, although I think you could remedy a visual ID by killing the
plane that spotted you.  The aim of any pilot was to get all the medals
going.  This meant that you had to eject safely over friendly territory
once, and land your plane in a seriously banged up state once as well.
The latter was great fun as it was generally your avionics that got blow
out, so you'd be wobbling all over the place as you tried to set the
stupid thing down.  As with most flight Sims there was a copious manual,
and despite the general lack of enthralling air to air combat it was still
a very engaging Sim from the then masters, Microprose.



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