Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe

The Good
The premise of the game was intriguing. What if the Germans had fully developed the horde of experimental aircraft that they were working on during the course of WWII? Would the outcome of WW2 have changed? Could the sheer number of Allied aircraft, and in particular Allied bombers, still have smashed the Reich?

As with LucasArts other WW2 flight simulations, the design of SWOTL made the game instantly accessible and engaging. I don’t believe any other game since has allowed a player to so readily jump into so many powerful, dangerous, and bizarre aircraft. If you wanted instant action, you could have it. If you wanted to play a dynamic campaign using any of these dangerous aircraft, that was available. I remember buying IL2: Forgotten Battles – Aces Expansion Pack, believing that it would allow me to again fly some of these great aircraft in campaigns against waves of Allied bombers. However I was to be disappointed; the Aces Expansion Pack just didn’t have the range of aircraft, the ready made dynamic campaigns, and instant action of SWOTL.

Players have the opportunity to use a number of powerful, dangerous, and bizarre aircraft. My own personal favourite was the Me-163 Komet rocket plane. Loaded with rockets, it would gain altitude and streak towards bomber formations at a terrifying speed. With its limited fuel load, the only way to get home safely was to glide back with no engine power. Although hard to hit, the Komet could take very little damage, as it was prone to explosions. The landings were harrowing as the landing gear was not comprised of a wheel assemblage, but rather a single skid – the pilot had to literally slide his aircraft across the field as if he were tobogganing. What a thrill! However, other monstrosities such as the Gotha Flying Wing and the famous Me-262 also had their charms. I found that, true to life, The Me-162 jet fighter was one to stay away from. History tells us that the 162 was derisively referred to as “The Cheap And Nasty” by German fighter pilots, because it was built to be light and inexpensive - almost disposable - and its in-game performance accurately reflects this.

The stability of the game was rock solid; I recall no issues at all with bugs, lock-ups, or crashes. Since I love replaying older games, I’ve used SWOTL on a number of different machines. However, given that the game engine was several years old, stability was to be expected.

The Bad
When speaking about the problems with SWOTL, one has to look at the history of LucasArts flight simulations. With the release of Battlehawks: 1942 and Their Finest Hour in 1988 and 1989 respectively, LucasArts redefined WWII flight simulations and set the stage for all future games in this genre. Battlehawks and Their Finest Hour were the first games that truly made it feel as if you were flying in history’s greatest battles. Much of the reason for this was the sprite based graphics engine. I still remember how astonished I was at how accurately the Messerschmitt fighters and Dornier bombers were drawn. You could actually pick out the red nosed fighter that German ace Molder flew in battle. Firing at a big Heinkel at close range, you could see pieces flying off; if you were low enough over the Channel, you could see (and hear) pieces hit the water. How satisfying it was to see those damaged bombers drop their eggs early and attempt to turn for home, only to be raked wingtip to wingtip by my gunfire! I remain convinced that, at the time these games came out, polygon graphics could not possibly have included this much detail in the aircraft LucasArts modelled.

Then in 1990 Dynamix released Red Baron. Here was a game that used a huge number of smoothly rotating polygons rather than sharply jumping sprites. So much detail was put into the vehicles that even their control surfaces moved. For the first time, a virtual cockpit was possible, with seemingly unlimited angles of view. Clearly flight simulation had advanced enormously in a very brief time period. Being a huge fan of Their Finest Hour in particular, I still waited eagerly for SWOTL’s release, anticipating great advances in its game engine as well. However when it was released in 1991, it was obvious that SWOTL had been eclipsed. LucasArts had still used the same sprite based engine that Battlehawks:1942 had used three years earlier. After seeing the new polygon graphics of Red Baron, watching SWOTL’s aircraft jump between perpendicular and 45 degree angles was painful. Simply put, LucasArts had stuck with the same engine for one game too long. One can note that with the release of X-Wing in 1993, LucasArts too had moved on to polygon graphics, and with great success.

SWOTL’s dated game engine extended to other areas well. Sound had made no great advances. Explosions, gunfire, and even wind effects are all very similar if not exactly the same as in previous offerings. The flight model had made no great advances. When playing Red Baron, one could tell that an aircraft was close to stalling by its sluggish responses, whereas such subtle cues were not as evident in SWOTL.

The Bottom Line
LucasArts’ WW2 flight simulations reigned supreme in the late 80s. However, they stuck with an old game engine too long, and SWOTL was outclassed by its peers. Nevertheless, it remains a fun diversion because of its strong premise, dynamic campaign, and underlying game design emphasizing instant action and playability.