F-117A Nighthawk Stealth Fighter 2.0

The Good
This delightful game was my introduction to just how entertaining a well-conceived and executed modern air combat simulation could be. Great concept. Beautiful graphics. You may be driving the world’s stealthiest aircraft, and yet you could still be detected if you were careless, flying too high and too fast, and worst of all: flying too close to the bad guys. In this regard the game was open to creative survival tactics. You could let the autopilot fly your route, but more often than not you were obliged to break from the plan—think outside the box—to avoid unpleasant encounters with enemy aircraft. Suddenly that looming mountain wasn’t so much an obstacle as a welcome opportunity for some much needed cover. Flying low and slow, sneaking through valleys in the dark until you found your target and hit it hard was great fun.

You flew missions all over the world, and the graphics did a wonderful job of conveying locations. I was amazed to see spinning windmills as I hugged the deck in The Netherlands, and was mesmerized by the appearance of one lighted village after another as I raced over Cuba’s rolling tropical terrain.

During every mission there were plenty of additional targets of opportunity, and with an eye on your ordnance load and fuel supply you could choose to take a detour and boost your points with a few extra kills. It was just as much fun to zoom in, hit your primary target and make a beeline home before the bad guys were ever the wiser.

The Bad
The game had a little bit of an arcade quality, especially when engaging other aircraft, but this may have been due to the limitations of the graphics resolution and colors. The flight dynamics weren't very compelling, making the aircraft feel somewhat rigid.

The Bottom Line
Rewarding, entry-level ground attack air combat sim. Of course, after nearly two decades the graphics are primitive by today's standards, however the core concept and implementation still stand up. If a new version of this game were released to complement today's hardware standards I'd be very tempted to start flying stealth missions again.

The Good
I enjoyed the option to fly the real F-117 or the Microprose version (2 more weapon bays and a gun). It requires some patience and planning to get around enemy planes and installations which added to the challenge of playing it.

The Bad
I don't think the difficulty was thoroughly thought out. If you upped it to the max, then a MiG-23 could see you flying at 50-100 feet while there was a mountain between the two of you. The F-117 wasn't designed for air-to-air combat like the F-15 and F-16 are, but the higher levels often resulted in similar results. Also, I found I'd get more points for completing a mission at a lower difficulty level than I did at a higher level. The only way I can explain this is, there may have been some extra objectives I was to achieve that I was unaware of.

The Bottom Line
It's an ok game. It's fun initially, but the missions get repetitive and the graphics aren't THAT eye-catching. For a real sim, I'd look for something more current.

The Good
Back when this game was released, a few of my friends and I got together to share tactics. Now either the game was that good, or we were total idiots. I leave that for you to decide. ;)

If flying below radar at subsonic speeds, sweating profusely at the slightest blip on the radar, then this game is for you. If you want action, dogfights, and supersonic races to the target, then rather play another game.

The point of this game is to fly to your target undetected, complete your goal, be it photographs or decimating a weapons factory, and then return safely - again, undetected. To do this, you have a choice of planes - "real" or "Microprose", the former being more stealthy, the latter having more weapons. The strategy involves plotting a course, avoiding two types of radar at different locations, and then actually flying the course.

Autopilot comes in very handy, as does accelerated time. The actual flight dynamics are not as good as you would expect, but in its day I never complained. The different campaigns allow for varied difficulty, as well as certain options that can be chosen besides.

The Bad
At time of release, there was not much to complain about. The music was Adlib, not my favourite.

The Bottom Line
The game itself was a good step up from its predecessor, F19 Stealth Fighter. I still enjoy it, even now, and hope to see an updated release along these lines one day.