Red Baron

The Good
This game has a lot of variety. There are 28 planes to choose from (though not all are available if you play Career mode, which makes sense), each plane with its own characteristics. There are many different types of missions you can play such as zeppelin hunting, balloon popping, and simple patrols and dogfighting. The game also contains a large list of famous aces, both German and Allied, that you can fight in one-on-one combat.

At the time of this game's release, the graphics were top-of-the-line. All objects were well rendered and easily recognizable. It did not take much imagination to feel that you were actually flying over the front engaging a squadron of German fighters. Mind you, this is a few years before the discovery of the "textured polygon."

The flight model allowed the player to choose exactly what features he/she wanted in the experience. You could choose to have an easy-to-fly flight model or a more difficult, more realistic flight model. You could also turn off and on specific features such as black/red-outs, limited ammunition, sun blinding, or you even fancy yourself a god and turn off the vulnerability. Great fun.

Along with the disks, the box contained a well-written and detailed instruction manual explaining not only basic controls, but advanced tactics and manuevers. The manual contained a section with histories, biographies, and anecdotes about the WWI air war and its pilots. Lots of fun to read if you were interested in the real history of the war. There were also several maps showing the regions modeled in the game (very handy when you got seperated from your squadron and had to find your own way back home) and a smaller instruction book useful for quick reference on flying the plane and basic manuevers.

The Bad
While quite good for the time period, the AI of enemy pilots was easily outsmarted. Should an enemy get on your tail, all you had to do to shake him was pull a simple vertical manuever like a split-S or an Immelmann turn. AI, however, was a pretty new science at this time.

The flight models were quite a bit more nimble than the actual planes would have been. It isn't very realistic, but still fun.

The Bottom Line
This game represents a ground-breaking achievement in computer air combat simulation. Definitely one of the great games of its day.