Enthusiastic flight simmers will know that developer Just Flight isn’t new to the genre. In the past it’s produced some of the best add-ons for Microsoft’s simulators.
Strike Fighters: Project 1 plays host to four planes. “Only four?” I hear you cry. That’s exactly what I thought when I picked up the sim, but the detail and quality of the aircraft are absolutely superb and make up for the lack of choice. You can see literally every rivet punch and flake of rust on these planes, which date from the late 1950s and 60s and are decorated according to your squadron.
During a campaign you embark on some taxing missions. You don’t know precisely where you are, just that it is somewhere in the Middle East. In addition, you need to keep an eye on weapon supplies to ensure they don’t run out. We learned this to our cost when we tried shooting down a MiG with no ammo.
As well as the campaign option, there is a single-mission mode were you decide what you want to do, who you want to fight and what ground target you want to destroy.
One of the hardest parts about playing a flight sim is mastering landing and take-off. Luckily, Strike Fighters allows you to opt-out of this task so you can go straight to the action.
To feel the full effect of Strike Fighters you need plenty of hard disk space, a decent graphics card and, ideally, a force feedback-based joystick, as it can get quite tedious using the keyboard all the time. Publisher: Strategy First
Developer: Third Wire
URL: www.justflight.com