B17 II: The Mighty 8th
B17 Flying Fortress: The Mighty Eighth (B17 II) is a flight simulator and RPG centering around the daylight bombing raids of the Eighth Air Force between 1943 and 1945. The game was developed by Wayward Design and released in 2000 by publisher Atari. In the Bomber Commander (BC) portion of the game the player controls one B17 Flying Fortress and tries to complete a 25 mission tour, keeping at least one crew member alive and healthy enough at all times to make it to the end. In the Squadron Commander (SC) portion of the game the player controls twelve B17’s and tries to complete 25-30 missions while bombing targets considered “strategically important.” The main difference between the two portions is that in SC portion the player recons and chooses which targets to hit, which bombers (6 out of 12) to send, and what repairs to make to the bombers that do return. The SC portion the game can end if the player’s command is taken away because of insufficient bombing results, very high casualty rates, or too many targets chosen that are not considered high priority targets.
I have played many missions through many different bomber commander careers in B17 II and have made it to the end just once. And I had to fudge to do that. Most critics and fans agree that the game is extraordinarily hard and weighted against getting to the end of a tour. My new style of play will be to start a BC campaign at the beginning, December 1, 1943, and play with a crew until they finish their tour, are killed, or captured. At that point I will start a new crew and continue from the date of the last crews’ final mission. This way I will get to fly every mission in the game. If I keep enough interest in this style I will attempt the same style with SC campaign.