So what's this one got going for it? Three things actually. One, it's a proper flight simulator, no question about it. Two, it's got solid 3D graphics. And three, you get a choice of 14 different planes to fly, ranging from a 1918 Sopwith Camel to the SR-71 Blackbird. The cons? Well, Chuck Yeager might be an important historical figure and everything, but his contribution to the game consists mainly of irritating comments after you crash. And the other one is those 3D graphics. They look very nice generally, but sometimes the various shades of grey gang up against you so it's very hard to see what's going on. And they're not as smooth as they might have been either. There's another thing while we're at it too. While the 128K version is absolutely packed with features and things to do, the 48K one has been radically cut down and isn't nearly such an attractive proposition. Assuming you've got a 128K then Chuck Yeager is a stonking flight sim, with everything you could possible want and a lot that other flight sims don't have (like racing against other planes and 'test flying').
    

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Here's the first of these looking-at-it-from-behind ones, and it's easily the best of its type around. You're in one of these Stealth Plane things, but, spookily enough, you actually get to see it on the screen in front of you, with the landscape undulating underneath. Hills and dippy bits are shown by grid line thingies which bend around. The trouble is that you can only do left and right turns and go up and down a bit - no rolls or loops. In fact, you don't even have to do this half the time as you can switch on your terrain-following radar and let the plane do it for you. Opposition is provided by planes which swoop around you, hopefully flying straight into your line of fire. (They invariably do.) It's not the most stimulating game around combat-wise then, but underneath all this blatant arcadeyness lurks a strong strategic element where you've got to destroy certain targets and eventually win a war. All this happens over a huge map - lots of islands with sea between them. ATF isn't really a flight sim at all, but it's pretty good fun (for a while) all the same.
    

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If an award had to go to the most comprehensive, option-packed and, quite simply, darned complicated flight sim around, it might just get pinned onto Project Stealth Fighter's uniform. Which is handy, as that's just what we're looking at now. Like most recent flight sims it's all about the legendary Stealth Fighter (which actually turned out to be not so legendary, and completely different to how everyone thought). This doesn't actually make a lot of difference to the way the game works - it's really just an excuse for another flight sim. Technically PSF doesn't break any new ground. We've all seen wire-frame graphics before, although these ones are about twice as detailed as anything before, and a bit faster. There is, however, masses to see/shoot. You can fly over land and sea, which means there are destroyers and aircraft carriers to take out as well as the usual tanks and buildings, and there's also a huge range of weapons and missions to use them on. Ideologically though, this one goes out the window. You have to spend the whole time beating up Russians and Arabs when really it ought to be the Welsh. (Just kidding.)
    

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This was the next 'biggie' after Flight Simulation and introduced a number of innovations. First, and most importantly, there are things to shoot. They look pretty awful, and don't fly around terribly imaginatively, but they do explode very satisfyingly when shot (this can only be done with your machine gun). The other great thing about it is that your F-15 (for that's what it is) can zoom around at a fair old rate, and is much more fun to fly than the old Flight Simulation Cessna. This is partly because it's a more wazzy plane, but credit must also be given to the superior programming. There's also a bit more to look at on the ground, including a better runway and some strange square things dotted about. And the ground is green which is a great advantage. There are one or two oddities though - you can fly along for miles upside-down at an altitude of zero, which isn't too encouraging, but at least the compass is correct (Flight Simulation's had 370°) and there's a nice head-up display with all the important bits on. This took over as the definitive flight sim for ages, and is still worth taking up for a spin occasionally.
    

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Okay, this time round you're piloting a Grumman Avenger, which is one of those chubby American WWII bombers, and your mission is to wipe out the Bismark - "the most fearsome battle machine ever to haunt the seas". Luckily the ship has already been crippled by some Royal Navy biplanes, so all you've got to do is take off from the Ark Royal and finish it off. Simple really. Unfortunately, though, your plane seems to have a crew of one - you - so you've got to fly the plane, work the guns and do the engineery bits (like fiddling about with the engines) by flipping between a whole load of different screens. Luckily for Gremlin, the attack took place at night so the graphics are limited to the moon glistening off the sea and the enemy planes buzzing past the windows. This, along with the very restricted flying abilities of your plane, means that the game hasn't really got a lot to recommend it, apart from your bullets which look very nice whizzing off into the night. The flying parts are just a case of keeping on course to the Bismark, and the shooting parts are really just another Operation Wolf thing. Not really a proper flight sim then, and not a massively enjoyable shoot-'em-up either. Shame about that. There's a nice pic on the box though.
    

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As we found earlier, this was the first Speccy flight sim ever, and it shows. It comes on a cassette with the game on one side and 'Blank Tape' conveniently written on the other. See which one you prefer. It actually looks quite promising (the inlay card is massive, with loads of minuscule instructions) and, despite the fact that it's largely written in Basic, the game moves along at a fair old rate. The problem is the scenery. All there is to look at on the ground (which is blue) is the runway, Lake Orb (which is round), Lake Tri (which is triangular) and some hills (which you can't actually see at all, but you'll know if you crash into them). The plane responds to your controls very sluggishly, but luckily you don't have to use them much because a 'flight' generally consists of taking off, pointing the plane towards the other airport, coming back three and a half hours later and landing. If you crash there's a lengthy disaster effect and then you're asked if you want another flight. Press N and the program stops. Hmm. A legend in its own time, but a bit crap in this one.
    

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Right, so we all know what a Harrier is. What you might not know though is that it's one of the fiddliest planes to actually fly. To get it to take off you've got to have the nozzle things pointing downwards, and then point them backwards to make it fly along. There are also all kinds of things in-between, and all of them are faithfully incorporated into this ageing sim. It's a proper looking-out-of-the-cockpit job, and features ground attack as well as aerial combat. These tend to be split into two sections - one below the clouds and one above. Graphically we're talking seriously ropey here. There's plenty to see, particularly on the ground, but everything is made up of very small sprites which never seem to get especially close (and hence stay very small). But the flying is generally well done, and all this 'thrust vectoring' business works quite well. There is, of course, a war to fight and it mainly seems to consist of destroying tanks. So it's okayish, but very old-look without much in the way of lasting interest.
    

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A couple of major questions hang over this one. Firstly, why has it got a picture of a Harrier (with an extra tail fin) on the loading screen? And, secondly, why bother releasing it at all? (It's a bit crap.) The second question is easy enough to answer. It originally came out with the highly successful (?) Magnum lightgun, and obviously appeared to have some mileage left in it. Flight sim-wise, things don't look so hot either. It's a blatant Afterburner rip-off (but without the rocking landscape) and as Afterburner wasn't a flight sim this isn't either. Oops.
    

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Encouraged by the name (a Tomcat, apart from being a feline of the male gender, is a rather spanky US Navy plane), and, in sheer desperation, I decided to give this one a whirl. Bad idea. It's a very ordinary vertically-scrolling shooter with one outstanding feature - it's completely impossible to get anywhere in. The aeroplane theme is a bit weak too, as you could easily replace it with a space-ship or something and not notice the difference. Still no joy then.
    

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Here's another looking-at-it-from-behind one. However, this time what you're looking at is actually a World War I biplane, a bomber in fact, but you're not actually in control of it. Eh? This is actually because you're meant to be protecting it by flying along behind it in a fighter. Dastardly German planes zoom about trying to shoot down the bomber, so what you've got to do is shoot them down while resisting the temptation to shoot down the plane you're meant to be escorting (and it's a very strong temptation, I can tell you). The eventual aim is probably to bomb a target of some sort, but along the way are various enemy buildings and tanks (in WWI?) which you can also get the bomber to, er, bomb. Although the view is that of a True Flight Sim, you can't actually do much in the way of flying around, so it's really much more like ATF or something. The landscape is certainly very ATF-like - lots of grid-lines and hills - although I believe Deep Strike came first. There is a map, however, so it is a bit flight-simmy. But not enough, unfortunately, from letting it slip into being a slightly crap Operation Wolf-style shoot-'em-up. In fact, I can't really see what it's doing in this guide at all.
    

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This one's the sequel to Fighter Pilot, and there are a number of differences between the two games. Number one is that you're flying a helicopter. This is a big step-up from a mere F-15, and doubles the number of keys under your fingers at a stroke. Number two is that you've got a choice of different weapons to play with, some of which lock on and home in automatically - brilliant fun. Number three? Erm, well there are some nice-looking mountains to fly between, plenty of trees and a fair few buildings. All of these were new at the time. And, ooh, I'm losing count now, but there's an enemy helicopter to shoot down and lots of tanks and things on the ground as well. And (and! And!) there's a 'strategy' element to it where you've got to win a war or something. So it's a pretty complicated game then. And, what's more, it's extremely playable. The helicopter handles very convincingly, and is fairly simple to fly once you've worked out what's what. And the large quantity of shootables means that you won't get bored of it in a hurry.
    

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While Fighter Bomber isn't regarded as one of the most technically-accurate flight sims on the ST and Amiga, it's brilliant fun and ideal for Speccysation. It wouldn't have been quite the same without the solid 3D graphics, so they've bunged those in with astonishing success. They've also given you the same choice of planes to fly (but cut down a bit) so you can choose between the F-4 Phantom, the SAAB Viggen, the Tornado and the MiG 27 'Flogger'. They all handle differently and can carry different payloads, and the Tornado and the MiG have authentic sweeping-back wings. On top of all this there's a range of missions to go on, and plenty of weaponry. The emphasis is on attacking ground targets, although air-to-air combat does feature. Oh, and there's the 'hop outside and look at your plane from all sorts of positions' option too. It could quite possibly be the best flight sim ever.
    

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Er, are you sure? Stick your tongue out. Hmm. Say "Ahh". Crikey. Okay, let's take a look at some essential ingredients...
    THE SETTING Flight sims are always set in a spooky 'alternative' world where the sky is always blue and the grass is always green (and so is just about everything else for that matter). Other vegetation is pretty sparse, apart from triangles on sticks which look a bit like trees. These are usually about 600 ft high (if your altimeter is anything to go by). The only buildings tend to be in a modernist 'cereal packet' style, with no-one living in them. Mountains are handy for flying into.
    KNOBS AND DIALS There should be a ridiculous number of these, all of which are unmarked and of no obvious use. If they start reading 'zero', eject. There should also be little red lights which start flashing and making a beeping noise for no apparent reason. They only stop when you press every key on the keyboard very hard, at which point the plane crashes.
    THE MAP Any relation to a normal map should be avoided. Flight sim maps consist of a large grid (usually green-on-yellow, or something else that's probably outlawed by EEC legislation) covered in little splotches. Quite what these are isn't entirely clear. Somewhere in the middle is a flashing square - you. This never seems to move, no matter how long you look. Meanwhile, back in the cockpit, your plane has just been shot down.
    THE CONTROLS As previously explained, there should be as many as possible, and then lots more on top of that. They should all have obvious purposes (eg P for throttle up, K for map, Symbol Shift, Caps Shift and 3 for left etc). There should also be a disconcerting delay (say, five minutes) between pressing a key and anything happening. The need for constant reference to the manual can easily be incorporated, during which time the plane flies into a tree.
    SOUND Don't put any in. Apart from the 'crash effect', of course.
    THE ENEMY Somewhere on the screen there should be a radar with a little flashing dot on it. This is the enemy aircraft. The player will turn to face it, prime the air-to-air missiles and wait for the two aircraft to meet. This, of course, never happens. After a certain length of time the player will get bored, engage the autopilot and nip out to put the kettle on. His plane then gets shot down.
    LANDING As you'll no doubt be aware, this is impossible. Real F-15s and things land perfectly first time, every time. But not simulated ones. You get them lined up exactly, set the speed, rate of descent and everything exactly according to the instructions, flaps and undercarriage down, set it down oh-so-gently and... kaboom.
    PLAYTESTING Once the game's nearing completion you'll have to thoroughly test it. Sit yourself down in front of it and ask someone to come and check up on you after an hour or so. If you're still awake the game is obviously in need of modification.
    

YS Cross-references
		ATF/Digital Integration	YS28	8
		Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Trainer/Electronic Arts	YS43	70
		Deep Strike/Durell	YS14	4
		F-16 Fighting Falcon/Mastertronic	YS53	69
		Fighter Bomber/Activision	YS50	PRE
		Fighter Bomber/Activision	YS52	92
		Fighter Pilot (in 10 Great Games III)	YS37	3
		Lightning Simulator/Silverbird	YS36	3
		MiG 29 Soviet Fighter (in Quattro Firepower)	YS68	UNR
		MiG 29 Soviet Fighter (in Quattro Fighters)	YS75	41
		Mig 29 Soviet Fighter/Codemasters	YS45	59
		Night Raider/Gremlin	YS32	PRE
		Night Raider/Gremlin	YS34	7
		Project Stealth Fighter/Microprose	YS47	91
		Strike Force Harrier/Mirrorsoft	YS11	8
		Tomahawk/Digital Integration	YS1	9
		Tomcat/Players	YS39	6