I want so badly to love this game, and yet the games makes this so hard. B-17 Flying Fortress: The Mighty 8th sets out to create a historical flight simulation of unprecedented accuracy. Leaving no stone unturned, the team recreated every switch and every detail of the B-17, down to the fuel mixture for the individual engines. The graphics have aged remarkably well, and the crew management adds a challenging and intriguing dimension that makes it feel like a cross between a flight simulator and a naval simulator. At the time of its release, rumor had it that B-17 was facing delays that forced the team to cut a planned multiplayer feature, and this time pressure is evident in the final product. Play the game for a few hours and you start to notice that the parts of the game not concerning historical accuracy feel very glossed over. Time acceleration feels thrown in at the last minute. Most radio traffic is not logged to the radio book (why?) and if you are flying at 8X time acceleration, the radio text will be on-screen for - you guessed it - 1/8 of the time. This includes critical messages like "I am bleeding to death" from your pilot. Its such a simple thing to fix, but its clear there was no time for it. Speaking of, on return from a recent bombing mission, I was using the navigator as we approached the English coast. Suddenly, with no flak or fighters in any direction for over an hour, two crew members announced that they were severely wounded. No explanation. Five minutes later, a bomber from my formation fell out of the sky - no smoke from the engines, no radio traffic. I get it - realism dictates that sometimes bombers have mechanical problems. Realism also dictates that the crew should alert their formation to this fact! Good luck configuring your joystick, you'll need it. This a game that should have been delayed a few months to get the polish it deserved. Recommended only for the die-hard WWII simulation geeks.
