I purchased this game when it first came out back in the nighties and have at least 4000 hours on it and now at 62 years old I still love playing it out of all the flight Sims I have 😊
You do know you can timeskip? 😋 It took quite some time for me to find that out in the original Elite on the C64. I spent the time reading comics until you ran into pirats. ☺
You wont have bought this game in the 1990s as it didnt come out until 2000 ;) I presume you are on about 'B17 Flying Fortress', the original B17 game. 'B17 Flying Fortress The Mighty Eighth', the game this remake is based on, was the sequel to B17.
I do like the improvements they have done, but I did honestly expect more... And, I noticed that there were still containerships in the port. Containerships weren't invented yet during WW2. Hopefully they have more improvements in the pipeline. Anyway, thanks for uploading this Taff !! Greets from Norway
@@kellyshistory306 Yeah, I don't know if there's a roadmap neighter. I think it might be too much wishfull thinking of us to expect a whole lot more while they are still working on the brand new game....
@@josteingravvik2381 They haven't done much to the externals yet, that's due during EA. I would certainly let them know about container ships though during EA :).
Just pulled my original copy out of storage, the manual is 152 pages long! Back when games had detailed instructions. And the large colored fold out reference card for each flyable plane was great. Even though it was supper buggy I still have fond memories playing this a lot back in the early 2000s
Good ol times when games came in a card box with full documentation, charts and stuff. 😊 Good memories. This still needs a lot of work to give me some itches again. Those textures man... Holy sh... 😅
What I would like more than anything from Microprose is a remake of 1942 "Pacific Air War" with modern graphics. Hands down my favorite sim of all times.
I tried to like that but struggled. Still, I persevered with it far more than 1944 - Across the Rhine. That game was obtusely difficult to get into and dare I say it, too much for the PC hardware of the era to cope with. However, if they are ‘reduxing’ a lot of their back catalogue - I cannot wait for M1 Tank Platoon to make an appearance. One of my all time favourite pseudo-simulations.
Up to the plane shots, graphics looked greatly improved. But then straight back to the hexagonal tyres! Look forward to seeing you play a campaign on this redux version Taff.
Yeah they mentioned they haven't gotten to that yet as most of the focus went into the interiors. Doesn't look like they got to the terrain map either which is a big reason I don't play the original much.
Its early access and a redux, not a remaster or remake. The only goal is to update the textures and basic optimization of the game. Virtually nothing else will be changed
I hope the 3d models would be improved. The engine cowlings and wheels really show the age of the models. A second hope is an improvement of the terrain textures. Volumetric clouds would also be desired. If those improve I'd expect the game to look good, not DCS good, but good enough to suspend disbelief.
This game had a mind blowing damage model, everytime you saw Microprose on the screen you were in for a massive experience. Such times, i dont like seeing how dated it is now frankly, in my memory it was cinematic.
I know how you feel! I used to play Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe in the early 90s and clearly remembered being awed by the graphics. So recently I looked up a replay of it and was aghast at what it looks like by today's standards... but one thing I still miss is the level of immersion, the career/campaigns of the older games. Like this one - flying through flak in this game somehow felt more immersive than even modern games like Il2. Good video and narration, very enjoyable especially with the dry humour~ :) Perhaps if TG actually downed an enemy fighter he'd get a Medal of Honor!
I've never played this game, but the initial briefing format brought back lots of childhood memories of F117A Stealth Fighter, which used exactly the same format only with slightly more modern furniture.
I'm glad to see Microprose is back in the game again. They were one of the top tier studios back in the day then seemed to just vanish. Would be nice of Janes started producing sims again but really we have DCS for that
I wish they did this for European air war as well. I believe that was a Microprose game as well. I have been playing WW2 flight sims for 20 years and that was the best out of all of them by far.
@@keithmchugh5403 If you ask me i would say Battle of Britain: Their finest hour and Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe from LucasArts where the best. Reason: They offered a great campaign mode.
The fact that ill be able to finish "limping home" now that im old enough to grasp the mechanics of this game is enough for me to enjoy this game to its peak. Bomber crew eat your heart out.
This a game that is screaming out for a complete modern overhaul. I loved this game in the 90's. A rewrite from the ground up with updated GFX to rival the visuals of DCS or MS Flight Sim. Yes please
This is a game I remember playing a really long time ago. I played this game for a while and then stopped because the gunners on the other bombers didn't fire back at all.
I played this game when I was a teenager in the 90s. I used to do dumb things like force the tail-gunner to be the pilot, or the ball-turret gunner to be the navigator. It was fun watching them struggle, lol.
Appreciate the video, Taff! Hope you are well! Im excited to see this game continue to develop and make those small adjustments to give it more playability with todays gaming systems. ❤
Gonna have to try this one.... One Sim I would love to see a Redux of is a old (mid to late 90s) Sim called "Overlord", which was a campaign from Feb of 44 thru to July 44, concentrating on Gaining Air Dominance over Northern France You could fly a Spitfire IX, a P-51B, A Hawker Typhoon or a Mosquito in a wide variety of Missions, Train intercepts, Anti V1 missions, CAP and bomber escort, anti- ship and anti-armour as well as others.... One great feature was a single press vision lock on a Flying enemy (Bf 109G, Fw 190A or D, Junkers 88.) Basically your pov locked onto the enemy plane and you had to drag your gunfight into FOV to shoot it diwn. Worked a treat once you understood the physics and purpose....
Love your videos. Game bring backs some good memories. Glad to see it still popular. I'm hopeful they eventually add support for the ultra wide monitors too.
Omg! I still have the disc for this game and its manual. I played it once and never went back because I didn't feel like learning how to play it. I liked the gunner action btw.
That was a great original game! I'm glad they are re releasing it, however I would love to be able to be a German fighter pilot as well, opposing the B-17s. It would really be great if they upgraded and brought back, "European air War". The radio traffic in that game was very realistic also.
I loved this game on the Amiga. I grew up and spent most of my life only a few Miles from Ridgewell. They have a pretty good museum between Ridgewell and Great Yeldham dedicated to the USAF base.
I played all the Microprose titles. I ran a flight sim BBS (before the internet existed) and a magazine. I went to their offices and they gave me all the demos for my BBS and early images for the mag.
I AM SO (!!!) Glad they are re-building this game!!! I would like to also see the strategic and historical strategy game called USAAF. Remember that???
I have MANY fond childhood memories, playing pretty much every one of the great MicroProse simulators / games : B-17 Flying Fortress (ofcourse ;) ), F--19 Stealth Fighter, F-15 Strike Eagle, Gunship, Project Stealth Fighter, Red Storm Rising, Silent Service, M1 Tank Platoon... I could go ON!!! And thinking back, those were actually some of the most "advanced" simulations / games that were available, back in the late 1980's. By todays standards, they may seem pretty "primitive", yes. But DAMN, MicroProse made some pretty immersive games, for the time!! ;) No doubt, that this will be a DAY 1 purchase for me (for nostalgias sake).
Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe was also an excellent game for the time. Released in 1991, I still remember owning the mouse pad along with Indiana Jones and the fate of Atlantis.
Man, I played this a lot on my Amiga back in the day! Lovely seeing it again. Would love to see a Knights of the Sky redux. It's my favourite Microprose sim game! Fun fact: it was the first game I ever installed on a HDD, the HDD of my Amiga 600.
This brings back memories big time. Looks like the biggest improvements so far are inside the aircraft with the interior modelling. I wonder if they will finally let us look left and right from the waist gun positions...lol. Hopefully the updated exterior will mean the terrible pilot cabin windows LOD change when zooming out slightly will be a thing of the past. Looking forward to this one
It’s very early work, just my opinion but if they focused on the interior and it looks pretty good then they will do the same with the exterior before release. I’m happy Taff has access to this and I’m excited to see the end product (and plenty of videos)
Looks like it needs my Clean Glass Mod I made back 20+ years ago, along with one of my skins, I also did a P47 skin Spirit of Atlantic City NJ. Glad to see this old sim updated for modern systems.
I couldn't agree more. Last thing I hope for is that the controller bindings work better. (maybe it was just a problem with my set up, but I just couldn't bind some functions to anything but a key board.) But yes, if it runs smoothly and doesn't crash, I couldn't be more happy.
Very much looking forward to seeing B-17 Flying Fortress The Bloody 100th. I'm far too old to play games now, my brain can't cope with all the controls :)) but still can't wait to see youtube/twitch gameplay
Am super excited for this! Hopefully crews don't get injured so much like they did in the last one, as my B-17 made it through 25 missions but with not a single original crew member as they were all were off recovering in hospital. Now the original "first B-17 game" was fantastic and hopefully this one will be too.
Great episode taff, can certainly see a difference in the remastered version.. and the principles are the very same, plan out and combat is as gripping as the original, there is some very good differences but there's not really that much difference external wise, gunshots, AAA, aircraft model set outs, tracers and even explosions. Maybe there's more updates to come as we go along.. probably not the case but it's nice to think that way.. if so then I was proven wrong. Very nostalgic to the original, nice operational flight. Thanks taff, very entertaining 👍
@@TaffinExile Oh is it? Oh right.. Well that's something I just learned, well best look forward to the rest of the updates. Early days indeed, but all the same THANKS so much for posting B17 on the channel, your B17 content is magnificent, the original series or.. TOS 😉, was utterly fantastic, so the new stuff will make a truly incredible series when all is released, thanks so much for that wonderful reply also. Really.. thanks a lot 👍
Looking forward to this. Some years ago, I was able to update the planes to look like 401st 17s. I have a bias for that group. ;) I'm hoping I can still do that with this version.
Extremely disappointed. Internal textures are an improvement, but the external planes, ground, clouds, textures, models, and explosions still look badly dated, plus the popping-in during the briefing should not be a thing. I expected the old game in a new engine, not the exact same engine with a few minor improvements.
It is early access what do you expect? And on top of it it's only a "redux". There will be external as well as terrain improvements they already confirmed!
I understand this is probably not the EA release we'll get tomorrow and the game is in EA, but do we know if Microprose is planning on updating the aircraft and ground graphics? They look similar to the original in the build Taff is playing.
They are the original in the build he's playing. They mentioned in the release notice that their main focus has been on the plane's interior and that exteriors and terrain will come later.
Micro Prose was a company always ahead of its time, I played the original back in the day, and the other one they made "European Air War," which was the best flight sim back then. Hope they do a redux of EAW too, I still play both of these originals, and they're as fun now as they were back then .
The rear gun-sight being off centre is kind accurate in a round about way. The sight was linked to the two guns through a series of wires and pullies, and this system would develop slack over time so eventually the sights and gun didn't line up. It probably didn't get this bad, but the Operational Research Reports by the 8th Air Force found the tail position to be by far the worst gun position on the B-17 in terms of accuracy, to the point it was probably useless except at point blank range. That was however more the fault of the twin .50 cals rarely firing in unison, so each gun going off individually caused the guns to swing left and right constantly, with only the gunner sitting in an awkward position trying to hold the guns on target.
@@cyberfutur5000 To be honest the entirety of the US equipment set for shooting down German fighter was pretty much useless for purpose, that is why the self-defending bomber concept went down in flames in 1943. The tail position was horrible, but on all gun positions (other than the Ball and Top turret) the gun sights were totally unsuited for air combat. A waist gunner for example could not actually use his sights to defend another US bomber under attack, so the whole idea of bombers mutually supporting each-other with their guns was almost impossible. The gun sights were only useful for self defense against a fighter attacking the aircraft the gunner was on. Only the compensating sights on the Top and Ball turret, which automatically calculated deflection so long as the gunner inputted the wingspan and distance of the German fighter correctly, had any chance. IMO the top and ball turret was probably responsible for the majority of German fighters shot down by US gunners during WWII, as they were the only ones that had the sights that really gave them a chance. Yeah brave guys in the US bombers, but unfortunately they never really had a chance until fighter escorts arrived. Too much of the American gunnery side of things was flawed (equipment) or not well thought out until later in the war (gunner training). It just wasn't really well appreciated during the war because the gunners submitted wildly inflated claims for how many fighters they were shooting down, and the USAAF leadership believed them for the most part. Eaker writes to Spaatz or Happ Arnold about US bombers shooting down 6 German fighters for every loss, which is what the claims were telling him, but the reality was 1-2 US bombers were falling for every German fighter until Escorts showed up.
@@kellyshistory306 The tail gunner had the best opportunities to shoot down enemy fighters compared to all the other gunner positions, regardless of what gun sights were used. The other positions had to deal with firing into the slipstream and a constantly changing target aspect whereas the tail gunner position usually had a fighter approaching from a more predictable attack angle with minimal aspect changes that required less adjustments for leading the target. The top scoring USAAF gunner was a B-17 tail gunner, Michael Arooth, credited with aircraft 19 kills.
I used to have a full package of the old version of this. And to be honest, I seriously couldn't catch what's the improvement they made after more than 20 years. It looks just the same!
Not bad. Especially for a pre release build to an early access title. I'm just happy that in a few days I can play this game with less crashes and frustrating bugs (or at least in a few months, when it's fully finished) As long it runs stable and the controller bindings are working better, than in the old game (sometimes bindings just didn't work, like switching from manual to auto mode), every thing else is a bonus and the fancy graphics and new features will come with the full sequel, so chill people :) For the off chance the devs (or modders) read this, one QOL thing I'd love to see, would be a small indicator in the recon film, showing where north is, I'm pretty sure this info wouldn't be unrealistic to have, it's simple to implement (I would guess) and would help tremendously when planning the run or finding the target.
Dude, I loved this game when I was a kid, it would be amazing if they could integrate some sort of multiplayer, can you imagine, running missions with your friends. Kind of like Star Trek Bridge Crew.
I have a hazy memory of reading a review of this game back when I had my Amiga in a magazine like Zero. I think it was a reader submitted review and they detailed how you could cross bodies of water at 0 altitude like a lame big duck and it made me laugh.
I don't understand why they didn't improve the exterior textures... Inside looks really great, outside looks really shitty, I know the game have many textures for damage but that's the point of a remaster. Thanks for the video. Edit: it's early access I forgot about that but they making The Bloody 100th too, if it's the same gameplay Microprose is f*cking with their fans...
Well for one graphics isn’t everything, the gameplay and crew management is the important part here as well as aircraft internals. That said, they ARE updating the external textures later on in the early access progress, that was already confirmed. I guess they knew this was highly anticipated and Microprose felt as it was in a playable condition it was worth allowing us access now. Personally I think it’s a great shout and is everything I was wanting for the redux. I just hope we can still mod the nose art.
@@cowboy10uk Graphics isn't everything but this is the point of this remaster : modern graphics and controls. Okay I hope your right, thanks for the infos.
For everyone that’s annoyed or disappointed, I believe way back they said that this was more of an experiment anyway that they would work on this one over time and use it as a sort of guide in helping make the bloody 100th. I don’t believe this version was ever supposed to knock it out of the park so to speak. They also said early access would only show interior improvements on aircraft.
I wonder if they will fix the promotion bug, not one crew member was ever promoted even after earning the medal of honor, in the original game. Would be cool
Great game and it's nice to see it being brought up to date it would be nice if they could put an option for an Olive Drab scheme loved this game when it came out now at 66 years old l get to buy and play it again thanks for the update 👌
Two comments: first, the 3D rendered models seem to still be low-poly, and I hope they get updated to high-poly/high-definition models and no texture maps. Second, the new limited visibility of the gun sights is deviation from the original. Some may find them more accurate and prefer them, but others might find the original ones more playable and more fun. I hope they offer an option to choose between the two (limited visibility, but accurate/open view)
I am pretty sure that they said it'll have mod support (at some point, maybe not from day one) I think if the game doesn't come with the option, someone will figure it out and make a mod.
I purchased this game when it first came out back in the nighties and have at least 4000 hours on it and now at 62 years old I still love playing it out of all the flight Sims I have 😊
Its an immersive experience. A lot of modern flight sims lack that despite the higher accuracy and fidelity.
@@mattjohnson7369 Now if we could get a marriage of those two.. Hopefully the Bloody 100th will be a good step in that direction
You do know you can timeskip? 😋 It took quite some time for me to find that out in the original Elite on the C64. I spent the time reading comics until you ran into pirats. ☺
You wont have bought this game in the 1990s as it didnt come out until 2000 ;)
I presume you are on about 'B17 Flying Fortress', the original B17 game. 'B17 Flying Fortress The Mighty Eighth', the game this remake is based on, was the sequel to B17.
@@Debbiebabe69 Give the man a break he is 62, I'm 50 and I forget stuff that happened 30 yrs ago... sometimes.
I do like the improvements they have done, but I did honestly expect more... And, I noticed that there were still containerships in the port. Containerships weren't invented yet during WW2. Hopefully they have more improvements in the pipeline. Anyway, thanks for uploading this Taff !! Greets from Norway
With any luck, early access means the other stuff is going to get improved. A road map would be nice, I dunno if they put one out or not however.
@@kellyshistory306 Yeah, I don't know if there's a roadmap neighter. I think it might be too much wishfull thinking of us to expect a whole lot more while they are still working on the brand new game....
@@josteingravvik2381 They haven't done much to the externals yet, that's due during EA. I would certainly let them know about container ships though during EA :).
um .... Gotta ask ... What do you mean by "container ships?" EDIT: AH! I see. Nevermind then. Yeah. Quick eyes eh. :)
@@artao5 Yeah, they were in the original game too. It doesn't Really bother me though, it's just a small observation ! :)
Just pulled my original copy out of storage, the manual is 152 pages long! Back when games had detailed instructions. And the large colored fold out reference card for each flyable plane was great. Even though it was supper buggy I still have fond memories playing this a lot back in the early 2000s
I am hoping they update the models as well as the terrain/targets prior to release.
They are also working on a 100% new B-17 game with modern graphics; I heard it will also have Lancasters and B-24s
They will be updated after the early release on Friday. ( might be coming out Thurs can’t remember )
@@cowboy10ukaccording to steam, it's going to come out in 8 hours from now.
Loads of things still in development..watch this space :-p
@@TaffinExile is this one still avaliable to download?? It was supposed to be released today
Good ol times when games came in a card box with full documentation, charts and stuff. 😊 Good memories.
This still needs a lot of work to give me some itches again. Those textures man... Holy sh... 😅
What I would like more than anything from Microprose is a remake of 1942 "Pacific Air War" with modern graphics. Hands down my favorite sim of all times.
I tried to like that but struggled. Still, I persevered with it far more than 1944 - Across the Rhine. That game was obtusely difficult to get into and dare I say it, too much for the PC hardware of the era to cope with.
However, if they are ‘reduxing’ a lot of their back catalogue - I cannot wait for M1 Tank Platoon to make an appearance. One of my all time favourite pseudo-simulations.
First thing I thought when I saw this video in my suggestions.
Or Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe - which was my favorite game around that era.
Up to the plane shots, graphics looked greatly improved. But then straight back to the hexagonal tyres! Look forward to seeing you play a campaign on this redux version Taff.
Yeah they mentioned they haven't gotten to that yet as most of the focus went into the interiors. Doesn't look like they got to the terrain map either which is a big reason I don't play the original much.
I bought this game when it first came out years ago, I loved it then. I am really looking forward to an up-to-date version of this game.
The graphics are better, but I had expected more.
‘B-17: The Bloody 100th’ may be the game you’re looking for - it’s the next game in the series & photorealistic.
The game isn't done. Its going to get better during EA.
Yeah, so far they've done all the 2D graphics, but very little of the 3D graphics.
Its early access and a redux, not a remaster or remake. The only goal is to update the textures and basic optimization of the game. Virtually nothing else will be changed
I hope the 3d models would be improved. The engine cowlings and wheels really show the age of the models. A second hope is an improvement of the terrain textures. Volumetric clouds would also be desired. If those improve I'd expect the game to look good, not DCS good, but good enough to suspend disbelief.
Decent progress so far, definitely looking forward to updates as the MicroProse team continues to shine up this classic.
I used to play this game when I was a kid. I remember planning so many different bombing missions and letting them play all day long.
Exciting to have this old entertainment come back fresh for us!
This game had a mind blowing damage model, everytime you saw Microprose on the screen you were in for a massive experience. Such times, i dont like seeing how dated it is now frankly, in my memory it was cinematic.
I know how you feel! I used to play Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe in the early 90s and clearly remembered being awed by the graphics. So recently I looked up a replay of it and was aghast at what it looks like by today's standards... but one thing I still miss is the level of immersion, the career/campaigns of the older games. Like this one - flying through flak in this game somehow felt more immersive than even modern games like Il2.
Good video and narration, very enjoyable especially with the dry humour~ :) Perhaps if TG actually downed an enemy fighter he'd get a Medal of Honor!
I remember seeing screenshots 4 years ago for the redux version and finally the wait is over! Only took 4 long years and a lot of doubt
As someone who didn't get to play the original back in the day, I'm very excited about this.
I remember this game. 40 years ago I played it on my ATARI STE. It had only 1Mb of RAM. This brings nice memories. I was so hooked to this game.
It's a different game. it's the one that came out in 2000.
I've never played this game, but the initial briefing format brought back lots of childhood memories of F117A Stealth Fighter, which used exactly the same format only with slightly more modern furniture.
This looks so promising, it obviously needs a bit of work but it's looking great so far.
Yeah its a good first step and there are some big improvements planned for future deveopement steps
@@TaffinExile can't wait.....
I'm glad to see Microprose is back in the game again. They were one of the top tier studios back in the day then seemed to just vanish.
Would be nice of Janes started producing sims again but really we have DCS for that
I wish they did this for European air war as well. I believe that was a Microprose game as well. I have been playing WW2 flight sims for 20 years and that was the best out of all of them by far.
I agree.
You played the Il 2 series? EAW was good in it's time, but Il 2 was a huge step ahead.
@@blodiblodmann9207 yes absolutely and those are definitely great! In my opinion I just think EAW was the best of them all but IL2 is amazing
@@keithmchugh5403 If you ask me i would say Battle of Britain: Their finest hour and Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe from LucasArts where the best.
Reason: They offered a great campaign mode.
IL2 was a huge step ahead, but EAW always was my favorite. Something about the massive feel of the air battles never felt as well done after EAW to me
The fact that ill be able to finish "limping home" now that im old enough to grasp the mechanics of this game is enough for me to enjoy this game to its peak. Bomber crew eat your heart out.
Ouch, losing Memphis Belle on the first mission. Now there's a spot open for eternal glory for ChowHound, so it seems!
I would like people to note today a dev log just came out that includes the updated exterior bomber model, the roadmap, and the pricing model.
Calm down airmen, still got 24 missions to go before discharge.
The 25 missions was not true. My father did 35.
@@thatguy7085Depends on what year it was.
You didn't get discharged, you just got leave and reassignment.
Hooray love this! Amazing to see the redux is almost here! and hopefully will be an awesom rebot of the game!
This a game that is screaming out for a complete modern overhaul. I loved this game in the 90's. A rewrite from the ground up with updated GFX to rival the visuals of DCS or MS Flight Sim. Yes please
This is a game I remember playing a really long time ago. I played this game for a while and then stopped because the gunners on the other bombers didn't fire back at all.
I played this game when I was a teenager in the 90s. I used to do dumb things like force the tail-gunner to be the pilot, or the ball-turret gunner to be the navigator. It was fun watching them struggle, lol.
WHAT!!!!!! I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!! Thanks for posting this!
Appreciate the video, Taff! Hope you are well!
Im excited to see this game continue to develop and make those small adjustments to give it more playability with todays gaming systems.
❤
Gonna have to try this one....
One Sim I would love to see a Redux of is a old (mid to late 90s) Sim called "Overlord", which was a campaign from Feb of 44 thru to July 44, concentrating on Gaining Air Dominance over Northern France
You could fly a Spitfire IX, a P-51B, A Hawker Typhoon or a Mosquito in a wide variety of Missions, Train intercepts, Anti V1 missions, CAP and bomber escort, anti- ship and anti-armour as well as others.... One great feature was a single press vision lock on a Flying enemy (Bf 109G, Fw 190A or D, Junkers 88.) Basically your pov locked onto the enemy plane and you had to drag your gunfight into FOV to shoot it diwn. Worked a treat once you understood the physics and purpose....
Love your videos. Game bring backs some good memories. Glad to see it still popular. I'm hopeful they eventually add support for the ultra wide monitors too.
Loved this game back in the day but my two faves from Microprose were Gunship and M1A1 they were both fantastic to play
Mouse control turret was exactly what i was hoping for.
I played this game back in 2000. I was 7!
Omg! I still have the disc for this game and its manual. I played it once and never went back because I didn't feel like learning how to play it. I liked the gunner action btw.
That was a great original game!
I'm glad they are re releasing it, however I would love to be able to be a German fighter pilot as well, opposing the B-17s.
It would really be great if they upgraded and brought back, "European air War".
The radio traffic in that game was very realistic also.
Was awesome when it first appeared.
Used to play the Amiga version back in the early 80's it was one of my favorite games
I loved this game on the Amiga. I grew up and spent most of my life only a few Miles from Ridgewell. They have a pretty good museum between Ridgewell and Great Yeldham dedicated to the USAF base.
think you are talking about the 90s game. not this one.
I played all the Microprose titles. I ran a flight sim BBS (before the internet existed) and a magazine. I went to their offices and they gave me all the demos for my BBS and early images for the mag.
Oooo, perfect person to play it first. Cheers Taff.
Looks great, looking forward to see how the development goes!
I remember playing that on the 486, I loved the cut away view of the B-17
I AM SO (!!!) Glad they are re-building this game!!!
I would like to also see the strategic and historical strategy game called USAAF. Remember that???
I have MANY fond childhood memories, playing pretty much every one of the great MicroProse simulators / games : B-17 Flying Fortress (ofcourse ;) ), F--19 Stealth Fighter, F-15 Strike Eagle, Gunship, Project Stealth Fighter, Red Storm Rising, Silent Service, M1 Tank Platoon... I could go ON!!! And thinking back, those were actually some of the most "advanced" simulations / games that were available, back in the late 1980's. By todays standards, they may seem pretty "primitive", yes. But DAMN, MicroProse made some pretty immersive games, for the time!! ;) No doubt, that this will be a DAY 1 purchase for me (for nostalgias sake).
Wish it was on Mac as well, looks great!
Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe was also an excellent game for the time. Released in 1991, I still remember owning the mouse pad along with Indiana Jones and the fate of Atlantis.
Yes, I remember playing this game more than 20 years ago. But then came Il-2 Stumovick.
I can't wait to play this. I loved the original, but lost the disc sooo many years ago.
Masters of the Air is going to springboard interest in this genre again! I bet all the R&D is on the VR version.😅
Man, I played this a lot on my Amiga back in the day! Lovely seeing it again.
Would love to see a Knights of the Sky redux. It's my favourite Microprose sim game! Fun fact: it was the first game I ever installed on a HDD, the HDD of my Amiga 600.
Man, I miss this more adventure like menus from flight simulators. I loved it. Nice video.
This brings back memories big time. Looks like the biggest improvements so far are inside the aircraft with the interior modelling. I wonder if they will finally let us look left and right from the waist gun positions...lol. Hopefully the updated exterior will mean the terrible pilot cabin windows LOD change when zooming out slightly will be a thing of the past. Looking forward to this one
It’s very early work, just my opinion but if they focused on the interior and it looks pretty good then they will do the same with the exterior before release. I’m happy Taff has access to this and I’m excited to see the end product (and plenty of videos)
Yes for the Full release 🙂
Looks like it needs my Clean Glass Mod I made back 20+ years ago, along with one of my skins, I also did a P47 skin Spirit of Atlantic City NJ. Glad to see this old sim updated for modern systems.
Modernized graphics and resolution - check; mouse compatibility - check. Expectations met, everything delivered after this is bonus :)
I couldn't agree more. Last thing I hope for is that the controller bindings work better. (maybe it was just a problem with my set up, but I just couldn't bind some functions to anything but a key board.) But yes, if it runs smoothly and doesn't crash, I couldn't be more happy.
And there is alot more to come :-)
Coooool! This was such a great game back in the 90s!
I remember this game from years ago. It looks good, obviously I could be improved in development. Nice video 😀
Very much looking forward to seeing B-17 Flying Fortress The Bloody 100th. I'm far too old to play games now, my brain can't cope with all the controls :)) but still can't wait to see youtube/twitch gameplay
Am super excited for this! Hopefully crews don't get injured so much like they did in the last one, as my B-17 made it through 25 missions but with not a single original crew member as they were all were off recovering in hospital. Now the original "first B-17 game" was fantastic and hopefully this one will be too.
"We got a substantial bit of residential housing"
10/10 realism
Great episode taff, can certainly see a difference in the remastered version.. and the principles are the very same, plan out and combat is as gripping as the original, there is some very good differences but there's not really that much difference external wise, gunshots, AAA, aircraft model set outs, tracers and even explosions. Maybe there's more updates to come as we go along.. probably not the case but it's nice to think that way.. if so then I was proven wrong. Very nostalgic to the original, nice operational flight. Thanks taff, very entertaining 👍
The main focus I beleive has been on internals and moderising the code for current hardware, the externals will be coming 🙂
@@TaffinExile Oh is it? Oh right.. Well that's something I just learned, well best look forward to the rest of the updates. Early days indeed, but all the same THANKS so much for posting B17 on the channel, your B17 content is magnificent, the original series or.. TOS 😉, was utterly fantastic, so the new stuff will make a truly incredible series when all is released, thanks so much for that wonderful reply also. Really.. thanks a lot 👍
Looking forward to this. Some years ago, I was able to update the planes to look like 401st 17s. I have a bias for that group. ;) I'm hoping I can still do that with this version.
I had my first driving lesson on part of Ridgewell airfield. Wish it was in a B17!
Loved this game
The old crew pics just made the USAAF look deranged. It was like they shook the nearest tree and made whatever fell out a Sergeant.
Extremely disappointed. Internal textures are an improvement, but the external planes, ground, clouds, textures, models, and explosions still look badly dated, plus the popping-in during the briefing should not be a thing. I expected the old game in a new engine, not the exact same engine with a few minor improvements.
They are making an entirely new B-17 game as well. B-17: The Bloody 100th is the 3rd game, they are also making The Mighty 8th VR.
I’m sorry you feel that way. A new engine would be a totally different game altogether. But being that it’s early access, more changes will be coming.
It is early access what do you expect? And on top of it it's only a "redux". There will be external as well as terrain improvements they already confirmed!
External view improvements are on the way. For the early access release, they've only implemented the internal changes so far.
External improvements are stated to be coming after the initial early access release, so do t panic as they will be getting updated as well.
I think I have the CD for the original game somewhere still.
Havnt played this since 2001 :D so nostalgic
The sound of the turret motor whirring when they turn is this realistic as I don't hear this in the Masters of The Air mini series
I understand this is probably not the EA release we'll get tomorrow and the game is in EA, but do we know if Microprose is planning on updating the aircraft and ground graphics? They look similar to the original in the build Taff is playing.
They are the original in the build he's playing. They mentioned in the release notice that their main focus has been on the plane's interior and that exteriors and terrain will come later.
@@Vipre- Correct there will be further deveopments when the external models/terrain are updated 🙂
Used to play the original game on the Amiga 500 with my Father. Good times.
Perfectly timed with Masters of The Air Lol
Micro Prose was a company always ahead of its time, I played the original back in the day, and the other one they made "European Air War," which was the best flight sim back then. Hope they do a redux of EAW too, I still play both of these originals, and they're as fun now as they were back then .
So, guess i am waiting for bloody 100th. Lord knows whats happening with that!
Honestly IL-2 1946 is the definitive game representing this era, and that can be had for as little as $1 at goodwill stores
IL-2 is a flight simulator though this is different
The rear gun-sight being off centre is kind accurate in a round about way. The sight was linked to the two guns through a series of wires and pullies, and this system would develop slack over time so eventually the sights and gun didn't line up. It probably didn't get this bad, but the Operational Research Reports by the 8th Air Force found the tail position to be by far the worst gun position on the B-17 in terms of accuracy, to the point it was probably useless except at point blank range. That was however more the fault of the twin .50 cals rarely firing in unison, so each gun going off individually caused the guns to swing left and right constantly, with only the gunner sitting in an awkward position trying to hold the guns on target.
Well isn`t that just what you want to hear before going of on a mission? I can't stress enough how much I respect those lads.
@@cyberfutur5000 To be honest the entirety of the US equipment set for shooting down German fighter was pretty much useless for purpose, that is why the self-defending bomber concept went down in flames in 1943.
The tail position was horrible, but on all gun positions (other than the Ball and Top turret) the gun sights were totally unsuited for air combat. A waist gunner for example could not actually use his sights to defend another US bomber under attack, so the whole idea of bombers mutually supporting each-other with their guns was almost impossible. The gun sights were only useful for self defense against a fighter attacking the aircraft the gunner was on.
Only the compensating sights on the Top and Ball turret, which automatically calculated deflection so long as the gunner inputted the wingspan and distance of the German fighter correctly, had any chance. IMO the top and ball turret was probably responsible for the majority of German fighters shot down by US gunners during WWII, as they were the only ones that had the sights that really gave them a chance.
Yeah brave guys in the US bombers, but unfortunately they never really had a chance until fighter escorts arrived. Too much of the American gunnery side of things was flawed (equipment) or not well thought out until later in the war (gunner training). It just wasn't really well appreciated during the war because the gunners submitted wildly inflated claims for how many fighters they were shooting down, and the USAAF leadership believed them for the most part. Eaker writes to Spaatz or Happ Arnold about US bombers shooting down 6 German fighters for every loss, which is what the claims were telling him, but the reality was 1-2 US bombers were falling for every German fighter until Escorts showed up.
@@cyberfutur5000 To be fair tail gunners didn't have to put up with it for long.
@@kellyshistory306 The tail gunner had the best opportunities to shoot down enemy fighters compared to all the other gunner positions, regardless of what gun sights were used. The other positions had to deal with firing into the slipstream and a constantly changing target aspect whereas the tail gunner position usually had a fighter approaching from a more predictable attack angle with minimal aspect changes that required less adjustments for leading the target.
The top scoring USAAF gunner was a B-17 tail gunner, Michael Arooth, credited with aircraft 19 kills.
I didnt know this, I'm not sure that level of accuracy is what the dev team were going for with this 🙂
I used to have a full package of the old version of this. And to be honest, I seriously couldn't catch what's the improvement they made after more than 20 years. It looks just the same!
It is the same game, but worse
Still got my original flight manual on the shelf here. When I first got the original my pc couldnt play it, so laggy, needed to upgrade!
Graphics are abysmal and that’s why I love it ……..enjoying the series on Apple TV. Brave men
Not bad. Especially for a pre release build to an early access title. I'm just happy that in a few days I can play this game with less crashes and frustrating bugs (or at least in a few months, when it's fully finished)
As long it runs stable and the controller bindings are working better, than in the old game (sometimes bindings just didn't work, like switching from manual to auto mode), every thing else is a bonus and the fancy graphics and new features will come with the full sequel, so chill people :)
For the off chance the devs (or modders) read this, one QOL thing I'd love to see, would be a small indicator in the recon film, showing where north is, I'm pretty sure this info wouldn't be unrealistic to have, it's simple to implement (I would guess) and would help tremendously when planning the run or finding the target.
Dude, I loved this game when I was a kid, it would be amazing if they could integrate some sort of multiplayer, can you imagine, running missions with your friends. Kind of like Star Trek Bridge Crew.
Wow, the externals are not finished yet I hope xD I will wait for the new part - The Bloody 100th
I have a hazy memory of reading a review of this game back when I had my Amiga in a magazine like Zero. I think it was a reader submitted review and they detailed how you could cross bodies of water at 0 altitude like a lame big duck and it made me laugh.
Right on time for Masters of the Air.
I don't understand why they didn't improve the exterior textures... Inside looks really great, outside looks really shitty, I know the game have many textures for damage but that's the point of a remaster.
Thanks for the video.
Edit: it's early access I forgot about that but they making The Bloody 100th too, if it's the same gameplay Microprose is f*cking with their fans...
Well for one graphics isn’t everything, the gameplay and crew management is the important part here as well as aircraft internals. That said, they ARE updating the external textures later on in the early access progress, that was already confirmed. I guess they knew this was highly anticipated and Microprose felt as it was in a playable condition it was worth allowing us access now.
Personally I think it’s a great shout and is everything I was wanting for the redux.
I just hope we can still mod the nose art.
@@cowboy10uk I am pretty sure they said it'll have proper mod support, later on. Probably more than just nose art.
@@cowboy10uk Graphics isn't everything but this is the point of this remaster : modern graphics and controls.
Okay I hope your right, thanks for the infos.
The exterier models will be updated in the future, the EA will be constantly developed 🙂
Oh yeah!
Can you move ammo from front turret say to back if in short supply
Sadly not, but that would be a cool feature
For everyone that’s annoyed or disappointed, I believe way back they said that this was more of an experiment anyway that they would work on this one over time and use it as a sort of guide in helping make the bloody 100th. I don’t believe this version was ever supposed to knock it out of the park so to speak. They also said early access would only show interior improvements on aircraft.
Would you be able to do a video on how you set your controls up?
I wonder if they will fix the promotion bug, not one crew member was ever promoted even after earning the medal of honor, in the original game. Would be cool
Its on my wishlist / suggestions to them 🙂
Great game and it's nice to see it being brought up to date it would be nice if they could put an option for an Olive Drab scheme loved this game when it came out now at 66 years old l get to buy and play it again thanks for the update 👌
Uno de los mejores juegos de mi infancia!
OMG the graphics remember me Brother in Arms in 2005 lol...
does anyone know how to turn on the mouse
Two comments: first, the 3D rendered models seem to still be low-poly, and I hope they get updated to high-poly/high-definition models and no texture maps. Second, the new limited visibility of the gun sights is deviation from the original. Some may find them more accurate and prefer them, but others might find the original ones more playable and more fun. I hope they offer an option to choose between the two (limited visibility, but accurate/open view)
I am pretty sure that they said it'll have mod support (at some point, maybe not from day one) I think if the game doesn't come with the option, someone will figure it out and make a mod.
I'll add that to my list of suggestions to the team 🙂
Being able to use the OMF to mod the aircraft was great in the original sim.@@cyberfutur5000
could you imagine this in unreal 5 with full multiplayer co op... it would be flippin amazing
Could you have changed the route to bring you in parallel to the shore and make your bombing pattern cover more of the target?
Need to get this. So exciting.