#217 – F-15 Strike Eagle

The City War is over, but the F-15 still Strikes On.

PUBLISHER: MicroProse

DEVELOPER: MicroProse

GENRE: Flight sim

RELEASE DATE: February 1992

Our good friends MicroProse had the monopoly on developing crappy flight games based around military jets, apparently. No sooner do I fire up F-15 Strike Eagle than I hear the exact same title screen music that played on F-117A Stealth Fighter. Both games came out within eight months of each other and it definitely shows, as they essentially play, look, and sound the same. Here’s the kicker: F-15 Strike Eagle, which came out earlier, is actually better. It’s faster, has more things to do, and the missions are over before you think to yourself, “Hmm, I should hijack this plane and start a City War.” The controls are the same as before: “A” fires your ratatats and “B” lets loose your kabooms. The kabooms are the only things that can take down enemy planes or the targets, and you have a limited number of them. In other words, don’t go kabooming when you don’t need to. Your missions seem to have some sort of Gulf War historical merit, as they all take place in the Middle East and the game itself was released in ’92, but there doesn’t seem to be any story in the game. Still, you get promoted if you do well on missions, which is kinda cool. Yes, F-15 Strike Eagle is technically a “better” game than its companion, F-117A Stealth Fighter, but I still can’t recommend it. It’s ugly, it’s over way too fast, and the missions contain the same monotonous objectives. Go eat a big sandwich, F-15 Strike Eagle. You’re in timeout.

D