It is the early morning of July 10th, 1940. As you enter your Junkers 87 Stuka dive bomber, there are only two things on your mind: deliver your 500 kg bomb with pin point accuracy and return home in one piece. As your squadron is taxiing toward the runway it is joining the greatest armada of airplanes ever assembled on its mission to pave the way for Operation Sealion, the amphibious invasion of England.

Dear flight simulation enthusiast and pilots – welcome to one of the most realistic and entertaining representations of what it must have been like to be a pilot on both sides of the Battle of Britain. Redesigning a game which was ahead of its time in the year 2000 is no easy task. At that time Rowan’s Battle of Britain tried to do the impossible. It pushed even the best machines of its day to the breaking point by rendering massive air battles involving over hundred aircraft at any given point. The visuals were stunning but the game play was disastrous. It was a text book example of a grandiose idea being shredded before our eyes due to its over ambitious requirements. The release of BoB also coincided with the release of three very good combat sims (EOW, WW2 Fighters and Combat Flight Simulator) which further diluted its first impression. Even with a failing game Rowan won the hearts and minds of flight simmers around the world. BoB started a cult that dates back to 1989 and Lucas Arts’ own version of the Battle of Britain, which was also revolutionary for its time. Many hard core fans knew that one day the Battle of Britain would be recreated to a pain staking detail. Unfortunately for Rowan the game’s lack luster sales resulted in it going out of business. On its way out, Rowan was generous enough to the gaming community to release the game’s source core, thus gaining an unimaginable amount of respect among the minority of players who played it regardless of its shortcomings. Several years later, Shockwave, a completely different development team, took on the epic task of reviving the legendary game and redesigning it from the ground up to bring out its true potential.

The Battle of Britain 2 is a perfectly cut diamond. Rowan’s Battle of Britain was beautiful but unpolished. This is the game we were hoping to get six years ago. BoB 2 allows for an unparalleled amount of detail while retaining the fun factor at all times. The best way to describe it would be to merge the IL-2 series of games for it flight authenticity with Falcon 4.0 Allied Force and its complex battlefield dynamics. Only you, the player, can define the depth of the gaming experience in BoB 2. If you wish for an instant gaming fix jump in any one of 28 canned missions that cover everything from taking off and landing to dive bombing and advance dog fighting. When you are ready to get into the serious warfare you should spend some time with a 136 page manual, keycard and map of the area you will be flying in.

The strongest element of the original BoB, as well as the most popular one, was its campaign mode. BoB 2 did not mess with the original formula, which was a very smart move. Using a map that is based upon Fighter Command's tactical map used during the conflict, players have the chance to actually wage war over the British countryside. In this regard BoB 2 is less of a simulation but more of a war game. Nothing is scripted in the campaign and you and you alone decide when and where you want to engage the enemy. You can play as either side in the conflict. The negative side of the campaign is that it essentially plays out from a third perspective with you as a strategist and not as a pilot.

The flight models in the game are good. In the game you get to fly the Spitfire I, Hurricane I, Bf109E4, Ju87B and the Bf 110C4. There is even an option to be a gunner on German bombers. Another impressive feature is the TrackIR support which, with the appropriate hardware (e.g. Natural Point TrackIR), allows you to make virtual views in the cockpit with the simple yet accurate movement of your head. The only big disappointment in the game is the complete lack of multiplayer component. The original BoB had a notoriously bugged multiplayer which drew many complaints. Shockwave decided early on that correcting the multiplayer aspect of the game was not going to happen in the allotted time and made the decision to leave it. I have mixed feelings about this decision as any game released these days without a multiplayer option is less than a full release.

The audio-visual backbone of the game is solid. The airplanes are modeled very accurately but the overall true winner is the game’s graphics engine for being able to recreate massive aerial battles involving hundreds of airplanes. Nothing to date among any flight simulator has been able to achieve such feat. The sound in the game is very good and it comes to life on numerous occasions allowing you to completely feel the heat of the battle as enemy fighters zoom pass your fuselage and explosions rock the English soil beneath your wings.

Battle of Britain 2 is the most historically oriented flight simulator that has been released thus far on any computer system. It goes to incredible detail to capture almost all aspects of the massive air battles that were fought over England allowing you to see it as both a fighter/bomber pilot and a top level commander in a strategy war game. Although the upgraded graphics engine may still remind us of the titles released in 2001 – Battle of Britain 2: Wings of Victory wins my top level recommendation. I hope that you thoroughly enjoy it, mixed along for extra excitement, with Guy Hamilton’s classic film: Battle of Britain (1969).