Eurofighter Typhoon (PC CD)

For all that, the gameplay is truly compelling. I found myself genuinely caring about the six pilots whose wartime careers I was following. The controls are easy to pick up and work with (though I never did get the multiple buttons and throttle control on my joystick to work with the game) and the flight model is reputed to be very accurate. Wingman and enemy AI is reasonable enough, and the various weapons do what they're meant to do. Seasoned prop-heads might sniff at things like automatic chaff and flare dispensing or the impossibility of stalling the plane, but in point of fact both features come as standard with the real Typhoon.

The non-linear gameplay style is utterly fantastic; I felt like I was fighting a real war. The ability to hop between pilots is a nice touch as well; I still haven't mastered landing. Not recommended when whoever's shoes you're tepping into is in combat, though.

Overall, this game made me seriously consider joining the Royal Air Force. Can't say fairer than that!


A game rather than a flight sim   December 2, 2007
Deevee (London)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

Enjoying the compexity and realist feel of flight sims like Falcon 4 Allied Forces, Lock On, IL2 I was disappointed by the flight sim element of this game. The use of radar and targetting systems has more of a game feel than a sim feel.

Having said that, the dynamic nature of the war and missions is good, and you do feel you are within a conflict, and the graphics although can't compare with Lock on are ok.

If you are getting it cheap, want an easy less taxing flight sim/game rather than spending several weeks learning to fly a realistic aircraft sim then this may be for you. Otherwise see theother games I've mentioned.


Flawed arcade game.   April 6, 2008
Mr. C. E. Blackwell (London, UK)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

To start, I'll say that I'm a reasonably hard-core flight simm fan, and I've allways been a fan of the DID games (I still play Total Air War, 10 years or so after it's release!).

When I heard that DID (or Rage UK or whatever they were by then) were producing another EFA simmulation, I was extatic as all their previous games had offered an absolutely perfect balance between realism and playability.

I was immediately impressed by the visuals of this game when I started playing. A great leap forwards from Total Air War, very impressive. Unfortunately the game itself very quickly revealed some deep flaws:

1) Any semblance of realism has been carefully removed. Yes, maybe the Typhoon flight model is accurate, but what's the point when your weapons are a total waste of time? Missiles spray out of dogfights in all directions, air-to-ground rockets miss pointlessly no matter how accurately you launch them and anti-tank missiles are truly futile - without exception they just seem to miss.

2) The pilot "career" is a very interesting and at times engaging idea, but as with everything in this game the implementation leaves too much to be desired. At one point I was sent on an escort mission. A big, fat, sitting-duck transport plane was sent deep in to enemy territory with only me to fend off the swarming hordes of aircraft and SAMs. Not surprisingly after I had exhausted my A-A missiles the thing was eventually shot down. I limped back to a friendly airbase only for my avatar to be put in jail! Huh? What idiot on the development team thought this would be a good feature??? And unlike EFA and TAW, the player can;t alter or adjust missions in any way.

3) "Realism". There isn't any. The damage modelling in particular is truly abysmal. Did someone on the development team REALLY THINK that the emergency capabilities of the computer flight controls would actually make things WORSE rather than helping? Again, an incredibly poor design feature (the game, not the real Typhoon aircraft).

4) "Realism". Cruise missiles that have chaff & flare dispensers, enemy bombers that can mystically avoid 100% of A-A missiles (the Force is strong with these ones...!), tanks that can survive dozens of anti-tank missiles... The list goes on. Some seriously flawed thinking went in to this game that results in an immensely frustrating and in no way realistic experience.

From the team that brought us Total Air War, this was and continues to be an enormouse disapointment. Basically a pointless arcade game that isn't even accessible to the "arcade game player" as opposed to the serious simm plater due to all the critically flawed design decissions (the pointless "guided" weapons) that result in a hugely frustrating and unrewarding playing experience.

In short, avoid like the plague.