Category: Simulations

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Damon Slye GAME DEVELOPER:Dynamix GAME PUBLISHER:Dynamix Copyright 1993, Dynamix Aces over Europe is a great follow-up to Dynamix’ first World War II combat flight sim Aces of the Pacific. Playing in the European theater of war, you have the option to fly either for the German…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Damon Slye GAME DEVELOPER:Dynamix GAME PUBLISHER:Dynamix Copyright 1992, Dynamix Certainly one of the best World War II combat flight sims of its time and arguably one of the best ever, Aces of The Pacific features a huge number of planes, decent controls, a nice 3D graphics-engine…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Mike Jones GAME DEVELOPER:Dynamix GAME PUBLISHER:Dynamix Copyright 1994, Dynamix Following classic Aces over Europe, Dynamix moved from the heights above the ground into the depths of the ocean. Aces of the Deep is WWII U-boat simulation, putting you into the command of a German submarine. As…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Rod Hyde & Mark Shaw GAME DEVELOPER:Rowan GAME PUBLISHER:Empire Interactive Copyright 1994, Rowan Having mastered World War 2 flight sims genre with games like Overlord, which was one of the finest flight sims ever made for the Amiga, Rowan Software turned their attention to WW1 air…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Alexander Madej & Robert Kowalski GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1997, Freeware Perhaps the world’s only first-person train driving simulation ever made until Microsoft’s Train Simulator and the superb simulator from Japan called BVE, Mechanik is a reasonably realistic sim made by a group of Polish…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Rowan GAME PUBLISHER:Virgin Interactive Copyright 1993, Rowan Following their success with Flight of the Intruder, Rowan’s second flight sim focused on WWII’s famous “Battle of Britain”. Reach for the Skies is an excellent combat flight simulator giving you the option to take part in…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Ralf Glau GAME DEVELOPER:Ariolasoft GAME PUBLISHER:Ariolasoft Copyright 1988, Ariolasoft The third game in Ralf Glau’s series of management simulations, following Hanse and Vermeer. All game texts are in German. This time the game is set in the 60s, in the world of drilling rigs, oil fields…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Andreas Seebeck GAME DEVELOPER:Starbyte GAME PUBLISHER:Starbyte Copyright 1992, Andreas Seebeck Manage the build-up and operation of a space station in this management/business simulation. Space MAX is one of the more interesting games of this genre, which flooded the German market in the late 80’s and early…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Starbyte GAME PUBLISHER:Starbyte Copyright 1990, Starbyte As the name suggests, Invest is a decent stock market simulation by… Starbyte (surprise! surprise!) for up to 4 players. As usual in this type of game, your aim is to make as much money as possible by…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Chris G. Granger GAME DEVELOPER:Artech GAME PUBLISHER:Accolade Copyright 1988, Artech Apollo 18 is an early space mission simulation by Artech, converted from the C64 to the IBM-PC by Ted Gruber Software. Problems might occur on fast computers. Try a slow-down util. Also don’t forget to download…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Amtex GAME PUBLISHER:Amtex Copyright 1995, Amtex Precision Approach, as the name implies, is a very detailed simulation of aircraft landing– in this case, a space shuttle. Despite this razor-thin focus, the game is surprisingly replayable for its random “reset points” (i.e. the starting point…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Activision GAME PUBLISHER:Accolade Copyright 1989, Accolade Fighter Bomber (or Strike Aces in the US) is a fun but very challenging “recreational” flight-sim set in a bombing competition inspired by Gen. Curtis LeMay’s training events. You can fly 6 of the world’s most popular aircrafts…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Steven Green & Kevin Clyre GAME DEVELOPER:Empire Interactive GAME PUBLISHER:Empire Interactive Copyright 1992, Empire Interactive Pacific Islands is the follow-up to Team Yankee and as its name suggests is set in the Pacific Islands, where conflicts demand the intervention of the USA and you, as a…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Stephen W. Green & Kevin Ayre GAME DEVELOPER:Empire Interactive GAME PUBLISHER:Empire Interactive Copyright 1993, Empire Interactive The final and best game in the trilogy that encompasses Team Yankee and Pacific Islands centers on the The Gulf War of 1992. The similarity between this and the previous…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Steven Green GAME DEVELOPER:Empire Interactive GAME PUBLISHER:Empire Interactive Copyright 1990, Empire Interactive Based on the book of the same name (that was included with the game), Team Yankee is a decent 3D tank simulation based on an alternate history premise that the Soviet army has decided…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Jonathan Griffiths GAME DEVELOPER:Empire Interactive GAME PUBLISHER:Empire Interactive Copyright 1991, Empire Interactive “Billed as a strategic-tactical simulation of the World War II Western Front, it was marginally adequate on the former level and an arcade rendition of the latter. Some interface inadequacies contributed to the “vanillaness”…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:D. Arnaud GAME DEVELOPER:Futura GAME PUBLISHER:Futura Copyright 1990, Futura Naval warfare simulator set in World War II, in which you control a British destroyer covering missions in The Mediterranean, The English Channel and The North Sea. Advanced Destroyer Simulator has an easy interface and nice graphics…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:D. Arnaud & P. Jarry GAME DEVELOPER:Loriciel GAME PUBLISHER:Loriciel Copyright 1989, Loriciel Sherman M4 is an oldie combat tank simulation by Loriciel. The game is set in a World War II scenario and offers most of the things you would expect from a game in this…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Ralph Bosson GAME DEVELOPER:Garde GAME PUBLISHER:Garde Copyright 1987, Garde A very early (1987!) Age of Sail simulation, High Seas emphasizes joystick maneuverability at the expense of realism and playability. Although the game deserves notice for being one of the first to offer attractive top-down isometric view…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Tatsuo Nagahama GAME DEVELOPER:ArtDink GAME PUBLISHER:Infogrames Copyright 1997, ArtDink AIV Network$ (released as C.E.O. outside Japan) is the last and best English version in ArtDink’s underrated railroad simulation series that began with Railroad Empire and best known with A-Train. The game was released only in a…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Virgin Interactive GAME PUBLISHER:Virgin Interactive Copyright 1993, Virgin Interactive G-Force is a solid flight-sim revolving around the MiG russian jets, similar to MiG 29. As you boot the game up, you will see a map with targets of the area such as airfields, buildings…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:RYLO Software GAME PUBLISHER:RYLO Software Copyright 1994, RYLO Software Veritech is a unique sci-fi flight simulator based on famous Japanese Macross anime series (known in the West as Robotech). The game follows the plot of Macross Plus, although not too closely. As in the…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Stephen Wahid GAME DEVELOPER:OCEAN GAME PUBLISHER:Thunder Mountain Copyright 1986, Thunder Mountain One of OCEAN’s earliest flight sims, Top Gun is a simulation of F14 Tomcat, one of the world’s most famous modern fighters. The movie license is a mere marketing ploy here, as the game is…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Chuck Sommerville GAME DEVELOPER:Epyx GAME PUBLISHER:Epyx Copyright 1986, Epyx One of the earliest naval simulations ever made, Epyx’ Destroyer is a graphically-intense portrayal of World War II destroyer operations. Judging that Epyx is best known for many addictive sports and action games, it shouldn’t surprise anyone…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Paul Norman GAME DEVELOPER:COSMI GAME PUBLISHER:COSMI Copyright 1989, COSMI Billed as an “authentic “Star Wars” simulation,” Defcon 5 is called “second worst computer game of all time” by Computer Gaming World, and for good reasons. Fans of complex, realistic modern Cold-War simulations will detest the game,…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Simis GAME PUBLISHER:Domark Copyright 1992, Domark AV8B Harrier is another simulator using Simis’ popular graphic engine. The sim is similar to KA-50 Hokum in gameplay. You have at your disposal some Harriers and with the excellent mission map/planner you can plan your missions and…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:DC True GAME PUBLISHER:Merit Studios Copyright 1996, DC True An underrated sequel to D.C. True’s Shadow President, CyberJudas is a solid sequel that is unfortunately inferior to its predecessor in terms of gameplay, although it is not lacking in gameplay options and other enhancements.…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Owen Hall GAME DEVELOPER:General Quarters Software GAME PUBLISHER:General Quarters Software Copyright 1989, General Quarters Software One of General Quarters’ best games, Action in The North Atlantic is a fun and accessible naval simulation set in the World War II. The game focuses on only a single…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:James Day GAME DEVELOPER:MicroProse GAME PUBLISHER:MicroProse Copyright 1995, MicroProse In the words of veteran wargamer M. Evan Brooks: “This was the most anticipated wargame of 1993-1994. When it was finally released in 1995, it quickly sank to the depths of the ratings charts. “We wuz robbed!”…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Karl Buiter GAME DEVELOPER:Electronic Arts GAME PUBLISHER:Electronic Arts Copyright 1988, Karl Buiter Karl Buiter’s first, and most underrated, design, Earth Orbit Stations is a classic space program simulation that was one of the first of its kind. It is also probably the only space station simulation…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:John Garcia GAME DEVELOPER:NovaLogic GAME PUBLISHER:NovaLogic Copyright 1994, NovaLogic The underrated cousin of NovaLogic’s more popular Comanche: Maximum Overkill and its sequels, Armored Fist is a fun tank simulation that tries to woo both the arcade and simulation fans, and ended up attracting neither camp. In…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Magic Bytes GAME PUBLISHER:Magic Bytes Copyright 1992, Magic Bytes Two fun arcade-style single-ship simulations from Magic Bytes, USS John Young 1 and 2 are short on realism but long on old-fashioned fun and attractive graphics. Taking place in a hypothetical modern day, the games…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Kevin Patrick GAME DEVELOPER:Activision GAME PUBLISHER:Activision Copyright 1989, Activision A solid yet relatively unknown hydrofoil naval simulation from Activision, Ocean Ranger lets you command a warship in modern naval battles that resemble arcade games, but with considerable realistic factors. There are four theatres of operation to…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Stephen Newburg GAME DEVELOPER:Simulations Canada GAME PUBLISHER:Simulations Canada Copyright 1989, Simulations Canada Arguably Simulations Canada’s (“SimCan”) best game, Northern Fleet is a detailed naval simulation of US-Soviet fleet confrontations in the “bad old days” of Cold War. Due to the absence of any graphics, the game…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Earl Long GAME DEVELOPER:StarSoft Development GAME PUBLISHER:ComputerEasy Copyright 1990, ComputerEasy Stock Market: The Game is a substantial update of Earl Long’s earlier Black Monday 1987 stock sim published by Keypunch. Although on the surface it looks like nothing more than a cosmetic update, it is actually…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Peter Turcan GAME DEVELOPER:Datasoft GAME PUBLISHER:Datasoft Copyright 1992, Datasoft A “view-from-the-turret”, Dreadnoughts is an excellent World War I naval simulation that offers an interesting, albeit very slow, portrayal of tactics during the few World War I encounters. The game system was interesting, albeit before its time…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Gordon Walton GAME DEVELOPER:Digital Illusions Inc. GAME PUBLISHER:Spectrum Holobyte Copyright 1987, Digital Illusions Inc. PT-109 is a revolutionary naval sim for its time that went by largely unnoticed, although it attracted a minor following on the Macintosh, the game’s original release format. The game lets you…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Dan Hoecke GAME DEVELOPER:Midnight Software GAME PUBLISHER:Electronic Arts Copyright 1992, Midnight Software Heroes of The 357th casts you as one of the pilots of this famous American Fighter unit in Europe during WWII. Based in England, you fly a variety of mission against occupied Europe. You…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Digital Image Design (DID) GAME PUBLISHER:OCEAN Copyright 1991, Digital Image Design (DID) It seem like only yesterday that DiD gave us EF2000, F-22 ADV and TAW. However, their roots date back to 1991, when DiD released F-29 Retaliator, one of the first attempts to…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Spectrum Holobyte GAME PUBLISHER:Spectrum Holobyte Copyright 1988, Spectrum Holobyte Essentially Falcon 2 but somehow marketed differently, Falcon AT is the second release in Spectrum Holobyte’s revolutionary hard-core flight sim Falcon series. Despite popular belief that Falcon 3.0 was THE dawn of modern flight sims,…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Paul Norman GAME DEVELOPER:COSMI GAME PUBLISHER:COSMI Copyright 1989, COSMI Last and probably best in a short-lived line of low-budget flight sims from COSMI, War Eagles is a decent action-oriented sim set in World War 1. You can choose to play as either a British, or a…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Paul Norman GAME DEVELOPER:COSMI GAME PUBLISHER:COSMI Copyright 1988, COSMI The sequel to COSMI’s helicopter sim Super Huey is based on exactly the same engine, although it offers more varied and interesting missions. Instead of pure-vanilla explore, rescue and combat missions in the first game, Super Huey…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Paul Norman GAME DEVELOPER:COSMI GAME PUBLISHER:COSMI Copyright 1988, COSMI One of COSMI’s best releases, Super Huey is a fun modern helicopter simulator that won a lot of praise from the Commodore 64 community when it was first released in 1985 for that computer. It was not…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Titan Computer Products GAME PUBLISHER:Titan Computer Products Copyright 1984, Titan Computer Products Wilderness is a unique survival adventure that may well be the most realistic simulation of its kind ever made, even decades after its release. The game casts you as an archaelogist in…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Simis GAME PUBLISHER:Domark Copyright 1992, Domark Ka-50 Hokum is a unique and probably the least known flight sim from Simis, makers of Flight Sim Toolkit. This game gives you a base ship with a few helicopters and their armament with which to wage your…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Ivan Manley GAME DEVELOPER:Manley Associates GAME PUBLISHER:Sanctuary Woods Copyright 1995, Sanctuary Woods PC Gamer said it all: “With Wolf, Sanctuary Woods [produced] a roleplaying simulation that detailed the everyday life of wolves in the wild. By challenging the player’s skill in hunting, killing, mating, and survival……

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Monte Cristo Multimedia GAME PUBLISHER:Interplay Copyright 1999, Interplay This is an excellent introductory-level stock market game that makes a noble attempt of trying to make trading fun and comprehensible to those outside Wall Street. It largely succeeds, with catchy movies, excellent interface, a wacky…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Ronin Software GAME PUBLISHER:Ronin Software Copyright 1998, Ronin Software This is definitely the best stock market simulation I’ve come across, bar none. Despite its lack of “bells & whistles,” the game effectively conveys the nuts and bolts of the stock market. Running ticker tape…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1990, Anonymous Definitely one of the best and most faithful Star Trek simulation game I’ve ever come across, Visual Star Trek is a perfect example that bigger doesn’t necessarily mean better. Almost every system on the Enterprise is accurately modelled,…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Mindscape GAME PUBLISHER:Mindscape Copyright 1988, Mindscape Boomtown is a novel attempt at simulating post-apocalyptic life. Althought it may look like an RPG at first glance, the strong simulation focus surfaces soon after the computer builds you a new random world. You must buy provisions…