| The Dam Busters | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Sydney Development |
| Publisher(s) | U.S. Gold |
| Designer(s) | J. Stewart Eastbrook |
| Platform(s) | Amstrad CPC Apple II ColecoVision Commodore 64 DOS MSX NEC PC-9801 ZX Spectrum |
| Release date(s) | 1984 |
| Genre(s) | Combat flight simulator |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Media/distribution | Floppy disk Cartridge Cassette |
The Dam Busters is a combat flight simulator set in World War II produced by U.S. Gold. The graphics are very simple by today's standards, and shows only four colours (in the DOS version). The game was released on several platforms and was one of the earliest flight simulators available on home computers. The Dam Busters is loosely based on the real life Operation Chastise.
You choose from three different night missions, each of which is increasingly difficult. In all three, your goal is to successfully bomb a dam. On the practice run, you can approach and bomb the dam without any other obstacles. The two other missions feature various enemies to overcome, and you start from either the French coast or a British airfield.
During your flight, you control every aspect of the bomber from each of the seven crew positions: Pilot, Front Gunner, Tail Gunner, Bomb Aimer, Navigator, Engineer, and Squadron Leader. You must evade enemies, plan your approach, and set all of the variables (speed, height, timing, etc.) to execute a successful bombing. Sometimes, it becomes necessary to deal with emergencies, such as engine fires.