First Eagles: The Great War 1918
| First Eagles: The Great War 1918 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Third Wire Productions |
| Publisher(s) | G2 Games |
| Designer(s) | Tsuyoshi Kawahito |
| Engine | Strike Fighters |
| Platform(s) | Windows |
| Release date(s) | 2006 |
| Genre(s) | Flight simulation |
| Mode(s) | Single player, Online Multiplayer |
First Eagles: The Great War 1918 (Also called First Eagles: The Great Air War 1918) is a PC game (Combat / Flight Simulator) that focuses on World War I between 1917 and 1918.
First Eagles has had fair success in the PC games market, although its impact has a lot to do with the game having an 'open architecture' allowing others to modify and improve aspects of it and add new planes, terrain, weapons etc.
In 2007, First Eagles: Expansion Pack 1 was released that adds the Sopwith Camel, Albatros D.III, Albatros D.Va, and Fokker Dr.I. This pack also includes new campaigns set over the Cambrai sector of France.
In 2008, First Eagles: Gold, a combo pack that contains both the original First Eagles and Expansion Pack 1, was released.
In Feb 2010, "First Eagles 2" was released, following the trend of upgrading to be compatible with Vista and Windows 7.
The game is based on the "Strike Fighters" engine developed by Third Wire Productions.
Gameplay
Every encounter in World War I aerial combat is a close range turning dogfight that can have many outcomes including the planes colliding, spinning out of control, crashing into the ground, being hit by Anti Aircraft Artillery, or being shot down or killed, depending on the game skill level set and the players skill level.
The game has a useful 'Single Mission' option that allows the user to choose their mission, aircraft type, weapons, year, nationality, weather, and time of day, and look at a map of the mission area. A set of names are generated to be included on the squadron roster and they are allocated varying skill levels (ranks).
Flying over populated enemy territory will result in the Archie bombardment, which, together with available add-on AAA, is deadly at low altitudes, but simply an irritation above certain levels (much like the real Archie).