From: markgame Subject: 12 O'Clock High: Bombing The Reich first impressions I was only able to get through the introductory mission in the short time I have had available, but here are a few thoughts. BTR is a VERY detailed recreation of the Allied bombing campaign again Germany in WW2, covering the years 43-45. The turns represent individual days, and the units are squadron level, although for recon missions individual aircraft are used. The Allied player (in the campaigns) has access to day and night bombing, and esoteric details such as electronic warfare are included. The Axis player can alter production priorities, down to the level of changing the types of engines made. There are ground units in some campaigns, and for the Germans such minute details of the air defense such as rail mounted anti-aircraft guns are represented. The depth of the game is very impressive, and it is easy to allow yourself to be overwhelmed with all the details, but there are plenty of menus and tools within the game to let you manage all the information. There are a few new gameplay features that didn't appear in Battle of Britain. One is a full screen mod that removes most of the framing around the map so that it can fill most of the screen. Another is the ability to select a target directly from the data lists without having to find it on the map, I have already found this to be very handy. There are also a number of other minor inprovements, such as the ability to sort data tables by columns. One welcome addition since the Battle of Britain game is the way the Allied player can schedule fighter escort. When an escort is selected, the "join up" and "break off" locations are show on the bomber's mission path. By right-clicking on the path at different locations you can change where the escorting activity takes place, this takes the place of the previous "delay time" setting and is much easier to use. I suspect that there will be at some point some questions or quibbles about specific numbers or units or map locations, but overall there is so much in this game that any buyer would certainly feel that they got their money's worth. Even if you don't plan on grinding through the whole 700 turn full campaign, you might consider buying this game for the educational and historic value. -- Email: markgame@my-deja.com Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Before you buy.