JetFighter IV: Fortress America

• Platform: IBM PC Compatible
• Release Date: October 31, 2000
• Genre: Simulation
• Style: Flight Combat Sim
• Similar Games: JetFighter II: Advanced Tactical Fighter (IBM PC Compatible), Top Gun: Fire at Will! (IBM PC Compatible), Jane's F-15: The Definitive Jet Combat Simulator (IBM PC Compatible)

Game Description

As one of Uncle Sam's elite pilots, you must charge to America's defense by taking to the skies in one of three jetfighters: the F-14 Tomcat, the F/A-18 Hornet or the F-22 Raptor. The year is 2012, and the Russians, Chinese, and North Koreans have united to attack the United States on sovereign soil.

JetFighter IV: Fortress America features more than 40,000 square miles of terrain mapped from actual satellite photographs. The detail level has been ramped up four times higher than the previous title in the series with more than 180 individually rendered objects awaiting destruction.

Pilots interact with the environment by flying under bridges, screaming past skyscrapers and towers, and protecting West Coast American cities and landmarks. Defend San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge or meet the enemy over Oakland as you fly your state-of-the-art fighting machine.

Control schemes include joystick support (emulates the flight control stick of a jetfighter cockpit) and keyboard (default for navigation) input. Fully functional cockpit and weapon systems, viewpoints, and combat controls are patterned directly after real-world aircraft, ranging from HUD displays to radar tracking, afterburners, and jamming devices. Eleven multi-part training missions, played separately or as a campaign, are provided to bring the virtual pilot up to speed and in the cockpit.

In addition to the more than 40 pre-designed missions available, a mission generator allows nearly unlimited action. Up to 16 players can join in multiplayer skirmishes through either a LAN connection or the Internet. Think you have the right stuff to beat back the invasion of America? "Scramble" and take to the skies in JetFighter IV: Fortress America to find out.

Roots & Influences

This is the fourth release in the JetFighter series; early incarnations were influenced by the Microsoft Flight Simulator series. Unlike previous releases, this game makes use of 3D acceleration and features more missions, controls and options.

Review: Overall

Long after the Socialist-Realist statuary has been dragged from the squares of Eastern European capitals to the scrap yard by frenzied mobs, the video game industry occasionally releases a title that hints at an almost obsessive attachment to the Cold War. JetFighter IV: Fortress America is a case in point.

It's 2012 and China, Russia, and North Korea have ironed out their differences and become model communists, teaming up to finally rid the world of the "red, white and blue" menace. Accordingly, they've attacked America's West Coast, commandeering decommissioned American airstrips and steadily advancing east. It's up to you, at the controls of a variety of heavily armed flying death machines, to stop them.

The plot unfolds through a series of missions with a similar pattern. Take off, follow a series of waypoints using your navigation computer, blow a few things to dust on your way, then fly back to base. The main focus is the fighting, evidenced by the words "Intense Aerial Combat" on the front panel of the box, and it's good fun. To mix it up with the various bandits you encounter, you have machine guns, sidewinder missiles and Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM).

Enemy pilots are fairly intelligent and keep combat challenging. The targeting system will likely confuse players who don't have a lot of experience with flight simulators, but it becomes easier to use fairly quickly with practice. To destroy the various tanks, Humvees, tanker trucks, antennas, grounded planes and so forth that the eastern armies field in California, you're equipped with Maverick missiles as well as two types of unguided bombs plus regular guided bombs. A fancy aiming camera system known as LANTIRN offers a chance for pinpoint accuracy.

The main threats, other than enemy planes, are the SAM (Surface to Air Missile) sites that dot your path. You'll be targeted by heat seeking and radar guided missiles, which can be dealt with by deploying flares and chaff, respectively, or through maneuvering. Again, avoiding these dangers is not easy, and certainly adds excitement to the experience. All of it gels together fairly well, making for a generally fun game.

A potential irritant is the enormous distance encountered between targets and the airstrip where the mission begins. Obviously, in the real world, targets are not always conveniently located and require significant travel time. However, having to cover 70+ miles in a game before even getting to the fight can become tedious. Rather than building tension, these flights often lead you to switch to autopilot while you raid the refrigerator for a snack.

Visually, the game is very successful, but a lot of the terrain is uninhabited California mountains. When missions take you over or near cities, they look convincingly crowded and busy. The only visual disappointments are the explosions, especially those of the enemy planes, which look two-dimensional and silly. In general, JetFighter IV: Fortress America is a positive experience. Gameplay is complex enough to feel realistic, action-packed enough to be exciting, and easy enough to learn for players who are flight-challenged.

Review: Enjoyment

There is enough variation in the missions to keep the game interesting, with emphasis on aerial combat. Long distance travel to some battles is annoying.

Review: Graphics

Terrain and enemies look good, but the enemy plane explosions are weak.

Review: Sound

The sound is good, but the explosions sound positively goofy.

Review: Replay Value

Completing all missions will take a fairly long time. Replaying the same missions adds nothing new except a chance to improve performance.

Review: Documentation

Extremely good training section is available to teach both novices and experts how to play the game.

Production Credits

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