''The Dam Busters'' is a

combat flight simulator Combat flight simulators are vehicle simulation games, amateur flight simulation computer programs used to simulate military aircraft and their operations. These are distinct from dedicated flight simulators used for professional pilot and mili ...

set in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, published by

U.S. Gold U.S. Gold Limited was a British video game publisher based in Witton, Birmingham, England. The company was founded in 1984 by Anne and Geoff Brown in parallel to their distributor firm, CentreSoft, both of which became part of Woodward Brown Ho ...

in 1984. It is loosely based on the real life Operation Chastise and the 1955 film. The game was released in 1984 for the ColecoVision and

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...

; in 1985 for

Apple II The Apple II (stylized as ) is an 8-bit home computer and one of the world's first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products. It was designed primarily by Steve Wozniak; Jerry Manock developed the design of Apple II's foam-m ...

, DOS,

MSX MSX is a standardized home computer architecture, announced by Microsoft and ASCII Corporation on June 16, 1983. It was initially conceived by Microsoft as a product for the Eastern sector, and jointly marketed by Kazuhiko Nishi, then vice-p ...

and

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as t ...

; then in 1986 for the Amstrad CPC and NEC PC-9801.

Gameplay

The player chooses from three different night missions, each of which is increasingly difficult. In all three, the goal is to successfully bomb a dam. On the practice run, the player can approach and bomb the dam without any other obstacles. The two other missions feature various enemies to overcome, and the flight start from either the French coast or a British airfield. During your flight, the player controls every aspect of the bomber from each of the seven crew positions:

Pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

, Front Gunner, Tail Gunner,

Bomb Aimer A bombardier or bomb aimer is the crew member of a bomber aircraft responsible for the targeting of aerial bombs. "Bomb aimer" was the preferred term in the military forces of the Commonwealth, while "bombardier" (from the French word for "bom ...

Navigator A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation.Grierson, MikeAviation History—Demise of the Flight Navigator FrancoFlyers.org website, October 14, 2008. Retrieved August 31, 2014. The navigator's primar ...

Engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

, and

Squadron Leader Squadron leader (Sqn Ldr in the RAF ; SQNLDR in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly sometimes S/L in all services) is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence. It is also ...

. Leaving any of these positions unattended during an event could spell the death of the person in that position, rendering it useless during further encounters. The player 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. While en route to the target the player can expect to encounter attacks by enemy aircraft, barrage balloons, flak and enemy searchlights. Events like this will flash along the border of the screen, while indicating the key to press to take the player to the station in need of assistance. For example, when flying through enemy search lights, the player will need to man the gunner's station and shoot out the lights on the ground. If left unattended, the player can expect flak and enemy aircraft to start damaging the bomber. Once the player begins the final run to their target, they are presented with the custom bombing sights, as made famous by the story. When the player toggles the bomb, they are shown an animation of the bomb bouncing along the lake and hitting (or not hitting) the target dam.

Reception

'' Info'' rated ''The Dam Busters'' on the Commodore 64 three-plus stars out of five, stating that it "lacks the depth and variability of a game like '' Silent Service'', but has better than average graphics and play features". ''

Computer Gaming World ''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American computer game magazine published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 1993. It expanded greatly through ...

'' gave ''The Dam Busters'' two out of five points in an overview of World War II simulations, stating "this product's graphics and 'feel' make it too much of a game and not enough of a simulation".

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dam Busters, The 1984 video games Accolade (company) games Amstrad CPC games Apple II games ColecoVision games Commodore 64 games DOS games MSX games NEC PC-9801 games U.S. Gold games Video games developed in Canada World War II flight simulation video games ZX Spectrum games Single-player video games Sydney Development Corporation games