Project Stealth Fighter
1987 video game
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Project Stealth Fighter is a combat flight simulator released for the Commodore 64 in 1987 by MicroProse, featuring a fictional United States military aircraft. During the time of the game's release, there was heavy speculation surrounding a missing aircraft in the United States Air Force's numbering system, the F-19. Project Stealth Fighter was later renamed F-19 Stealth Fighter and was remade in 1988 for the 16-bit systems with much improved graphics.
Arnold Hendrick
Dan Chang
Gregg Tavares
| Project Stealth Fighter | |
|---|---|
| |
| Developer | MicroProse |
| Publisher | MicroProse |
| Designers | Jim Synoski Arnold Hendrick |
| Programmers | Jim Synoski Dan Chang Gregg Tavares |
| Artists | Michael Haire Michele Mahan |
| Composer | Ken Lagace |
| Platforms | Commodore 64 ZX Spectrum |
| Release | 1987 (C64) 1989 (Spectrum) |
| Genre | Combat flight simulator |
| Mode | Single-player |
Gameplay
In the game, the player take on the role of a fictional fighter pilot flying missions of varying difficulty over four geographic locations: Libya, the Persian Gulf, the North Cape, and Central Europe.
Reception
The game was critically acclaimed. Computer Gaming World in 1987 stated that Project Stealth Fighter pushed the limits of 8-bit hardware (noting the resulting great difficulty in landing at airfields) but concluded favorably: "Timely? It couldn't be more so. Realistic? Yes ... Challenging? Definitely!"[3] In a 1994 survey of wargames the magazine gave the title two stars out of five, stating that F-19 and F-117 had superseded it.[4] Compute! in 1988 called the game "a superlative flight simulator". It praised the graphics, stating that they improved on those of the company's F-15 Strike Eagle. The magazine concluded: "If you're to have only one flight simulator in your library, let it be this one ... Project: Stealth Fighter is Microprose's best".[5] The Commodore 64 version's review in Zzap!64 said that the "Project Stealth Fighter is excellent, and sets new standards to which other must now aspire".[6] ACE stated the game as certainly enjoyable and the rating for C64 version is 863 out of 1000.[7]
Project: Stealth Fighter was awarded the Origins Award for "Best Military or Strategy Computer Game of 1987".[8]
The game was nominated for the Golden Joystick Awards '88 in the category "Best Simulation - 8 Bit".[9]
A port to the ZX Spectrum version was first advertised in 1988 prior to the game being renamed for the 16-bit releases.[10] By the time it was published late 1989, it used the F-19 Stealth Fighter title in-game but was still packaged as Project Stealth Fighter.[11] A review in Your Sinclair called it "the best Speccy flight sim to date".[12]
Both the Spectrum and Commodore 64 versions were subsequently reissued as F-19 Stealth Fighter[13][14] in the same packaging as the 16-bit versions.[11][15]
In late 1990, the combined sales of F-19 Stealth Fighter across four platforms took the game into the UK Top 20 All Format games chart.[16]