Flight of the Intruder

• Title — Flight of the Intruder • Developer — Rowan Software Imagineering (NES) • Publisher — Spectrum HoloByte Mindscape (NES) • Released — 1990: MS-DOS, Amiga, ST 1991: NES • Genre — Flight simulation • Modes — Single-player • Platforms — MS-DOS, Amiga, Atari ST, NES

This combat flight simulator allows players the choice of flying either the Grumman A-6 Intruder or the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II from aircraft carriers against targets in North Vietnam. Players are challenged both by the comprehensive enemy defenses and the restrictive and complex rules of engagement of the period. Realistic features include unreliable missiles and smokey engines for the Phantom (as in real life, the trail would disappear in afterburner). At lower realism settings, the F-4 has an internal cannon in addition to the missiles, in contrast to real USN F-4's that were armed only with missiles. A wide range of mission types is available, from simple bomb runs or combat air patrols to SEAD missions requiring close cooperation between the call signs involved. The player can plan each mission in detail. Based on the given number of planes in their flight, they are able to choose from various armament options for each plane. A mission editor allows for changes in waypoints and also how friendly AI is supposed to behave in each phase of the mission. There is also the option to use a default loadout and keep the waypoints unchanged. In flight, the player is allowed to switch between the planes at will, taking control over the respective airplane or leave the AI flying and just spectate. The game also comes with a fast-forward feature, e.g., to shorten the waiting time for the transit leg from the aircraft carrier and back, which is slowed to normal time progression if there is a hostile plane in visual range. The aircraft cockpits, especially the different modes and settings of radar and targeting systems, as well as flight controls are complex. The game offers different levels of realism and difficulty and a manual giving background stories quoting real life pilots of the era. Carrier landings can be left to the AI or flown manually, the latter requiring the player to maintain the aircraft in a very small envelope to safely land, increasing the difficulty of completing a mission.

The game is loosely based on the novel Flight of the Intruder by Stephen Coonts. The player flies several missions off one of the aircraft carriers on Yankee Station. The game does not have a real story line but instead is set in the historic conflict of the Vietnam war. In campaign mode the player progresses through the different air campaigns of the Vietnam war, with the first mission being the notorious Tonkin Gulf incident, the casus belli escalating the conflict.