B-17 wins war by itself

B-17 Fortress in the Sky is a World War II bomber simulation for the Nintendo DS. In it, the player flies a B-17 over Europe and bombs various targets - factories, bridges, submarine pens, etc. Throughout the mission, the player has to fend off attacks from enemy fighters and avoid anti-aircraft fire. Sounds simple enough and it is.

For the most part, the player is going to be taking on the role of one of 8 gunner positions - 2 nose, 2 waist, belly, top, rear, and radio operator. The controls are pretty simple, move the gun using the pad and press A to fire. I found that I primarily went between 3 different positions and occasionally used 2 others - the rear, top turret, and right waist. Once in a while I used a nose gun and the belly turret. The enemy fighters are predictible, always coming only from a few directions. To avoid flak (anti-aircraft fire) the screen changes to a top down view of the bomber and you move it left and right to avoid the flak. This is the only time you control the pilot. To bomb, again the screen changes to a sight and you can move the plane back and forth as the bomber and have to lower your altitude according to the second screen. And bombs away. Then fly back to base, fighting off aircraft.

B-17 Fortress in the Sky is a budget title and is shows. One mission plays like the next, the only thing changing is how tough some of the planes get and how much damage to your bomber they do. The controls are simple to use. It does make slight use of the touch screen as an alternate way to change gunner positions right away instead of cycling through them with the L or R buttons. The graphics aren't at all that bad, considering the price. Pretty nice, even seeing some cities while bombing. Sound is just repition of noises and gunners saying they see enemy planes.

Acurracy is another thing. You are a lone bomber on a mission. Didn't quite work out that way in World War II but ok, we'll live. Secondly, no one fires a shot except for the gunner you're controling. So if three fighters are approaching from the 3 o'clock position, instead of 2-3 gunners being able to fire, only you will. Slightly annoying, especially in later missions. Also, if you've played one mission, you've practically played them all. the only differences are targets (and where they are but that really doesn't matter). Your bomber takes off, you fight the enemy, avoid flak, fight more enemies, bomb, fight enemies and then it lands. For the most part, you do not control the bomber, just the gunners.

However, I did get a couple hours enjoyment out of this game. It's simple, easy to play, doesn't require a lot of time, a mission can be done in 10-15 minutes. It'd a budget title so I found it NEW for $15 at Kay-Bee toys. I was a fan of the original B-17 Flying Fortress game put out by Micropose and this is a decent follow up to that and plays out very similar, with better graphics. This would be a good game for a younger child. Not a lot of realistic violence; just shooting down planes and dropping (unlimited) bombs. Quick. Simple. Easy.

If you're looking for something along these lines and can find it for under $15 go ahead and pick it up. Otherwise, there are probably better games out there for the DS that are similar and offer more variety of gameplay.