Fleet Defender Gold

Description

MicroProse released their military flight simulator known as Fleet Defender in the year 1994. Even though it is anachronistic, the F-14B version of the F-14 Tomcat is used in the game. This is because the developers of the game deemed the original, weak F-14A to be punishing and "not much fun" in a flight simulator designed for entertainment purposes. 1995 saw the release of both an expansion pack called Fleet Defender: Scenario as well as a port of the game for the PC-98.

The detailed carrier operations, including air traffic and take-off and landing in a variety of situations, are modeled accurately by Fleet Defender. Both the pilot and the radar intercept officer (RIO), who is in charge of the AWG-9 radar, are under the player's command at all times. Instead of engaging the more nimble Soviet planes in close-quarters dogfighting, the emphasis is placed on deploying the AIM-54 Phoenix missile as a standoff weapon wherever possible. In contrast to earlier MicroProse simulations, in which only the player was armed with a single aircraft and eight missiles, "No longer do you alone, armed with a single aircraft and eight missiles, engage the entire third world," players now have control over wingmen formations and support aircraft.

The Oceana training theater, the North Cape theater, and the Mediterranean theater are the three campaign theaters that are included in the initial release of the game (Italy, the Balkans, and part of North Africa).