Rowan's Battle of Britain

Rowan's Battle of Britain
Developer(s)Rowan Software
Publisher(s)Empire Interactive
Platform(s)Windows
Release
  • EU: 8 December 2000
  • NA: 29 January 2001
Genre(s)Combat flight simulator
Mode(s)Single player, Multiplayer

Rowan's Battle of Britain, sometimes known simply as Battle of Britain,[1][2] is a World War II era combat flight simulation game set during the Battle of Britain in 1940.

Gameplay

The combat flight simulation has both RAF and opposing Luftwaffe forces featuring over 800 square miles (2,100 km2) of sky and hundreds of aircraft.

Reception

The game received "generally favourable reviews" according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[3] Samuel Bass of NextGen said of the game, "Detailed, beautiful, and polished to the nth degree, this is the WWII sim we've all been wating for."[1]

Sequels

The game was remade twice, first in 2005 as Battle of Britain II: Wings of Victory by Shockwave Productions, Inc.,[12][13] and again in 2007 as Air Battles: Sky Defender by Wild Hare Entertainment, a modified version of the above game with a more arcade-style gameplay.[14]

Legacy

On end-of-support of the game, the source code of the game was released by Rowan Software under the "Empire Interactive License" in 2001.[15] Following the source code release a group from the game's community[16] took up the support and produced several unofficial patches until 2005.[17][18]

References

  1. ^ a b c Bass, Samuel (May 2001). "[Rowan's] Battle of Britain". NextGen. Imagine Media. p. 89. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  2. ^ a b Boys, Ian (30 December 2000). "The Battle of Britain [sic]". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on 24 January 2001. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
  3. ^ a b "Rowan's Battle of Britain". Metacritic. Fandom. Archived from the original on 14 December 2023. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
  4. ^ Smith, Ted. "Rowan's Battle of Britain - Review". AllGame. All Media Network. Archived from the original on 17 November 2014. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  5. ^ McElveen, Nick (1 February 2001). "Battle of Britain". Computer Games Strategy Plus. Strategy Plus, Inc. Archived from the original on 25 May 2003. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  6. ^ Berg, Gordon (April 2001). "Truly Their Finest Hour (Rowan's Battle of Britain Review)" (PDF). Computer Gaming World. No. 201. Ziff Davis. pp. 92–93. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 April 2023. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
  7. ^ Geryk, Bruce (14 February 2001). "Rowan's Battle of Britain Review [date mislabeled as "May 17, 2006"]". GameSpot. Fandom. Archived from the original on 7 July 2001. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
  8. ^ "Battle of Britain". GameStar (in German). Webedia. January 2001.
  9. ^ Gerbino, Robert (15 February 2001). "Rowan's Battle of Britain Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on 3 March 2009. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  10. ^ Butts, Steve (20 February 2001). "Rowan's Battle of Britain". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on 29 April 2023. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
  11. ^ Klett, Steve (April 2001). "Battle of Britain". PC Gamer. Vol. 8, no. 4. Imagine Media. p. 77. Archived from the original on 15 March 2006. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  12. ^ Butts, Steve (28 November 2005). "Battle of Britain II: Wings of Victory". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on 3 December 2005. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  13. ^ Clare, Oliver (15 October 2005). "Battle of Britain II: Wings of Victory". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on 28 September 2014. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
  14. ^ Mahood, Andy (June 2007). "Air Battles: Sky Defender". PC Gamer. Vol. 14, no. 6. Future US. p. 57.
  15. ^ Mitchell, Robert (19 November 2001). "The Return of MiG Alley?". CombatSim.com. Archived from the original on 28 November 2023. Retrieved 14 December 2023. Bob Mitchell: What has prompted you to release the source code for MiG Alley and Battle of Britain? Dave Whiteside: Because we are no longer doing flight sims [after Empire took us over at the end of 2001], and we would not be able to publish any patches that were required [no money was allocated to this], rather than let MiG die and all the code sit doing nothing it was considered a good idea, a swan song, if you like, for Rowan [after 13 years in the flight sim market].
  16. ^ "Rowans's [sic] BoB and the BDG". BoB II Resources. Archived from the original on 28 August 2008. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
  17. ^ 02.1.2005: BoB Version 0.99 available ! on bob-ma.org/
  18. ^ BOB-MA Developer Group - Patch for Rowan's Battle of Britain to the BDG version 0.98. on netwings.org