U.S. Navy Fighters

U.S. Navy Fighters
Developer(s)Electronic Arts
Publisher(s)Electronic Arts
Designer(s)Brent Iverson
Composer(s)George Sanger and Team Fat
Platform(s)DOS, PlayStation
ReleaseDOS
November 19, 1994
PlayStation
Genre(s)Combat flight simulator
Mode(s)Single-player

U.S. Navy Fighters is a combat flight simulation game developed and published in 1994 by Electronic Arts for DOS PCs. The game was programmed by Brent Iverson, who previously worked on EA's 1991 release Chuck Yeager's Air Combat.[2][3] The U.S. Navy Fighters expansion pack Marine Fighters and a "Gold" compilation were both released in 1995. Later that year, Electronic Arts added graphical acceleration support for the game via the Nvidia NV1 when the chip was announced.[4]

Electronic Arts would re-brand the game as the earliest entry in the Jane's Combat Simulations series, issuing an rebranded version in 1996 for Microsoft Windows with additional content and a updated title, Jane's US Navy Fighters 97. The content from the base game, expansion, and reissue would be combined with Jane's Advanced Tactical Fighters into a unified interface for re-release in 1997 as Jane's Fighters Anthology. U.S. Navy Fighters received a Japan-exclusive PlayStation port courtesy of Electronic Arts Victor, released on November 6, 1997.[1]

Gameplay

The base game features a variety of 50 missions that can be played separately or as part of a campaign with full-motion video mission briefings. The campaign is set aboard the United States aircraft carrier "Ike" during a fictional 1997 war between Russia and Ukraine. The flyable jet fighters during the missions included the F-14B Tomcat, F-18D Hornet, A-7 Corsair, F-22 "Lightning II", and Sukhoi Su-33.[5]

The Marine Fighters expansion added 35 new missions and a second campaign aboard the United States aircraft carrier "Wasp" during a fictional Russian-Japanese conflict over the Kuril Islands. It would feature three additional flyable fighters, the AV-8B Harrier II, FRS Mk 2 Sea Harrier, and Yak-141. The expansion's box art also touted faster frame rates, terrain masking, the addition of turbulence, and a "Tour of Duty" summary screen showing hit percentages, kills, and decorations.

The re-release Jane's US Navy Fighters 97 added a historical campaign taking place in 1972 during the Vietnam War's Operation Linebacker. The contemporaneous planes F-4J Phantom II, F-8 Crusader, MiG-17 Fresco, and MiG-21 Fishbed were now available as flyable fighters. In addition, archival footage originally aired on ABC News was used for briefings, and aircraft technical references and photos were included from Janes Information Services.[6]

Jane's US Navy Fighters 97

Jane's U.S. Navy Fighters '97
Developer(s)Electronic Arts
Publisher(s)Electronic Arts
Designer(s)Brent Iverson
Programmer(s)Brent Iverson
Artist(s)Brad Pollard
Nicholas Corea
Writer(s)David Luoto
SeriesJane's Combat Simulations
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows
Release
Genre(s)Combat flight simulator
Mode(s)Single player, Multiplayer

Jane's U.S. Navy Fighters '97 (USNF '97) is a 1996 update of the 1994 version with added planes, music, and two new campaigns. It's also ran on Win 95 version rather than DOS.[9] The game contains three campaigns: Vietnam War-era, a fictional Russian-Ukrainian war, and a fictional Russian-Japanese conflict over the Kuril Islands. This version was released in Japan by Electronic Arts Victor on March 14, 1997.[8] Another Japanese edition featuring exclusive missions was released on December 19, 1997 as U.S. Navy Fighters: Final Mission (U.S.ネイビーファイターズ ファイナルミッション).[10]

Reception

Next Generation gave U.S. Navy Fighters four stars out of five, and stated that "despite heavy system requirements, this is a must for every flight freak".[5]

It appeared at number 20 of PC Data's best-seller list for February 1997.[24]

References

  1. ^ a b Gedora-chan (November 6, 2023). "【11月6日のレトロゲーム】今日はPS2『SIREN』の発売20周年！" [Retro Game of the Day on November 6th: Today marks the 20th anniversary of the release of the PS2 game Siren!]. Gamedrive.jp (in Japanese). Archived from the original on September 25, 2024. Retrieved November 2, 2024.
  2. ^ Weksler, Mike (November 1994). "Preview: Into the Danger Zone". Computer Gaming World. No. 124. Ziff Davis. pp. 180–4. ISSN 0744-6667.
  3. ^ Lindquist, Christopher; Paul, Fredric (January 1995). "The Future of Flight". Electronic Entertainment. No. 13. IDG. p. 57. ISSN 1074-1356.
  4. ^ "Press release: 1995-11-12: NVIDIA NV1 Windows 95 Multimedia Accelerator Announces "Wave" of Software Support". Business Wire. November 12, 1995. Archived from the original on May 17, 2022. Retrieved October 17, 2024.
  5. ^ a b c Next Generation staff (March 1995). "Finals". Next Generation. No. 3. Imagine Media. p. 94. ISSN 1078-9693.
  6. ^ "Cover packaging from Jane's Combat Simulations: USNF'97 - U.S. Navy Fighters (1996)". MobyGames. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
  7. ^ "Online Gaming Review". 1997-02-27. Archived from the original on 1997-02-27. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  8. ^ a b Seino (March 14, 1997). "3/14～3/21発売予定、新着・発売日変更ゲームソフトタイトル一覧" [List of new and changed release dates for game software scheduled for release between March 14th and March 21st]. Impress Watch (in Japanese). Archived from the original on October 17, 2022. Retrieved November 2, 2024.
  9. ^ Tou, Cristopher. "U.S. Navy Fighters '97". PC Games. Archived from the original on July 11, 1997. Retrieved January 31, 2020.
  10. ^ "EAV、「U.S.ネイビーファイターズ ファイナルミッション」ほか、新作一挙発売　ほか Weekend Summary【'97/12/19版】" [EAV releases new titles including U.S. Navy Fighters: Final Mission and more: Weekend Summary ['97/12/19 edition]]. Impress Watch (in Japanese). Impress Corporation. Archived from the original on February 25, 2024. Retrieved October 16, 2024.
  11. ^ Atkin, Dennis (February 1995). "Bird on a Three Wire". Computer Gaming World. No. 127. Ziff Davis. pp. 154–6. ISSN 0744-6667.
  12. ^ Mansill, Ben (December 1995). "US Navy Fighters Gold". Hyper. No. 25. nextmedia. p. 86. ISSN 1320-7458.
  13. ^ PC Format staff (December 1994). "Flight sims: US Navy Fighters". PC Format. Future plc. pp. 42–3. ISSN 0963-5521.
  14. ^ Borovskis, Thomas (February 1995). "Review: U.S. Navy Fighters". PC Games (in German). Computec. pp. 118–9. ISSN 0946-6304.
  15. ^ Meredith, Gary (February 1995). "Reviews: U.S. Navy Fighters". PC Gamer. Vol. 2, no. 2. Future US. pp. 108–9. ISSN 1080-4471.
  16. ^ "Spiele-Test: U.S. Navy Fighters". CD Player (in German). January 1996.
  17. ^ Evans, Dan (January 1995). "Review: U.S. Navy Fighters". PC Games. No. 6. EMAP. pp. 82–3.
  18. ^ Schnelle, Michael (January 1995). "Multimedia Joker: U.S. Navy Fighters". PC Joker (in German). Joker-Verlag. pp. 4–5. OCLC 224612609.
  19. ^ Stangl, Florian (January 1995). "Spiele-test: US Navy Fighters". PC Player. No. 26. pp. 56–8. ISSN 0943-6693.
  20. ^ Bradley, Simon (September 1995). "CD Review: Marine Fighters". PC Zone. No. 30. Future plc. pp. 92–3. ISSN 0967-8220.
  21. ^ Carlile, Thomas (February 1995). "PC-CD-ROM Review: U.S. Navy Fighters". Play Time. No. 44. Computec. pp. 46–8. ISSN 0946-6320.
  22. ^ Hengst, Michael (January 1995). "test: U.S. Navy Fighter". Power Play. No. 82. Markt+Technik. pp. 48, 53. ISSN 0937-9754.
  23. ^ Koutský, Bob (January 1995). "recenze: U.S. Navy Fighters". Score (in Czech). No. 13. Omega Publishing Group. p. 24. ISSN 1210-7522.
  24. ^ "PC Data Hits List of Top-Selling Software - February 1997". PC Data. Archived from the original on June 28, 1998. Retrieved August 20, 2024.


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