I got this game on sale here and even not on sale its $5. I had bought the game when it first came out and enjoyed it quite a bit. To really do well in the game you need to get a handle on all crew positions. Pilot for take off and landing; navigator for keeping course to mission area; bombardier for the bomb run (use the training tutorials! Its not arcade point and click! Its a simulator); gunner stations galore for fighter defence and even some flight engineer things. There is a time compression. My only downside I had playing so much is that in time compression there is no "halt on event" such as when a wounded crew member finally passed out from blood loss (yes! that happens). Tons of things to do. A real change from most WW2 flight sims of single man planes. I do consider it a bit older so 4/5 stars. Come on and fly! for a few bucks try out being everyone else too!

The best B17 simulator around... period.

The graphics may look slightly dated, but it still holds up pretty well. The realism is pretty good however there are some niggling problems (these are documented elsewhere on game review sites). The game comes with a handful of missions (3 training, 6 quickstart, and 6 historial) and campaigns (Historical and Squadron with 4 bomber groups to choose from). The campaigns are excellent and you can access an Operations room to even pick your own targets or the CO's room to manage all available crew and aircraft in the Squadron.

Mastering this game is however going to be daunting as you have a ten men crew to manage and many stations to juggle - bombardier, navigation, cheek gun, pilot, co-pilot, engineer/top gun turret, radio, ball turret gun, left waist gun, right waist gun, and tail gun. Let alone managing an entire squadron in the later part of the game.

Gamersgate's copy may be missing the 145 page user manual and reference card, but you can check out the GameTutor for links to them.

i have to put this as a 5..absolutely fascinated with the b-17 bomber, the 8th airforce, ww2 as a whole.

you can not only name your crewman, which i did, but you can also choose the type of nose art that goes on the plane..you can do historical missions, you can manage your own bomber squadron, in which your in charge of the targets you bomb, resting the men up for the next mission, repairing damaged bombers, or you can just be one bomber in a squadron.

my only complaints were sometimes there is a bug with the map during the planning phase, and how long it takes to get to some places..but i guess that is the realism aspect.:) thank god for time compression..

anyway at 5 bucks? even tho its an older game?

you can't go wrong if youre a b17 buff

good luck