Birds of Prey is a classic flight simulation game that was published by Electronic Arts Incorporated in the early nineties. It was developed for play on the personal computer running the MS-DOS operating system by Argonaut Software and Psygnosis, although it was also ported to the Amiga.
The setting of the game is a realistic…though fictitious…war between NATO and the Soviet powers resulting from a conflict with the Warsaw Pact. The gamer/pilot is able to fly missions for both sides, and the game features over forty different aircraft from which to choose.
These planes were top of the line in 1992 when Birds of Prey was first released. Some of the flight possibilities included the Mig-29, YAK-25 VTOL, SU-25, A-10 Tank Killer, and the F-15. In the appropriate settings or missions, the user may even want to select to fly a transport plane, such as the C-130 Hercules. All of the planes have unique and realistic flight models that do a good job of emulating the physics of the planes they represent. Craft with the ability to hover, can do so. Planes that are heavy and cumbersome to fly do not handle well within the game.
To make the game even more realistic and interesting for flight simulation fans and history
buffs alike, the ordinances available on each craft are true to life and feature very realistic abilities. The F-14 Tomcat, for example, has a payload of air-to-air missiles with a great range for aerial dog fighting. The A-10 Warthog, or tank killer, is equipped with its well known 30 mm cannon that could fire more rounds per second than nearly any other weapon. Bombers had a variety of bombs for different missions.
The missions that the pilot will undertake are quite diverse, some featuring mainly air-to-air attacks, with others featuring more air-to-surface conflicts. The enemy in each mission is also varied, sometimes being superior in a surface-to-air conflict and other times they rule the skies. The actions the user needs to perform in the missions will vary from flying as an escort to a large and clunky transport vessel to destroying a specific enemy target or unit.
Overall, Birds of Prey is a very good flight simulation game. While it does not feature the fancy graphics of modern games, it is very well-researched and does an excellent job of representing a variety of airplanes from two very important military powers. It is still a top notch flight simulation and should definitely be tried.
