Jane's F-15

Jane's F-15 is a combat flight simulator video game developed and released by Electronic Arts in 1998 for the PC. It models the McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle. EA's 1999 Jane's F/A-18 used an improved version of F-15's game engine.

Jane's F-15
Developer(s)EA Baltimore
Publisher(s)Electronic Arts
Director(s)Greg Kreafle
Producer(s)Greg Kreafle
Designer(s)Michael J. McDonald
Programmer(s)John Paquin
Artist(s)Max D. Remington III
Terrence Hodge
SeriesJane's Combat Simulations
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows
ReleaseMarch 25, 1998[1]
Genre(s)Combat flight simulator
Mode(s)Single player, multiplayer

Gameplay
A view of the 2D-cockpit

The game has two campaigns: one based on the 1991 Gulf War and the other focusing on fictional conflict against Iran.

The virtual cockpit was one of the first of its kind, but the game still featured a 2D cockpit which also allowed the player to switch between the pilot and the weapon systems officer seat in the back of the cockpit to monitor the different multi-functional displays.

Reception

In the United States, Jane's F-15 sold 126,461 copies and earned $5 million by October 1999.[2]

While F-15E pilot Sean Long commented that the flight model was high quality and landings were fairly accurate, this was prior to the release of a patch that fixed all landings being set to "easy" difficulty mode. There was widespread complaints by players on both the fight model's oscillations, tendency to have excessive instantaneous pitch authority, and the inability of the crudely modeled pitch trim SAS to deal with this disparity and the lower sustained turn rates. The usefulness of the radar modes was also lacking compared to the follow up Jane's F/A-18.

Next Generation reviewed the PC version of the game, rating it four stars out of five, and stated that "If fast-paced, hot-and-heavy air combat against a truly diabolical enemy AI sounds like your kind of high, F-15 fits the bill nicely."[3]

F-15 was a finalist for the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences' 1997 "Simulation Game of the Year" award,[4] which ultimately went to Microsoft Flight Simulator 98.[5] F-15 was a finalist for Computer Gaming World's 1998 "Best Simulation" award, which ultimately went to European Air War.[6] It was also a runner-up for Computer Games Strategy Plus's "Simulation Game of the Year" award, losing again to European Air War. The editors called F-15 "extremely impressive".[7] PC Gamer US likewise nominated F-15 as the best simulation of 1998, although it lost to Falcon 4.0. They wrote, "[I]f Falcon 4.0 had come out just a month later, there'd be no question that Jane's Combat Simulations' F-15 deserved the award."[8]

References
  1. Gentry, Perry (March 23, 1998). "What's in Stores This Week". CNET Gamecenter. Archived from the original on August 17, 2000. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
  2. Brown, Ken (October 1999). "EA Scraps Jane's A-10". Computer Gaming World (183): 44, 46.
  3. "Finals". Next Generation. No. 43. Imagine Media. July 1998. p. 116.
  4. "The Award; Award Updates". Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Archived from the original on June 15, 1998.
  5. "The Award; Award Updates". Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Archived from the original on June 15, 1998.
  6. Staff (April 1999). "Computer Gaming World's 1999 Premier Awards; CGW Presents the Best Games of 1998". Computer Gaming World (177): 90, 93, 96–105.
  7. Staff (February 11, 1999). "The Best of 1998". Computer Games Strategy Plus. Archived from the original on February 3, 2005.
  8. Staff (March 1999). "The Fifth Annual PC Gamer Awards". PC Gamer US. 6 (3): 64, 67, 70–73, 76–78, 84, 86, 87.
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