UNDER THE HOOD

"Can my hardware run it?" you ask. Well, the CD installs briskly and without a hitch. I would recommend upgrading your video/graphic card if you are running 4 meg. At current bargain prices you can get 16 meg Banshee boards for less than $100. Four meg will run a bit stilted and slow on some screens, but you can still use it. 32MB RAM is OK. I upgraded to 96 after installing EAW and noticed little difference.

My 266 MHz CPU is seemingly doing fine. Sure faster is better, but I have no comparison with a slower system. I'm certain EAW will "function" on the minimum system but "run," no. You will have fun with it even with a few video stalls.

Gunsight view of straffing run on formation of B-17s

My biggest gripe is the long 20-50 second wait between clicking on, say, pilot career or configuration from the main menu screen even with a 32X CD ROM. It's just dead time staring at the black glass tube as you listen to the rickety music taken off a scratched, needle-stuck 78 RPM record from WWII.

Click to continue . . .

He 111 Info

Is Microprose's European Air War "the" definitive combat flight simulation? No. There is none. We all see features in one sim that we wished were in others. That's the way it has been and will always be.

Is Microprose's European Air War a complete and comprehensive sim for 1999? Yes! It should bring back the WWII simmers and sinners who left for the jets for want of more modern features that would reflect well on their modern systems.

Ok, there is nothing truly revolutionary here, unless you count the ability to select various movies for WW2 footage. But some of the features here are seen for the first time in a WWII prop simulation.

5-6 years is a long dry spell without WWII flight simulations. EAW is a welcome evolution. The wait is over.