| Next |

Page 1

Typhoon
By Geert "Warrior" Vervoort

Some time ago, I had the opportunity to speak to Don Whiteford via telephone about Typhoon. Whiteford is Typhoon's Project Leader and the Studio Manager at Rage Software Studios in Warrington, UK. It turned out to be a ninety-minute conversation with the main topic being, except for Belgian beer, Typhoon.

The Typhoon Takes Off

First things first: You will be flying a Eurofighter "Typhoon" multi-role jetfighter over Iceland and its surrounding North Atlantic ocean. No other terrain but that of Iceland will be on the map, which means the theatre is a LOT smaller than the one we saw in TAW or EF2000.

The Plot: There is a communist revival and Russia invades Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia (there's more to it of course). NATO protests and the war escalates in Europe. To this end, Iceland is of vital strategic importance, for resupply of Europe from the US and protection of the shipping lanes. Russia will need to capture Iceland if it is to have any chance against Europe and its allies.

The player will, from airfields on Iceland, play his part in trying to prevent the Russians from taking territory on Iceland. He will fly the Eurofighter for one of the four countries that participated in its development---the UK, Germany, Spain and Italy. Note that the German, Spanish and Italian versions will only be sold in their respective countries. So most of us will be flying "British Eurofighters, mate".

Because Iceland is so small and isolated, there will be no AWACS or JSTARS planes around to command / guide you. Many were disappointed about this; I, however, see the possibility this presents: you will still get info from other planes through intercom datalinks between Eurofighters but most of the time, all you can count on is your radar and good old eyeballing to find, identify and destroy hostile forces---visual identification will often be required. This means less dependency on missiles and more dogfights.

This lack of BVR data means a whole new approach to what you might have been used to in TAW. You will be flying low, screaming through the valleys and over the glaciers which Iceland has plenty of. Weather conditions aren't always perfect over Iceland so you'll have to be careful not to slam into mountains or volcanos as you fly through dense low mist and storms. When you are on a mission, you will never have more than one wingman, but you will have more control over him than ever before in a DiD sim.

| Next |