The Blitz HD

[LordGek]

While I'm still grappling with the basics, it is a pretty fun game.

It's a line drawing defense game. Launch your planes from the airfields to intercept incoming bombers or fighters. The opposition, besides simply trying to knock out your planes directly, will be busy sending missions against the airfields, factories, and radar towers to make your life difficult. If the location isn't completely destroyed your one engineer team might, with time, be able to fix it back up.

You can play as the English defending England or Germans defending Germany (I don't think you ever get to go on the offensive, however, and take it to where the baddies are coming from in either case). Within these two primary modes you can play either Campaign or Survival. If I understand it right the Campaign is something you could actually eventually win whereas the Survival modes are just matters of seeing how long you can hold out before finally succumbing to your fate (hopefully holding out longer than your other friends on GC).

There is even a two player skirmish mode but I don't know a lot about how that works or if it is online only or a local 2 player affair.

[karlth]

Thanks Tim for posting this.

Youtube link | Pop Up

The game includes two campaigns: The Battle of Britain which simulates Luftwaffe's attacks on England in 1940 and The Defence of the Reich which simulates the US 8th air force attacking Berlin in the final months of the war.

Features:

• Line drawing Real Time Strategy.
• Command the Royal Air force in 1940.
• Command the German Luftwaffe in 1944.
• Command 5 different types of fighter squadrons, all of the upgradeable.
• Spitfire, Hurricane, Focke Wulf 190, Me 110 and the Me 262 Jet.
• Defend against 8 different types of enemy aircraft.
• Flying Fortress, Liberator, Heinkel 111, Me 110, Bf 109, Stuka, Lightning and Mustang.
• Direct Engineers to prioritize the correct upgrades for your defense.
• Play against a friend as he commands the Luftwaffe on the screen at the same time.
• Control mobile 88mm flak towers during the defense of Berlin.
• Upgrade and defend airfields, radar towers, factories and research facilities.
• Realistic gameplay based on information available to group commanders during the Battle of Britain. Tweaked for gameplay.
  
  
• Pause-Move to continue giving orders while the game is paused.
• Live-Rank leader boards using GameCenter. See as you progress through survival modes instantly how your score compares against other players world wide!

[LordGek]

Originally Posted by karlth

Thanks Tim for posting this.

YouTube: video

The game includes two campaigns: The Battle of Britain which simulates Luftwaffe's attacks on England in 1940 and The Defence of the Reich which simulates the US 8th air force attacking Berlin in the final months of the war.

Features:

• Line drawing Real Time Strategy.
• Command the Royal Air force in 1940.
• Command the German Luftwaffe in 1944.
• Command 5 different types of fighter squadrons, all of the upgradeable.
• Spitfire, Hurricane, Focke Wulf 190, Me 110 and the Me 262 Jet.
• Defend against 8 different types of enemy aircraft.
• Flying Fortress, Liberator, Heinkel 111, Me 110, Bf 109, Stuka, Lightning and Mustang.
• Direct Engineers to prioritize the correct upgrades for your defense.
• Play against a friend as he commands the Luftwaffe on the screen at the same time.
• Control mobile 88mm flak towers during the defense of Berlin.
• Upgrade and defend airfields, radar towers, factories and research facilities.
• Realistic gameplay based on information available to group commanders during the Battle of Britain. Tweaked for gameplay.
  
  
• Pause-Move to continue giving orders while the game is paused.
• Live-Rank leader boards using GameCenter. See as you progress through survival modes instantly how your score compares against other players world wide!

I didn't catch at first that the tutorial is context sensitive to which side you've chosen to play. If you want to see a detailed breakdown of the entities involved in say, "Defense of the Reich" make sure you've chosen that before hitting the tutorial button.

[karlth]

Originally Posted by LordGek

I didn't catch at first that the tutorial is context sensitive to which side you've chosen to play. If you want to see a detailed breakdown of the entities involved in say, "Defense of the Reich" make sure you've chosen that before hitting the tutorial button.

Good point. Especially because unlike "The Blitz" in "Defence of the Reich" you control flak artillery units that when grouped together can pack quite a punch. In fact they are necessary if you are to finish the German campaign.

Another point not mentioned in the tutorial is that there are two map types that are selectable on the main screen. Clear maps and Military style maps.

I'll submit an update this weekend so any comments on improvements are welcome.

[Farmer Harv]

Played one game defending Britain last night, and didn't last too long. I expect Churchill himself will come to strip me of my rank after that debacle.

Fun game though, and hope to get into it more over the weekend. There are more than enough things to keep you occupied, from refuelling your fighters to repairing damage to upgrading airfields, and it can get a bit overwhelming for my poor aging/undersized noggin. Already looking forward to the Pacific theatre however!

[karlth]

Originally Posted by Farmer Harv

Played one game defending Britain last night, and didn't last too long. I expect Churchill himself will come to strip me of my rank after that debacle.

Fun game though, and hope to get into it more over the weekend. There are more than enough things to keep you occupied, from refuelling your fighters to repairing damage to upgrading airfields, and it can get a bit overwhelming for my poor aging/undersized noggin. Already looking forward to the Pacific theatre however!

Thanks.

If the action gets too frantic you should try the Pause-Move feature. You can pause the game, by pressing the button on the top left of the screen, but continue giving orders.

[LordGek]

Originally Posted by karlth

Thanks.

If the action gets too frantic you should try the Pause-Move feature. You can pause the game, by pressing the button on the top left of the screen, but continue giving orders.

Ohhh nice!

[coxy]

I bought this. Fun little game but over way too soon. Would be nice if the spanner graphic was changed to something else - like a repair plane or something so it fits in - it looks out of place.

[karlth]

Originally Posted by coxy

I bought this. Fun little game but over way too soon. Would be nice if the spanner graphic was changed to something else - like a repair plane or something so it fits in - it looks out of place.

Thanks for the feedback.

The German campaign will be doubled in size for the update submitted this weekend. The next major update will then add another campaign in the pacific theater. Probably the Battle of Midway but possibly the Attack on Pearl Harbor from the Japanese side.

[djflippy]

Oh, I'm all over this.