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| Bomber Crew allows you to customise the paint job of your plan including decals |
| Quick Info | |
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| Reviewed by: | Mark Goninon |
| Developer: | Runner Duck |
| Publisher: | Curve Digital |
| Release Date: | 20 Oct 2017 |
| Time played: | 15 hours |
Transporting Me Back to Three Decades Ago
Every so often you purchase a game to fulfill a particular niche but despite it not being what you expected, enjoy it for totally different reasons. I feel Bomber Crew is one of those games. I was fooled by the cute graphics and thought it would be a quick game I could relax with, one I could play in short doses. While it definitely fits the bill with respect to the latter (it's great to play when you don't have enough time to commit to a map of Battlefield or a game of Civ), the game is actually really stressful! Getting a Lancaster bomber safely back to England, missing large chunks of the plane, is often the best case scenario and when I first started playing this game, I failed to get the plane back at all with all crew K.I.A.
I was compelled to continue though. The game reminded me of a 1991 Lucasarts combat flight sim called Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe where I had to use all the tricks I had available to keep my B-17 Flying Fortress in the sky as it hobbled it's way back to base (incidentally, there is DLC for Bomber Crew that allows you to try your hand at commanding a B-17 as well). I have fond memories of SWOTL and I get similar vibes when playing Bomber Crew.
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| Critical Missions take inspiration from historical ones like this one based off Operation Chastise |
Learning about the Lancaster
Your role in Bomber Crew is to complete critical missions that advance the campaign. The critical missions are often based on historical operations such as Operation Chariot, Operation Neptune and Operation Chastise (you even get to use a bouncing bomb)! The ultimate goal is to destroy the Fuhrer's bunker but you'll be flying many missions in between. Between critical missions you will be flying missions in order to raise enough cash to upgrade your bomber and crew equipment as well as give the crew a chance to gain experience. Missions range from simply bombing targets, taking surveillance photos or dropping supplies. Anytime you approach continental Europe there's a high chance of being intercepted by enemy fighters as well as being shot at by flak cannons. Your actual job is to micromanage your crew during these missions, ensuring that they stay on target and survive to fight another day.
Crew members are based on the actual crew roles of the Avro Lancaster: one pilot, one navigator, one engineer, one radar operator, one bombardier/nose gunner and two other gunners. While just about any crew member can perform another's job, it's generally better to have crew members stick to their nominated roles (e.g. an engineer repairs damage quicker compared to other crew members). When you're zoomed in on the plane you can direct crew to move to different stations and if the plane catches fire or crew members are injured, you'll need to get a crew member to grab a fire extinguisher or first aid kit respectively. All of this happens while you're under attack or trying to navigate the plane at the same time which means it can get pretty hectic! Navigating the plane is achieved by hitting spacebar to enter Targeting Mode. Targeting waypoints generated by the Navigator will guide you between your target and home base, and targeting enemy aircraft will instruct your gunners to fire on them.
For Tinkerers and Engineers Especially
As mentioned, over time you'll unlock more skills, outfits and upgrades that will make your bomber and its crew more survivable. One particular skill I found to be quite beneficial is when your Navigator is able to manually specify waypoints on the map. The game by default gives you waypoints to navigate to in order to reach your objectives but sometimes these waypoints will lead you into hostile airspace when there are better routes that will make the bomber avoid detection or flak cover. Learning to use shortcut keys will also become a priority: instead of fumbling around with the mouse to direct where your crew should go, pressing one key to reload turret ammunition or ordering a crew member to the sick bay can save precious seconds.
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| Pretty sure this is impossible but hey I'm not complaining |
A Roguelite But Not as Brutal
It wouldn't be long before I started to experience missions where my bomber was returning from missions looking more like a mangled block of Swiss cheese instead of an aeroplane. The first time this happened I performed an emergency landing over France and while half of the crew ended up being either KIA or MIA, thankfully, the pilot and a couple of others managed to survive and make their way back to England. So, I wasn't starting completely from scratch as the plane and its upgrades could be replaced but I still had a few veterans alive.
Another time I actually managed to get the bomber back to the airfield but it was missing part of its landing gear, meaning when I landed the plane, it was lopsided and broke into several pieces shortly after. The crew were all injured but they somehow survived the violent crash, maybe because they weren't too far from sick bay?
So surviving in this game is quite achievable but the interface doesn't do you any favours. During emergencies, it's not uncommon to receive a barrage of information and you're not always going to be able to read or see everything. Obviously, this is part of the challenge but there are times when I would've appreciated crew members just telling me they'd run out of ammo instead of hearing their own muffled version of the language and a speech bubble on the side of the screen. Difficulty seems to be directly proportional to how much bandwidth you have to process multiple pieces of information at once since if you happen to let something slip by, you could end up with a turret not firing bullets, an enemy fighter flying around your bomber unscathed, or a crew member bleeding out on the floor.
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| Yes, that is a Grand Slam bomb. Yes, the plane is pink with a flying pig on it. |
The Attention to Detail makes for Great War Stories
It took me a few attempts to complete the final mission and I'm just impressed by the level of detail there is in this game which creates opportunities for interesting war stories. My first attempt at the final mission sadly resulted in my experienced crew blowing up with the plane mid-air. The final mission involves dropping a Grand Slam bomb on the Fuhrer's bunker but as Grand Slam bombs are very large, it means the Lancaster has to do away with the bomb bay doors. It only took one sneaky Ju-88 to fire at the bomb from below to prematurely end the bombing run. Losing the plane and crew was a setback but it turns out it's only minor in Bomber Crew as usually by the end of the game you have enough cash to upgrade the bomber to the same state it was before and the new recruits you hire are actually of a similar level. They might not have all the same skills unlocked like your veteran crew but it's much better than starting with newbies.
Learning from my past mistake, I ensured there was a gunner in the ventral turret (the turret that covers the underbelly of the plane) and I actually made it all the way to the bunker but bombing had to be performed from a high altitude and when you perform bombing runs at a high altitude, cloud cover can become an issue, obscuring your view of the target. Unfortunately, this is exactly what happened to me and I missed the target entirely. On the way back, the entire crew started to bleed out including the pilot, resulting in the plane crashing. Miraculously, only one crew member died and even a few of them made their way back to England.
On my third attempt, I successfully destroyed the target but I again lost the plane, although the game didn't seem to care as since the objective was fulfilled, the credits rolled regardless.
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8
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I went into Bomber Crew expecting a cute, casual game without much depth but was pleasantly surprised to discover a WWII bomber crew management roguelike that often keeps you in suspense as you fly your bomber home by the seat of your pants. It's definitely a game for the engineers and tinkerers, ensuring your bomber is as effective as it can be in achieving its mission, protecting your crew and coming back in one piece. Recommended for those that like old bomber flight sims, roguelikes or WWII games in general. |
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