Red Baron (1990 video game)

Red Baron is a combat flight simulation video game for MS-DOS created by Damon Slye at Dynamix. It was published by Sierra On-Line in 1990. The game was ported for Amiga and Macintosh computers in 1992.

The game is set on the Western Front of World War I. The player can engage in single missions or career mode, flying for either the German Air Service or the Royal Flying Corps. In the course of the game the player might find themselves either flying in the Red Baron's squadron Jasta 11, or encountering him as an enemy above the front.

An expansion pack, Red Baron: Mission Builder, was released in 1992. A port of the game for the Nintendo 64 was announced, but was later cancelled.

Gameplay

Many of the famous German, British, and French combat aircraft of World War I are available to fly including the Fokker E.I Eindecker, the Fokker Dr.I Triplane, the Sopwith Camel, and the SPAD XIII. The game features somewhat unrealistic physics as it was mainly intended as an entertainment game instead of a true flight simulator, although the unique flying characteristics of some of the aircraft were implemented such as the gyroscopic effect created by the Sopwith Camel's rotary engine and the Albatros's upper wings shearing at high negative G loads. The player also has to deal with problems the real fighter pilots of World War I faced, such as gun jams, flak, engine damage, and possibly bleeding to death if they were wounded and could not land at an aerodrome in time.

There are several types of missions in the game: dogfight; scramble; patrol; balloon busting/protection; reconnaissance escort; and bomber escort/interception; and Zeppelin hunt.