Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Trainer

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Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Trainer
Flight simulator
Mode(s)Single-player

Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Trainer is an

computer game published by Electronic Arts in 1987. It was originally released as Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Simulator. Due to a legal dispute with Microsoft over the term "Flight Simulator", the game was pulled from shelves and renamed. Many copies of the original version were sold prior to this. Chuck Yeager
served as technical consultant for the game, where his likeness and voice were prominently used.

The game allows a player to "test pilot" 14 different airplanes, including the Bell X-1, which Yeager had piloted to become the first man to exceed Mach 1.

The game is embellished by Yeager's laconic commentary: When the user crashes one plane, Yeager remarks "You sure bought the farm on that one", or other asides.

Yeager discussing the game's development with designer Ned Lerner.
Amstrad CPC version on 3" floppy disk

Aircraft

Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Trainer includes 11 real aircraft and three experimental aircraft designed by the developers. The fictional experimental aircraft were named after people who worked on the game.[1]

Real aircraft
Experimental aircraft
  • Grace Industries XPG-12 Samurai
  • Hilleman Ltd. XRH4 MadDog
  • Lerner Aeronautics XNL-16 Instigator

Reception

The game was a big hit for EA, selling 100,000 copies by December 1987.

Macintosh version of the game in 1988 in Dragon #140 in "The Role of Computers" column, giving that version 4 stars as well.[8] Compute! criticized the blocky graphics and sound, but noted that the simple graphics resulted in a high frame rate. It concluded that Chuck Yeager differed from other games in simulating flying high-performance experimental aircraft.[9] Computer Gaming World reviewed the game and stated that Yeager has been a top gun performer for the San Mateo–based software company, also noting that the game went SPA "Gold" quickest of any Electronic Arts title (in a little over three months of sales).[10]

In a 1994 survey of wargames Computer Gaming World gave the title one-plus stars out of five.[11]

Legacy

This game was followed in

.

References

  1. ^ Jermaine, John (January 1998). "Ned Lerner and Chuck Yeager: Taking Computer Flight to New Heights". Commodore Magazine. 9 (1): 69.
  2. Future Publishing
    , issue 42, March 1989
  3. ^ Campbell, Colin (14 July 2015). "How EA lost its soul, chapter 8". Polygon. Vox Media. Retrieved 15 July 2015.
  4. Press-Courier
    . December 13, 1987. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
  5. .
  6. ^ Staff (November 1989). "Chart-Busters; SPA Platinum". Game Players. No. 5. p. 112.
  7. ^ Lesser, Hartley; Lesser, Patricia (October 1987). "The Role of Computers". Dragon (126): 82–88.
  8. ^ Lesser, Hartley; Lesser, Patricia; Lesser, Kirk (December 1988). "The Role of Computers". Dragon (140): 74–79.
  9. ^ Bobo, Ervin (December 1987). "Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Trainer". Compute!. p. 44. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
  10. ^ Wilson, David M. (February 1988). "Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Trainer". Computer Gaming World. Vol. 1, no. 44. p. 34.
  11. ^ Brooks, M. Evan (January 1994). "War In Our Time / A Survey Of Wargames From 1950-2000". Computer Gaming World. pp. 194–212.

External links