F-16 Combat Pilot #2 - First Look

Splash screen - Digitized by one of Bill Gunstons books

Right after loading you'll see a nice splash screen, that is a digitized photo from a highly recommended book called "Modern Air Combat". By none other than Bill Gunston himself. Hey, did I mentioned, that Gunston wrote a nice introduction in the manual of F-16 Combat Pilot?

Original image in the Salamnder book "Modern Air Combat"

Who is this relaxed civilian guy?

When you start up F-16 Combat Pilot you're thrown into an airbase office which functions as a hub to all the other parts of the sim. You can view your personal flight logs (the file drawer to the left), you can scramble via Quickstart into some fast action, you can setup your control options (the computer on the desk) or you can watch some kind of demo by looking out of the window. 

This menu style reminds me of the intro screen of Gunship 2000.

At least those guys are in uniform and have some work to do ,,,

By clicking in on the two posters on the wall in the background you can get some additional info on missiles and enemy aircraft.

Overall it's a nice opening screen for a simulator. Only question the remains unanswered to me: Who is this guy in the chair and why is smiling so relaxed?

Anyway, to get some training or hop into the real action you have to leave this screen by clicking on the door to the right. This brings you into the main mission/campaign selection screen.

Pentagon shaped mission selection

Basically you have four major options

1. Training missions (free flight and all missions below with no-shooting-back-enemies)
2. Five real-life missions (Tankbuster, Hammerblow, Deepstrike, Scramble, Watchtower)
3. Operation Conquest (commanding a whole squadron in a all out war) 
4. Gladiator (2 player option)

I don't remember the Gladiator option on the C-64. Probably something that was only found on the 16 bit machines. Seems like Operation Conquest can only be accessed by achieving the normal missions.  So, I know what I will do next ... 

cu

Jens