Red Baron II Installation. The original Red Baron II comes in a compressed file called rb2DE.zip. To download the original Red Baron II Click here: Red Baron II. To install Red Baron II create a file folder and extract the contents of the rb2DE.zip file into the folder that you created.

Okay, Name Your Favourite War. From a spectator's point of view, as it were. Like one you'd bother to watch on telly, sprawled out on the sofa, sandwich in one hand and cup of tea in the other, as you punctuate the commentary with an occasional yelp of 'Wow, look at that explosion!'. Let's have a list of wars, eh?

(1) Chechen was a tiny skirmish, so that's out: not a war at all. (Those Russian helicopters never fail to impress though. The ones that look like the scary fish-submarines from Stingray. I saw one at an airshow once and virtually cacked my pants - and it wasn't even airborne.)

(2) Bosnia's not so hot either, when you get right down to the body-count and the lack of in-your-face visuals. They should do it properly or just stop. Knack community forum.

(3) The Gulf war? Well, yes, it was nicely staged, 1 agree.. but the playing area was a bit drab. Don't you think? And anyway, there wasn't a proper 'ending'.

^ プレイステーション - 牧場物語 ハーベストムーン. ^ Adam Cleveland (November 20, 2000). Weekly Famitsu. 30 June 2006.

(4) The Falklands? Forget about it.A couple of Harriers, an Exocet, some sheep, and Prince Andrew. Nice one, Thatch.

(5) So Vietnam, then. Now that was a good one. A real epic. What a plot! And Dennis Hopper was in it! Completely out of his tree! And there was some really brilliant '60s music, too. Hendrix! Wah-wah! Drop a trip! Mental! The Stones! Excellent!

(6) The Korean War takes a back seat mainly due to the fact that the vile Elvis Presley was spawned thereabouts.

(7) World War Two. An excellent war, yes, and with plenty of enjoyable footage. Air. land and sea! The whole route! However, it's been done to death - and the goodies and baddies are too cltearly defined. John Mills was in it, by the way. So were Gordon Jackson and Dickie Attenborough.

(8) The Spanish Civil War. Hmmm. I won't say much here, actually, because I don't know anything about it - other than it involved, er. Spain.

(9) World War One! Yippee! We're finally there. (Alrnit time - Ed.) The main problem with World War One. though, is that although there was action by the bucketload, it was in black and white.. and everyone moved in a sort of speeded up jerko-motion. Come Autumn 1996. however, we'll be ableto enjoy the whole spectacle again, and this time round it'll be in colour! (What a link, huh?)

Those magnificent men..

If you're into flight sims (and if you bothered to get beyond that link then you probably are), there's a good chance you've played the original Red Baron. And jolly good it was too. wasn't it? But technology marches inexorably forwards, and poor old Red Baron has aged badly in the process. So what exactly is the new blood. Red Baron II. going to be offering over and above its old man? Let's have a gander.

In their flying machines..

This time around you won't be forced to choose between being just a Tommy or a Kraut. Why? Because you'll be allowed to be a Frog or a Yank as well, that's why. (Not that anyone in their right mind is going to want to play a 'simulated French person'.) Having chosen your nationality, you'll encounter the'ground bits' of the game: you know, those before and after mission' sections. And they're going to be along the same lines as they were in Red Baron.. except that we're on cds this time round, meaning there'll be loads of bad acting the fmv officer's mess - including igin-style 'multiple choice conversa-ins'. ('Hey, Buzz, I hear Von Richtofen kons you got yourself a cotton-candied butt!' someone might tell you. You'll len choose to reply either 'Yeah, I guess the dude's got me pegged!' or maybe at sonuvabitch! He ain't a-dealin' with no darned chicken farmer here.. I'm a cockney!' You know the drill.)Oh, and I'm guessing at the naffness quotient: it's possible that the accents and acting will be superb. There'll also be daily newspapers to pore over, letters from loved ones (with the odd Dear John thrown in), grillings from the top brass, and lengthy discourses with the intelligence bods. And whatever else Sierra care to throw in: this project's got ten months to go, after all.

They go up diddly up..

So the planes and the flight models then. Er, well, look at the screenshots. That's all I've got to go on as well. I can, however, tell you that Gary Sottlemyer -the Red Baron II artistic and technical director - is an aeronautical prop-head: he worked on Falcon 3 and Falcon 4.

Good credentials. 'What's more,' added the proud Sierra spokesperson, 'his father was a pilot in the US Air Force!' Not that that means anything of course.. my dad was a helicopter pilot, but my sister can't even park a car! Still, expect the flight engine to be getting on for superb. The ai, too, if we're to believe these Sierra bods.

And what about the planes themselves? Thirty-five of the buggers: each reconstructed, apparently, to the smallest detail - and all ready and waiting to be taken into the 70,000 square mile playing area.

The airbase, incidentally, is going to be a hive of activity. Planes taking off, returning damaged, crash landing, and so on. From the sound of things, it's going to be a feat in itself just taxiing to the take-off point without a collision.

They come down tiddly down..

The front-end structure of the game is going to be familiar to anyone who's played any Sierra simulation. There'll be the bevvy of single historic missions (user definable, as always), instant dogfighting shenanigans (with enemy aces of your own choosing), and then, of course, the meat of the game - the full-blown 1914-18 campaign (containing the aforementioned fmv fests, and missions taken from a historical database).Possibly more brilliant than all of this, though, are going to be the network and modem options. At last!

Falcon 3 head-to-head encounters may be a bit of a titter.. but a tight turning dogfight? At 130 mph? In planes that stall if you so much as sneeze on them? Bliss. I here and now lay down the modem-gauntlet to all takers. You will spiral to the earth in flames! I am the king of the air! Kiss my legs!