MIG ALLEY
Homepage

Early jet-age sim with pizzazz

By JAMES ANTHONY


The Korean War is one of the most overlooked clashes of the modern era and yet it had the potential to be the very real cause of World War III.

An attack by communist North Korea on its South siblings was opposed by the United Nations, chiefly America, and when the UN forces recovered from the initial shock and began to push the North's forces back towards the Chinese border, then Peking stepped in.

Hundreds of thousands of Chinese troops joined the fray and the Korean Peninsula become a communist/anti-communist bloodbath between 1950 and 1953.

Almost half a million South Korean and UN troops became causalties and fully two million North Korean and Chinese were also killed or wounded. More than a million civilians also suffered wounds or death as the battle of ideologies raged.

The Korean War was also the first where jets ruled the skies - American Sabres up against Soviet MiG 15s.

While one considers jets modern planes, it is fair to say that despite the very quick speeds the early models got up to, they did not have all the sophisticated radar and targeting equipment that present-day fighters have and so life for a pilot was pretty tough.

When flying in Mig Alley you really need to keep your wits about you, and learn aircraft silhouettes, otherwise you can spend a lot of time shooting up your comrades. The unfamiliar, old-fashioned jets are almost unrecognisable until you are within a few hundred metres, and then you tend to get only a couple of bursts in before you are flying past them.

The designers have given us a good selection of ways to play Mig Alley from hot-shot instant combat and quick single missions, taking part in four campaigns with different aircraft or try to live through the entire Korean War.

In addition, you can hop out of the cockpit and into the operations room where, as front line air commander, you job is to plan the strategies that will win the war for the UN.

Whichever way you go your efforts will have an effect upon how the war is going. Succeed in your missions and the war will swing your way, fail too often and the communists will overrun the South faster than a Hyundai on aviation fuel.

The scenery is excellent and is accurately taken from maps, photographs from the era, and satellite images. The ground units come up a treat and I must say that the most enjoyable part of Mig Alley for me is conducting ground strikes where you fly low to take out anti-aircraft guns, disrupt road transport or blast trains to bits. Trains are great fun because you can hear their whistles blowing as you set them ablaze with rockets and cannons fired from tree-top height.

As an extra Mig Alley allows you to customise your own aircraft by either using a pre-generated piece of artwork or else try your own hand at designing nose art.

And, just how good is a downloaded patch? Well, it turned this award-winning game from a piece of unworkable shite (on a very fast machine) into an exceptionally fine flight sim. Why couldn't Empire get it right when they released the original CD?

Mig Alley is not for beginners, but it has a wealth of detail and levels that will keep PC pilots enthralled for a very long time.

ORIGINALITY 80%
SOUND/GRAPHICS 95%
PLAYABILITY 85%
ADDICTION 90%
ENJOYMENT 85%