''B-17 Bomber'' is a single-player

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

released by

Mattel Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company headquartered in El Segundo, California. Founded in Los Angeles by Harold Matson and the husband-and-wife duo of Ruth Handler, ...

for their

Intellivision The Intellivision (a portmanteau of intelligent television) is a home video game console released by Mattel Electronics in 1979. It distinguished itself from competitors with more realistic sports and strategic games. By 1981, Mattel Electronic ...

console in 1982. The game was bundled with the

Intellivoice The Intellivoice Voice Synthesis Module, commonly abbreviated as Intellivoice, is an adapter for the Intellivision, Mattel's home video game console, that utilizes a voice synthesizer to generate audible speech. The Intellivoice is a large, brow ...

voice synthesis module.

Gameplay

In ''B-17 Bomber'', the player controls a simulated

bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft that utilizes air-to-ground weaponry to drop bombs, launch aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploy air-launched cruise missiles. There are two major classifications of bomber: strategic and tactical. Strateg ...

aircraft. The objective of the game is to complete missions by dropping bombs on targets in continental Europe, including anti-aircraft guns, airports, factories, and naval vessels. The game plays like a rudimentary

flight simulator A flight simulator is a device that artificially re-creates aircraft flight and the environment in which it flies, for pilot training, design, or other purposes. It includes replicating the equations that govern how aircraft fly, how they rea ...

, which models altitude, air speed, tilt and pitch, fuel consumption, and the effects of taking damage. Enemy planes occasionally attack the aircraft from any direction and must be shot down. The aircraft can also come under fire from

flak Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface ( submarine-launched), and air-bas ...

guns on the ground, which can be taken out with a bomb. The game ends when the aircraft is destroyed. When an enemy plane attacks, the Intellivoice module announces the direction of the attack, prompting the player to turn that direction in order to fire back. While the game is playable without the Intellivoice module, it becomes very difficult since the player is given no other audio cue that an enemy is approaching, and must guess which direction the attack is coming from.

Reception

Danny Goodman Danny Goodman is a computer programmer, technology consultant, and an author of over three dozen books and hundreds of magazine articles on computer-related topics. He is best known as the author of ''The Complete HyperCard Handbook'' (1987, Banta ...

of ''

Creative Computing ''Creative Computing'' was one of the earliest magazines covering the microcomputer revolution. Published from October 1974 until December 1985, the magazine covered the spectrum of hobbyist/home/personal computing in a more accessible format t ...

Video & Arcade Games'' said in 1983 that ''B-17 Bomber'' was his favorite Intellivoice game, praising the voices and noting that the game and others "made the voice an integral part of game play". ''B-17 Bomber'' was well received, gaining a Certificate of Merit in the category of "1984 Best Videogame Audio-Visual Effects (Less than 16K ROM)" at the 5th annual

Arkie Awards ''Electronic Games'' was the first dedicated video game magazine published in the United States and ran from October 15, 1981, to 1997 under different titles. It was co-founded by Bill Kunkel, Joyce Worley, and Arnie Katz. History The h ...

References

{{reflist

External links

B-17 Bomber
at

GameFAQs GameFAQs is a video gaming website that hosts guides and other resources, as well as an active Internet forum, message board forum. It was created in November 1995 by Jeff Veasey and has been owned by Fandom (website), Fandom, Inc. since October ...

1982 video games Intellivision games Intellivision-only games Mattel video games North America-exclusive video games Single-player video games Video games developed in the United States World War II video games