Tornado takes me back to 1993 when I was 27 and had a lot of free time to play sim games. One of the earlier sims I bought, I didn't play this very much back then (did the training missions and just started a campaign) as I played TFX, Gunship 2000 and then Frontier: Elite II more. We were spoiled for combat sims back then. So when I saw this was finally on Steam I had to try it again, and very glad I did.

This is definitely worth playing even though it is pixellated. The game is still great even after all this time! There is nothing like attacking a heavily defended airbase flying over 600 knots at 200 feet at night with AA tracer fire arcing all around you. There are lots of really good simulator and training missions, as well as lots of single missions before trying the numerous dynamic campaigns which are superb, especially when you realise how flexible the campaigns are.

There is everything in this game - retarded bombs, laser guided munitions, runway cratering weapons, bvr (beyond visual range) air combat, cluster munitions, dogfighting (although the Tornado is not a good dogfighting plane), night missions, plane damage, loss of engines and systems, eight dynamic campaigns including Desert Storm, other wingmen attacking targets simultaneously - you name it. This is why this remains one of the best flight combat sims ever made. It really does prepare you for more detailed sims like Falcon 4.0 and DCS as the documentation here are extensive and detailed.

This also features on of the best mission planners ever made for a flight sim allowing time on target calculations to create multi-directional timed attacks. The game was made with lots and lots of detail and options but its also a lighter sim that can be enjoyed without a degree in aeronautics, although the flight dynamics are very good. Not the fidelity of Falcon 4.0 obviously, but not bad.

The Tornado is slow to turn especially in wing swept mode which is how you do the bulk of your attack missions for speed and fuel conservation, so getting into a dogfight is definitely not recommended. The best tactic is to run way at 650+ knots and at 200ft which makes tracking difficult, most planes will break off if they cannot catch you and get an effective missile solution. If you stop to fight you will have to jettison all your weight which will scupper the mission and you will still likely never get on the fighters tail long enough to get off a shot.

The game does feature ADV (air to air) missions as well as IDS (ground attack) ones and they both require different strategies, luckily the Skyflash is a pretty potent long range missile.

When you get fired on by an IR or Radar missile bank steeply and let out a few chaff (radar missiles) or flares (IR missiles) and try to get low and out of sight behind a hill if possible. Because you are so low you can come across a SAM or AA gun with little warning. You will find it very useful to take along a few Alarms on every mission to take out the defences and sometimes its best to take these out first then do your run. There are plenty of tactical decisions to make in this game as you carry out your missions. All adds up to a very specific enjoyable flight sim to play.

If you die or even just bale out in enemy territory you have to create a new pilot to continue, or repeat the same mission again. This is why I enjoyed Falcon 4.0 (before BMS took over) a bit more as in that game if you die you just lose a flight member and can carry on. However there is a level of fear that this game creates. Whereas in Falcon 4.0 you might be tempted to fly around taking a pop at other targets or dogfighting, in this game you just want to do your mission and get home in one piece. I've had some worrying times where I've had to nurse a wounded plane back to base several times already. It certainly helps with the sense of realism.

Some of the mission are difficult as they come from the campaign. For example one I had to do was take out an EW Radar site deep in enemy territory near two enemy airfields protected by SAMs, AA and a CAP. I tried lots of variations but never managed to do it. In the end I decided to first use that mission to instead take out the SAMs and AA and then alter the next mission's target to the EW site and attack it once the defences were lessened. So you do have an option to change the missions and follow your own strategies. This adds a lot to the addictiveness.

You can get your joystick working in this but I had to delete the mapper file first (as mentioned on the forum), I couldn't get the hat or throttle working. The game otherwise works well in Win 10 using the included Dosbox and installation is painless. The screen has black sides to it as widescreen is not available for an old game like this, but after an hour of playing I didn't even notice them.

There is a key conflict with Dosbox which you need to resolve by editing the Dosbox keys (done by pressing Cntrl F1 then choosing Fullscreen and changing the key combination). The Air Weapons activation setting uses Alt+Enter in Tornado which Dosbox also uses to shrink the window size. It's easy enough to change the Dosbox command to another key such as Scroll Lock.

There is a mod available for this game the best thing about this is a new rear view and new flyby views. But its a work in progress and for me it unfortunately made the gameplay worse as it made missiles more lethal. The vanilla game on Steam seems very good though as it comes.

I think in terms of combat sims over the years for me there has only been Tornado, Eurofighter 2000, Gunship 2000, M1 Tank Platoon and Falcon 4.0 and that I have truly enjoyed. Those were the years when slightly lighter less complicated flight sims ruled the PC (well except for Falcon 4.0 which was a beast to learn and still is). Compare it with now where there is only DCS available as a jet combat sim which requires months of learning just to fly a plane. Falcon 4.0 was worth learning for it's superb campaign but Tornado is so immediate I can start a mission knowing its only going to last less than half an hour and no complex keys to remember. Although I do use a printed keyboard sheet that comes with the game as there are still a fair amount of commands, as with all flight sims.

This just needs someone to remake this game with a higher resolution (Microprose?). The large pixels do make it a little difficult to distinguish your height and targets, but you do get used to them strangely enough in that you learn to rely on instruments more. However the other day I crashed into another plane on the runway which I couldn't even see until I was on top of it - the problem with low resolution.

In this age of modern games with fancy visuals though it says a lot that I am still playing an old flight sim with pixellated graphics, because it has far better gameplay than the sims that we have around today. But my god is it scary doing these night missions hoping you don't get pounced on by a Russian fighter.