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Think and learn

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 24 / 27
Date: November 10, 1999
Author: Amazon User

Few games pack the depth of historical info that I found in 12 O'clock High. With the help of a smooth interface, the Allied player plots countless raids aimed at the German War Machine. Every target imaginable is in the game, and the available aircraft match history, too. The busy Axis player must intercept the raids, and the action is intense and varied. Talonsoft is noted for solid game design and a loving eye for military detail accuracy. If you're a WW2 buff, you shouldn't pass this one by.

Only for the hardcore war sim fan

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 11
Date: July 18, 2000
Author: Amazon User

For anyone familiar with Gary Grigsby's Pacific War, this game is of similar scope, only more detailed, if you can believe it. With EVERY squadron present during the war included, this game is immense in size and detail. There are even many of the real pilot names included. However, be forewarned, this game takes a lot of time to play. I enjoy spending an hour or two planning missions and then watching them go on their way. If you are looking for a game that has detailed graphics and can be played in a few minutes, this is not for you. The graphics are very very good, but only on the grand scale they show. In summary, if you are looking for a game to play for the year, and you are a serious wargamer, I highly recommend this game. If not, you are best advised to look for something else.

Strategic Wargame Buff

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: March 20, 2000
Author: Amazon User

In the spirit of Grigsby's games this is what it's all about. With the new patches out for the game, it is remarckable what this man achieves in his games; like West Front, Pac War, and War in Russia.

This is probably the best Stategic representation of the Air War in Europe out there. The game is magnificently detailed down to the actual pilots of the period. You can control German wartime production of aircraft and advance there entry into the war by committing factories to R&D. You also control vast armadas of American and British planes and even manage the night time airwar of Bomber Command over Europe as well as German nightfighters.

The only drawback of the game is that the day to day turns take at least 5 to 10 minutes each, even at the highest clockspeed the game offers you. This is the amount of time it takes to complete one whole turn of the day and night air war of a 500 to 700 day campaign. I probably will play it again with a 1 Gigahertz computer. Other than that drawback of speed the game is an excellent strategic wargame in the spirit of Grigsby minutia type wargames which I enjoy. That is my honest opinion

REBORN

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: April 28, 2000
Author: Amazon User

TO THOSE THAT PLAYED THE COMMODORE VERSIONS OF USAAF....FINALLY, IT HAS RETURNED! THIS IS A BEAUTIFULLY DONE AND PREPARED GAME. WELL DONE FOLKS! I loved the game as USAAF, and SOMEONE finally brought it off the shelf, dusted the box off and said lets do this with todays systems, abilities, and let it scream! I Love this game. If you like an opportunity to really play a overall chief of staff, covering the western European front for strategic and tactical air forces, this is it. OK, enough of the good stuff, by now you can believe I am impressed. For the bad side, I dont really think any real failure of supporting a ground attack/invasion/assault, like Avalanche or Anzio causes you to really scrap Allied advances, at this point of my personal gameplay of the grand campaign version;translates to, I really think the allies will continue to advance and win. I will keep my eyes open, though I will not intentionally throw the game to just see what happens. I missed the USAAF game, years ago(84?), now it has returned. See you again in another 15! I am pleased with the facts, its pretty acurate. Keep doing your homework Talonsoft! For those that want to consider this as a purchase, get it. It takes some time to plan a days worth of missions, maybe I over do my thinking, but it does offer you a strategic brain-screw for a lifetime. I'm 37 years old, and will keep on playing, so long as you keep on making them, as good as this, and Close Combats 1,2, and 3, to name a few. The advantage over the ol'Commodore, not all the typing away, entering the specific data.....remember! Yea... Technology,,,, gotta love it.

Frustration by Talonsoft

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 4 / 8
Date: January 15, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This, as with most TalonSoft games using this particular game engine, is a tedious, difficult, and generally overly time consuming game. No matter how you set game options, the AI will make the game so difficult that playing becomes an exercise in futility. Example: the AI will ground your fighter escorts because of "heavy weather", yet the enemy's interceptors have no problem flying in the same weather and shooting down your bombers. Your bomber pilots will "not be able to find target" in perfectly clear weather at low altitude, but will be shot down by flak over same target. Overall, an exercise in frustation. I think the designers coded this game purposely to make conditions as unrealistic and historically inacurate as possible, in spite of their claims to the opposite. If you like the sound of fingernails against a blackboard, you'll like this game!

Not a game for todays instant frame of mind

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: December 31, 2000
Author: Amazon User

If you are a lover of WWII air war this is the ultimate game for you, BUT be fore warned this game is not one you can play in a few hours. A full campaign, ranging with up to 700 moves, can take weeks is not months to play. As the Allied commander you set your sorties for the day and then sit back and watch your missions unfold. The Axis player is more interative with you setting patrols to intercepting the incoming bombing missions. The graphics are excellent(game is based on a map of Europe and the Med). Overall this is a very sold game. I gave it 3 stars only for the time it takes to play each daily campaign.

Good for the hardcore sim fan

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: October 29, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Basically, this is a good game for the real hardcore war strategy fan. If you're into more of the "shoot-'em-up, ninja" garbage, then this is definitely not the game for you.

The pluses of the game are as follows: very detailed, follows closely to historical detail, and the interface is fairly easy to figure out. On the minus side, it is VERY VERY LONG!!! As mentioned in some of the other reviews, the full campaign takes forever. In fact, if you play it every night for an hour, it will still take you a full month or more to finish the game!! Also, I think the interface could have been a little more user friendly than it is.

Again, if you really like historical strategy sims, this isn't a bad choice. But you better either have lots of patience or lots of timeon your hands to play it.

Understanding the Air War in WW II

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: November 09, 2001
Author: Amazon User

12 O'Clock High by Talonsoft is quite simply the best strategic presentation of the war in the air, 1943-45, ever made for computer games. The richness of detail--for playing either the Allies or the Axis--is simply stunning. Nothing compares in the genre. It is, in fact, its biggest curse as well as triumph: to play the long campaign games the length and intricacy will put off the casual wargamer or "shoot-em-up" seeker. The multitude of factors faced by the high command of each side are in the game. To win you must come to understand the air war as it was, if simplified even here for the fussy historian. For the enthusiast it presents delicious detail and very difficult problems. (This game could be a required course for aspiring business executives in the results of planning.) Improvements could be made. It could be faster. More, rather than less detail would be better. But it's the best there is.

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