In conclusion, Heroes of the Pacific is most defiantly showing it's age now and will not pose any significant challenge to contemporary gamers. Having said that, as a budget title it passed some time and was fun in a very casual sort of way. Normally I would look for an updated version of this franchise, but reviews of the sequel - Heroes of Europe - are quite scathing, so I will wait until I can afford a proper flight stick and buy 'Wings of Prey' instead.

Info from www.spitfiresociety.demon.co.uk: A good aircraft, too late. 2200HP of Griffon 87 drove a contra-rotating propeller, which virtually eliminated the torque reaction from the power available. It had the huge Spiteful tail section, and a folding wing. Unfortunately it was overtaken by technology (mostly the jet) and only 90 were built.

Heroes of the Pacific: Splash another meatball! My P38F-15 Lightning takes down this nimble Zero despite my heavy bomb load!

Heroes of the Pacific: Dusk dogfight as my Corsair F4U1 gets the better of this Nakajima Ki-84 'Frank'.

Only just downloaded this - haven't even got time for a proper go before bed! :( But I did have a quick peek and it's looking very cool man! Immediately got my arse spanked by a set of leather clad female ninjas!

Scooter's back! And he's not the only familiar character!

Bah! I hate Crimson Lance!

Link: Borderlands DLC: The Secret Armory of General Knoxx on Steam

...Yes, this game *is* worth £30!

Heroes of the Pacific: Here my SBD Dauntless dive bomber swoops down to drop my load of 500lb bombs on the deck of the Japanese aircraft carrier 'Shoho'.

Wikipedia: SBD Dauntless

Oh my lord! Just look at that detail!

Having wetted my appetite for an accessible air combat game with 'Heroes of the Pacific' and the newer 'Battlestations: Pacific' I decided to look for something a *little* more advanced and up to date - and found the Wings of Prey demo.

As you can tell by the above screen shot the level of realism is far and away more immersive than the arcade nature of series like 'Heroes' or 'Blazing Angels', but the game still is easy to get into. This game is on my shopping list for next pay day - but does have one draw back, it requires a good quality flight stick, which cost a pretty penny.

Still, a game of this quality does deserve pushing the boat out and buying teh right gear to play it, particularly as it is one of teh few games that allows players to experience sevral WW2 Soviet aircraft types.

Link: The Wings of Prey official web site

I have now completed Heroes of the Pacific, but am just going back and completing the missions again at 'Ace' level (this will allow me to access a few of the last unlocks in the game).

Here I make a dawn torpedoe run on a Japanese cargo submarine.

Heroes of the Pacific: This wasn't one of the best shots I took of one of my game replays, but the explosion of the Jap torpedo bomber makes this one my pick of the day!