TFX ( Tactical Fighter Experiment) helped to define the standards of modern combat flight simulators, together with Tornado, F14 Flight Defender and the Falcon series. TFX was programmed by the British company Digital Image Design and published by Ocean Software in 1993. At the time, TFX graphics and realism were far superior to any other home computer simulator of the time and most made even years ago, so much that it bought the attention of British and Australian military, and eventually DID became involved in military projects such as the TIALD laser designator trainer. The pilot could fly 3 planes: The Eurofighter, the F-22 and the F-117. The payload for each plane could be fine-tuned by the player according to mission type.
The possible modes of play included an instant-action arcade mode, custom missions or the campaign (Tour of Duty). The campaign mode sees you taking the role of a pilot flying for the fictional, United Nations Air Force flying missions in one of five theatres (Colombia, Somalia, Libya,The Balkans and also the Falkland Islands). The tour of duty was designed to offer a “soap opera” approach, where actions from the players would affect the world and following missions, as well as reaction in the front page of journals according to what the player did. The player could choose from 18 weapons, including laser-guided bombs, and missile technology in development, such as the AAM. The cruise and Maverick missile systems are difficult to use, but the air-to-air AAAM won’t miss even the most agile enemy fighter, and the game seems to have been built around the laser guided bomb system which allows the player to pinpoint bomb targets. There are over 74 separate configurations for armament and control. The interactive parts of the game were reduced to still images or omitted altogether for the Amiga version, which although never officially released by Ocean, was later included as a give away game on a CU Amiga Magazine cover disc.
news source: AF/AP/CU/AC / image source: GenerationAmiga / watch on Youtube / download TFX
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