1995 · Parsoft Interactive · Fighting · Flight simulation

A-10 Attack!

Take part in a variety of missions in West Germany during a hypothetical limited conventional attack by the Warsaw Pact.

Released: 1995
Platforms: macOS
Genres: Fighting Flight simulation Simulation
Developers: Parsoft Interactive
Publishers: Parsoft Interactive
Modes: Multiplayer Single-player
Perspective: First person Third person
Themes: Warfare
Country: United States

About

A-10 Attack! is a combat flight simulation video game for the Apple Macintosh computer released by Parsoft Interactive in 1995. The game features an A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft that takes part in a variety of missions in West Germany during a hypothetical limited conventional attack by the Warsaw Pact. A-10 boasted one of the most detailed flight models of any game of its era, a physics model that extended to solid-body interactions with the ground and complete aerodynamics for every object in the game, including ordnance. Macworld rated it "Best Flight Simulator" in a review of Mac simulations.

The game was followed by a sequel named A-10 Cuba!, originally as a stand-alone game on the Mac and Windows-based PC's, but later re-released on the Mac as a plug-in module for the original game. The Mac OS versions were produced by Parsoft, while the PC version of Cuba was a joint production with Activision. This partnership was renewed for Parsoft's final release, Fighter Squadron: The Screamin' Demons Over Europe.

Keywords

combat flight simulator
airplane combat
vehicle combat

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Development

Development of what would evolve into A-10 Attack! started after the release of Hellcats: Missions at Leyte Gulf, an expansion pack for Hellcats Over the Pacific that was released in 1992. Although Hellcats managed to do a lot with limited capabilities of the hardware, the game had a number of clear drawbacks. For one, the missions were written in computer code as part of the game engine, which meant the user could not add new missions or modify the existing ones.

Another problem was that the vehicles and other objects in the game were hard-coded with various behaviors, which made them difficult to customize. Even the game map itself existed only in the code.

Reception

Christopher Breen had an extensive review in Computer Gaming World's September 1995 edition. He notes its "extremely fluid" graphics and excellent frame rate, but spends almost half of the article explaining VBE and its future potential. He concludes, "With VBE, A-10 Attack! represents a remarkable first step in a revolutionary Mac-gaming technology.

As far as we're concerned, this lowly Hog is a blue-wibbon winner." His only complaints were "occasional crash bugs" and "sadly lacking" manual.