[Review] Bomber Crew: Your Very Own Lancaster Bomber in WWII
Who knew that a cute little game with disarmingly cheerful graphics about controlling a bomber crew in World War II would be a ridiculously tense experience where you are forced to juggle three or four tasks that need to be done right now at the same time, managing the crew and what they're doing inside the bomber, making sure that someone is on every turret that needs to be manned, lighting up your bombing runs, considering your lines of approach, and controlling everyone's individual skills – all at once.
While being assaulted by ground-level guns, submarines that dive away and try to dodge your bombs, enemy flying aces who are alternately braggarts and cowards, and even the bloody weather – which makes it really difficult to navigate at any altitude when it is even remotely cloudy and just forget about it when it's raining. You are not going to have a good time.
With navigation.
You're going to have a great time with the game.
A lot of reviews have likened gameplay to FTL, which is not wrong so far as it goes, but while FTL gave you the ability to pause the game entirely to consider what your weapon allocation should be, where crew should be on the ship, and generally give you a breath even in the worst combat, all that Bomber Crew offers you is the ability to slow down time for a little bit as you re-target weapons, get people assigned to positions, or whatnot. Combined with the fact that you actually have to physically track your targets long enough for your crew to get a lock on them, the feeling of always being overwhelmed and never having enough time to think about what you're doing can really start to pile up.
Alongside and attached to all of this is a crew customization and crew gear system which gives everything that little extra veneer of XCOM, because who doesn't need to be reminded that every crew member is a valuable resource and their death is truly meaningful? And it's all your fault. Crew can have hats, suits, gloves, boots, vests which improve their ability to take damage or survive should you have to ditch over land or water, and various other pizzas of gear which may improve their specialized role on the plane. The plane itself can be customized pretty extensively, not just with upgraded guns, engines, and armored fuselage, but with the ability to trauma and to design your own engine and nose art.
Yes, that's my woodland camo Lancaster bomber parked in front of the hanger sporting cat eyes and the Ace of Spades on the wings, because Motorhead is awesome.
Yesterday, Bomber Crew was the sale of the day on Chrono.GG at 60% off the base game and the season pass which entitles you to all of the DLC ever, but you can still pick it up on Indie Gala for 55% off for both the game and the season pass, making it a fat wad of $12 USD to get a cute but really intense experience.
Who doesn't want pilot a bomber?
Despite the fact that it might start shading over into areas already trod, I wish this developer would follow up BC with a space-based version which focuses on spacecraft capital ships. Let us tinker with more weapon options, fighter bays, and adding onto an escort fleet along with all of the goodies that already exist in this engine and I would be ridiculously happy.
Nothing says loving like games in the oven.