Secret Weapons Over Normandy

by LucasArts

Product Features

• Join a squad of pilots dedicated to thwarting the Third Reich's most heinous plans
• Fly more than 20 authentic aircraft across thirty daring missions
• Lose yourself in WWII action as you rise through the ranks of an elite squadron
• Engage in 30+ action-packed missions featuring air-to-air and air-to-ground battles
• For 1 player

Product Details

• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B0000A2PMH
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.5 x 1.5 inches ; 15.4 ounces
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: November 15, 2003
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #25,196 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Platform: PC | Edition: Standard

From the Manufacturer

Inspired by its celebrated Secret Weapons series of classic World War II flight-combat games, LucasArts' Secret Weapons Over Normandy recreates the historic air battles of that era, presenting dynamic, deeply engaging, story-driven flight action that puts players in control of authentic World War II aircraft and challenges players to undertake the war's most dangerous missions.

Secret Weapons Over Normandy features gameplay accessible to all audiences. Through more than 30 exhilarating air-to-air and air-to-ground World War II missions, players engage in dogfights over the turbulent skies of 15 unique combat theaters, including Europe, the Eastern Front, North Africa, China-Burma-India, and the Pacific. As a member of a secret squadron of elite pilots, players can take to the skies in more than 20 realistically modeled fighters and bombers as they progress through the course of the game.

Spanning a period of four years when world domination by the Third Reich seemed a near certainty, Secret Weapons Over Normandy allows players to relive the most infamous air battles of that era to help swing the balance of power back to the Allied Forces. The game follows a historically accurate timeline of key conflicts, beginning with the dramatic Evacuation of Dunkirk; the fierce Battle of Britain; Germany's daring planned invasion of England, known as Operation Sea Lion; the pivotal Battle of Midway; and culminating in the war's most brutal battle, the D-Day invasion.

Among a multitude of legendary Allied, German, and Japanese aircraft in Secret Weapons Over Normandy, players can pilot the twin-engine P-38 Lightning; the P-51 Mustang, one of the fastest piston-driven fighters of the era; the dangerously unstable Me 163 Komet rocket plane; Me 262 turbo jet fighter, the first-ever jet fighter in combat; and even be a gunner in the B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber.

Secret Weapons Over Normandy features the voice of Will Lyman, best known for his narration of the PBS series Frontline. Academy Award-nominated Japanese actor Mako delivers authentic World War II Japanese Imperial dialect. Adding to the overall experience, the game's sound has been derived directly from field recordings of actual World War II-era aircraft.

The game includes a mission builder that allows players to create their own World War II experience.

Secret Weapons Over Normandy was developed by Lawrence Holland and his company, Totally Games. Holland and his team created LucasArts' acclaimed Secret Weapons World War II flight action trilogy, including Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe, as well as the award winning X-wing and TIE fighter series of Star Wars games.

Product Description

Make it your finest hour!Product Information From Lawrence Holland legendary creator of Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe andthe K-Wing series!  Everyone's doing their part for the war effort.  Yours just happens to bethe most dangerous and highly classified.  In this intense WWIIaction-flyer you will join a secret elite fighter squadron.  Your missionin Secret Weapons Over Normandy: thwart the most insidious plans of the ThirdReich.Product Features The Secret Weapons series returns allowing you to pilot more than 20 authentic aircraft including the Messerschmitt 163 Komet rocket plane and the P-38 Lightning. Face over 30 air-to-air and air-to-ground combat missions across the globe in epic WWII battles. Exclusive mission editor allows you to create yoru own battle scenarios to share with fellow ace pilots. No fight training required - just nerves of steel a steady hand and a burning desire to rid the world of tyranny one mission at a time.Windows Requirements Windows 98SE Me 2000 XP 100% DirectX 9.0 compatible computer Intel Pentium III 850 MHz or AMD Athlon 900 MHz processor required (Intel Pentium 4 2.0 GHz or AMD Athlon XP 2200 recommended) 256 MB of RAM required (512 MB of RAM recommended) 32 MB PCI or AGP Direct3D compatible Graphics accelerator card required (64 MB AGP Graphics card recommended) 100% DirectX 9.0 compatible Audio Device required Quad Speed CD-ROM drive required Keyboard required Mouse required Joystick required Optional support included for Force Feedback Direct input compatible joysticks Microsoft DirectX 9.0b is included on this CD.  Note: DirectX may require the "later" drivers for your particular hardware. 

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Does SWON really suck that much? I say NO!, February 4, 2005

By 

William S. Harrington "Scott" (San Jose, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Secret Weapons Over Normandy (CD-ROM)

I'm in the last stages of the Secret Weapons over Normandy single player campaign and thought I would share my experiences with this game. I have had a copy lying around for a while, and wasn't very enthused about installing it, particularly after reading the negative remarks posted here and on the various sim forums, nor was I very impressed with the demo. But there it sat wasting away and so I finally decided to give it a go. And I have been pleasantly surprised.

I refer to this as a game, which it is. It is not a simulation except in the roughest sense of the word, and that seems to have been the biggest criticism. The flight models are far from realistic. You can accelerate and decelerate at ridiculous rates. You have nearly unlimited ammo. You have HUD-like targeting to show you where you should be aiming. There is even the reflex time (like Max Paine's Bullet time!) option where you can slow everything down to gain an advantage. So far I know it doesn't sound very compelling to you flight sim aficionados. But what I quickly realized is that, as other reviews have noted, what SWON does bring to the table is an experience roughly similar to the various Lucas Arts Star Wars Games. In other words SWON is to flight sims what X-Wing fighter was to space sims. And like the Star Wars games this is lots of fun!!!!

Visuals are pretty good at 1600x1200, if a bit cartoon like. The only time I ran into performance issues at that resolution on my mid-performance pc was in the Norwegian fjord missions and even there it was still playable. You get about 15 planes (that only vaguely resemble their historical counterparts) to fly, in various areas in Europe and the Pacific. You get to use a large variety of weapons like torpedoes, rockets, missiles and cannons to blow up a larger variety of ground, naval and air units, usually with spectacular results! It does require some, but not a lot, of skill to fly since you can stall in flight and you will occasionally be fighting faster, more maneuverable and better armed opponents. The missions are well designed - interesting and varied objectives and not too long, and well placed checkpoints so you don't have to play the entire mission over if you screw up.

Some of the things I did to make the game more interesting included using the "realistic" controls set and enabling the first person mode. This still is far from a simulator experience but it does make the game more challenging and engaging. Pick up a copy at the bargain bin price and give it a try yourself. Which I heartily recommend to anyone who wants a fun gaming experience and doesn't insist on realism.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One of the Best Arcade Flyers Ever Made, May 21, 2005

A Kid's Review

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Secret Weapons Over Normandy (CD-ROM)

I may be a kid, but I know this game inside and out.

A lot of the other reviews for this game say it is a piece of junk, but not why. This is probably because the reviewers were expecting a flight sim. Notice that the average console review for this game is higher, because they anticipated an action game. If you still think this is a sim, read the back of the box; "intense WWII action-flyer." If you want a sim, buy Pacific Fighters. I've played it and it's the best sim I know of.

With that clarification, let's get down to business.

I gave this game four stars because it has wonderfull gameplay, good graphics, a wide variety of planes, secret weapons, and engaging missions. However, there are only fifteen campaign missions (the others are shot bonus levels), and they stop with D-Day. If it had twenty missions I'd give it five stars, no questions asked. Because of the short storyline the German secret weapons program has been accelerated. For example, intercontinental bomber prototypes and operational jet fighters in 1943. The designers could easily have kept close to reality with twenty missions, possibly with Gotha Go 229s over western Germany, or Natters over Berlin. Also, the designers left out some rather significant aircraft on all sides. F4U Corsairs at Iwo Jima or P-47 Thunderbolts at Bastogne are noticeably absent to the WWII enthusiast. Even more aggravating is the fact that some of these missing aircraft are being made availible, along with extra campaign missions, are being made availible on XBOX Live. I'm not about to pay $130 for an XBOX plus XBOX Live subscription for these add-ons.

Summary

Secret Weapons Over Normandy is an excellent game, and is a huge bargain at the $9.99 I have seen it for at several stores. the plot is a little weak at times, but that doesn't really matter, unlessyou obsess over Ace Combat-style, which, incedentally, almost made me throw up. The airplane and vehicle models are superbly done, and the landscapes are generally well done. The flight controls are also well done, with the option of either simple controls or realistic, stick-and-rudder controls. Arial gunnery is also simplified, using a gunsight and target "lead indicator." A nice inclusion is the SLED Mission Editor, which I haven't really messed with yet.

Conclusion

Buy this game if you are looking for a great action flyer. I have never even seen Crimson Skies, so if you're looking for a comparison, go find another pilot. If you have a good graphics card and joystic get it for PC. Otherwise, get it for XBOX. If you don't fit in either of these categories, the PS2 version has two-player levels, but no updates. Then again, if you are reading this you probably don't have a console sytem.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars NOT A SIM! IT'S AN ACTION GAME!, December 22, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Secret Weapons Over Normandy (CD-ROM)

HEY! All you SIM-Heads! This is not a sim. "SWON is an air combat action game following in the tradition of the X-Wing and TIE Fighter and Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe series. Like those titles,SWON is strongly focused on action."- from the LucasArts Secret Weapons over Normandy official web site.
If you're a heavy sim player, you probably will not like this GAME. I've seen a couple of poor reviews citing poor realism or flight dynamics. IT'S A GAME! IT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO HAVE REALISM! LucasArts focused on historic accuracy AND fun. If you like action games without bothersome "flight models" and reality (I turn reality off in CFS1,3 and other of my sims)then you may like this game.
Hey sim-heads, lighten up.

2115|R3DVZC642YG52U;2115|R24NOWEDR5ZF1V;2115|RNQHH85Z7EIDO;