Jetfighter (series)

{{Infobox VG series

| title = Jetfighter

| image = Jetfighter Logo.png

| caption = Logo used for Jetfighter 2015.

| artist = {{Unbulleted list|James H. Dargie}}

| developer = Velocity Development, Mission Studios, Interactive Vision, City Interactive

| publisher = Velocity Development, Mission Studios, Interplay, TalonSoft, Global Star Software

| genre = Air combat simulation

| spinoffs =

}}

Jetfighter is a series of 3D combat flight simulation computer games that was developed by Velocity Development starting in 1988. The player would fly a combat jet aircraft in the skies against enemy forces. The game boasted 3D graphics that were cutting-edge at the time of the game's release, and used real-world terrain. The games seldom sold well because they occupied an uncomfortable middle ground of game design - too much flight simulator for action game fans, as they realistically emulated actual combat aircraft, but too simplistic for the hardcore sim fans, who always preferred games more along the lines of the Falcon series. The series ended after the commercial failure of Jetfighter 2015. The later games had support for 3dfx Voodoo cards to run natively in DOS.

Jetfighter II was produced before the winner of the Advanced Tactical Fighter competition was announced; the programmers chose to emulate the YF-23 "Black Widow II" as the winning aircraft rather than the eventual winner, the YF-22 (which "entered service" in 2004 as the F-22 Raptor).

Games

{{Video game titles|

{{Video game titles/item

|article= JetFighter: The Adventure

|title= JetFighter: The Adventure

|date= {{vgrelease|NA|1988}}

|refs=

|release= 1988—DOS

|notes= *Developed and published by Bob Dinnerman and Moses Ma under the name of Velocity Development, Jetfighter: the Adventure is the IBM version of the Amiga game F/A-18 Interceptor.

Daniel Hockman of Computer Gaming World gave the game a positive review, saying it "has the smoothest, fastest, most pleasing graphics I have yet seen on a flight simulator".

}}

{{Video game titles/item

|article= JetFighter II: Advanced Tactical Fighter

|title= JetFighter II: Advanced Tactical Fighter

|date= {{vgrelease|NA|1990}}

|refs= {{cite web|url=http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/data/915982.html |title=JetFighter II Release Information for PC |publisher=GameFAQs |date= |access-date=February 16, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090226202035/http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/data/915982.html |archive-date=February 26, 2009 }}

|release= 1990—DOS

|notes= *Developed and published by Velocity Development

Computer Gaming World stated that the game was much more difficult than its predecessor, and concluded that for those who did not attend United States Naval Aviator flight training, "this will probably be the closest they will ever get to landing on a carrier in a high-performance jet ... [it] does a great job of simulating both the difficulty and exhiliration a pilot experiences once he finally places his jet on the carrier deck".{{cite magazine | url=http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1991&pub=2&id=88 | title=Soar on Drugs | magazine=Computer Gaming World | date=November 1991 | accessdate=November 18, 2013 | author=Hoover, Jim | pages=96}} A 1992 survey in the magazine of wargames with modern settings gave the game three and a half stars out of five.{{cite magazine | url=http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1992&pub=2&id=95 | title=The Modern Games: 1950 - 2000 | magazine=Computer Gaming World | date=June 1992 | accessdate=November 24, 2013 | author=Brooks, M. Evan | pages=120}}

}}

{{Video game titles/item

|article=

|title= JetFighter II: Advanced Mission Disk

|date= {{vgrelease|NA|1992}}

|refs=

|release= 1992—DOS

|notes= *Developed and published by Velocity Development

It is an expansion to JetFighter II that adds 125 new missions and makes the Lockheed's F-22 Lightning Advanced Tactical Fighter flyable

}}

{{Video game titles/item

|article= Jetfighter III

|title= Jetfighter III

|date= {{vgrelease|NA|October 31, 1996|PAL|February 19, 1998}}

|refs= {{cite web | url = http://au.pc.ign.com/objects/003/003346.html | title = JetFighter III (Jetfighter 3) | publisher = IGN | date = | accessdate = February 16, 2009}}

|release= 1996—Windows{{cite web | url = http://www.allgame.com/cg/agg.dll?p=agg&sql=1:13288 | title = JetFighter III | publisher = allgame | date = | accessdate = February 16, 2009}}

|notes= *Developed and published by Mission Studios

It was repackaged in 1997 with Jetfighter III: Enhanced Campaign CD under the title, Jetfighter III Platinum
An updated edition, entitled Jetfighter III Classic, was published in September 1999 by Take 2 Interactive. The update includes extra such as 30 new missions

}}

{{Video game titles/item

|article=

|title= Jetfighter III: Enhanced Campaign CD

|date= {{vgrelease|NA|April 30, 1997}}

|refs= {{cite web|url=http://au.gamespot.com/pc/sim/jetfighter3enhancedcc/tech_info.html |title=JetFighter III Enhanced Campaign CD for PC - Technical Information |publisher=GameSpot |date= |access-date=February 16, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090227183605/http://au.gamespot.com/pc/sim/jetfighter3enhancedcc/tech_info.html |archive-date=February 27, 2009 }}

|release= 1997—Windows

|notes= *Developed and published by Mission Studios

It is an expansion of Jetfighter III that adds 74 new missions, two new flyable regions and the ability to fly the F-14 Tomcat{{cite web|url=http://au.gamespot.com/pc/sim/jetfighter3enhancedcc/review.html |title=JetFighter III Enhanced Campaign CD for PC Review |first=T. Liam |last=McDonald |publisher=GameSpot |date= |access-date=February 16, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090227183601/http://au.gamespot.com/pc/sim/jetfighter3enhancedcc/review.html |archive-date=February 27, 2009 |url-status=dead}}
It was repackaged in 1997 with JetFighter III under the title, Jetfighter III Platinum

}}

{{Video game titles/item

|article= Jetfighter: Full Burn

|title= Jetfighter: Full Burn

|date= {{vgrelease|NA|July 2, 1998}}

|refs= {{cite web |author=GameSpot staff |date=July 8, 1998 |url=http://headline.gamespot.com/news/98_07/08_new/index.html |title=New Releases |publisher=GameSpot |access-date=December 19, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990224141247/http://headline.gamespot.com/news/98_07/08_new/index.html |archive-date=February 24, 1999 |url-status=dead}}

|release= 1998—Windows

|notes= *Developed by Mission Studios and published by Interplay

}}

{{Video game titles/item

|article= Jetfighter IV: Fortress America

|title= Jetfighter IV: Fortress America

|date= {{vgrelease|NA|November 8, 2000}}

|refs= {{cite web|url=http://au.gamespot.com/pc/sim/jetfighter4fortressamerica/tech_info.html |title=JetFighter IV: Fortress America for PC - Technical Information |publisher=GameSpot |date= |access-date=February 16, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090227112845/http://au.gamespot.com/pc/sim/jetfighter4fortressamerica/tech_info.html |archive-date=February 27, 2009 |url-status=dead}}

|release= 2000—Windows

|notes= *Developed by Mission Studios and published by TalonSoft

}}

{{Video game titles/item

|article= Jetfighter (Palm)

|title= Jetfighter

|date= {{vgrelease|NA|2001}}

|refs= {{cite web | url = http://www.allgame.com/cg/agg.dll?p=agg&sql=1:37878 | title = Jetfighter [Palm] | publisher = allgame | date = | accessdate = February 16, 2009}}

|release= 2001—Palm Organizer

|notes= *Developed by Mission Studios and published by Global Star Software

}}

{{Video game titles/item

|article= Jetfighter V: Homeland Protector

|title= Jetfighter V: Homeland Protector

|date= {{vgrelease|NA|October 21, 2003}}

|refs= {{cite web|url=http://au.gamespot.com/pc/sim/jetfighter5hp/similar.html |title=JetFighter V: Homeland Protector for PC |publisher=GameSpot |date= |access-date=February 16, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090227033403/http://au.gamespot.com/pc/sim/jetfighter5hp/similar.html |archive-date=February 27, 2009 }}

|release= 2003—Windows

|notes= *Developed by Interactive Vision and published by Global Star Software

}}

{{Video game titles/item

|article= Jetfighter 2015

|title= Jetfighter 2015

|date= {{vgrelease|NA|September 9, 2005}}

|refs= {{cite web | url = http://au.pc.ign.com/objects/781/781168.html | title = JetFighter 2015 | publisher = IGN | date = | accessdate = February 16, 2009}}

|release= 2005—Windows

|notes= *Developed by City Interactive and published by Global Star Software

}}

Reception

In the United States, Jetfighter IV{{'}}s jewel case version sold 270,000 copies and earned $2.6 million by August 2006, after its release in January 2002. It was the country's 75th best-selling computer game between January 2000 and August 2006. Combined sales of all Jetfighter computer games released between January 2000 and August 2006 had reached 450,000 units in the United States by the latter date.{{cite magazine|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017165955/http://www.edge-online.com/features/top-100-pc-games-21st-century/ |url=http://www.edge-online.com/features/top-100-pc-games-21st-century/ |title=The Top 100 PC Games of the 21st Century| author=Edge Staff | date=August 25, 2006 |magazine=Edge |archive-date=October 17, 2012 |url-status=dead }}

In a 1994 survey of wargames the magazine gave Jetfighter: The Adventure two-plus stars out of five ("still an entertaining product"). Jetfighter II received three stars ("contemporary graphics and play value").{{Cite magazine |last=Brooks |first=M. Evan |date=January 1994 |title=War In Our Time / A Survey Of Wargames From 1950-2000 |url=http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1994&pub=2&id=114 |magazine=Computer Gaming World |pages=194–212}}