Before he began to make "serious" racing sims like Formula 1 Grand Prix, Geoff Crammond created this Amiga classic. It is set in a fictional (or let's say I hope it is fictional) Stunt Car league. There are four divisions and the player of course starts in the fourth. In each division there are two courses on which all three drivers (of the division) have to race against each other in head-to-head duels. Points are awarded for the best lap and the winner. At the end of the season, the best driver of each division gets to the higher division, while the last one is relegated.
Police cars not only have a terrifying effect on criminals, but also let many toddlers dream of a career as a policeman while playing with their Matchbox equivalent. In the early 90s, as the first Cisco Heat arcade cabinets appeared in public, every school child was able to get right behind the wheel of those machines and spend a few coins for a quick manhunt on the American West Coast under the impressive landmark of the Golden Gate Bridge. To top the feeling of steering so fabulously fast through the street canyons by using a real (physical) steering wheel was kind of illusionary for the rather underpowered home computers of that time. But at least the charm of the original should have approximated as closely as possible.
With the advent of new technologies comes a time of innovation, a time when pioneers set out to explore the potential of the latest inventions. Red Baron is remarkable in this concern because it is not only about the early days of a new kind of warfare, but because it was in itself one of the first dedicated combat flight simulators for home computers set in this era. And so it helped to lay down the basics of the genre just like the historical biplanes in it did for the aerial combat. A very fitting combination so to speak which gives the game a timeless appeal: Entering this world of rough 3D graphics and simplistic flight models seems to have a lot in common with taking off in one of those fragile flying machines of WWI. But let us take a look at how exactly this works to the game’s (dis)advantage and what else makes it a classic.