Bomber Crew

Bomber Crew is a real-time strategic simulator that will ask us to manage our crew and our ship with the intention of successfully completing each entrusted mission. Its childish aspect hides a much more demanding game than it may seem and it will require high doses of concentration and correct decision-making if we do not want to see how our aircraft ends up in pieces or some member of our crew falls in combat. The appearance of the Bomber Crew, as we say, perhaps makes it seem like a game for the little ones in the house. Its kawaii characters and an overall look of manga touches invite us to think that each mission is going to be a walk through the air, and nothing is further from reality.

The appearance of Bomber Crew, in addition to having that touch of cartoons that is very reminiscent of Animal Crossing, makes us move through a menu that recreates our base in a very intuitive and very original way. Changing from one menu to another means moving from one area of the base to the next, something very pleasing to the eye. The sound section is at eye level , and both the sounds of the plane and the bombs and shots around us when we enter dangerous areas are perfectly recreated. Technically we are facing a well-finished game, in addition to being fully translated into Spanish, where only the control on the menus squeaks, which in the Switch version completely misuses the tactile aspect of this console.

The first thing we are asked to do when we start playing, after completing the small introductory tutorial, is that we choose the crew that will accompany us on our forays. The choice is not trivial, since each of the members has physical characteristics that will make them perform better in one or other circumstances . Almost always we are going to be forced to opt for one type of member or another, for example we can choose an engineer who is faster performing his tasks, which will save us some valuable time when we have problems up there, or perhaps select another that, although somewhat less fast, is more resistant to cold and has greater lung capacity, which will make him more suitable if we plan to carry out our missions at higher altitudes. Flying at high altitude has the advantage that it will avoid the attacks of most enemy fighters, but it has a handful of other drawbacks such as the propensity of the crew to suffer hypothermia or suffocation. That is why the planning and configuration of our crew is key before launching.

The next section of this base of operations from where we control all aspects is where we equip our crew. By completing missions we will unlock better elements, with which we again have to consider what type of raid we plan to do. For example, some leather boots allow our character to move faster but they will have less resistance to cold than electric thermal boots. The key is to learn which positions on the plane need more physical protection and which of our crew members are going to move more from one position to another. Usually, the engineer is the wild card and the piece we will use to solve all the problems, while the three gunners will hardly move from their place. The cartographer and radio operator can also lend a hand in times of crisis by tending to injured colleagues or even repairing some damaged part of the plane, while the pilot will not leave his position under practically any circumstances, it would not be a good idea.

Because Bomber Crew is one of those games where death is permanent , and if we have spent hours and resources in training a crew member, and he dies, we can say goodbye to those hours and resources because we will have to hire a new recruit . This is why it is crucial, if we are in serious trouble, to abort the mission to repeat it later, or if it is too late for everything to make an emergency landing. This last option will save some crew, depending on their survival levels on land or sea, and of course where we have dropped the ship.

The next step we must take is to prepare - and decorate - our flying monster . The options that the game gives us in this section are immense, both technically and aesthetically. We can change from the armor capacity of the fuselage - to greater capacity greater resistance, but also greater weight - to the aids that we want to include in the plane. If we want to carry parachutes, first aid kits or fire extinguishers and how many of each is a choice that we can make in the configuration of the plane, and that will have a direct influence on the success or failure of our mission.