by Peter Robbins, 30 September 2024
Is There A Demo?
Yes! I have to give Slitherine some major props (pun intended) for including a Public Demo which is available here
Is There A Manual?
The manual for the game is built into the interface. Scramble is a very approachable “action game”, so it only takes about 10 screens and instructional text to show off its main features. You should be able to master its controls within a couple sittings, but doing “well” at the game takes time. It is the three dimensional planning, leading for firing on the target, and turn-based execution format that will take time to master properly.
Below is a gallery of the entire How To Play instructions:
click images to enlarge
What’s in the “Box”?
Below is the main menu for Scramble. As you can see, the player is offered Missions, Instant Action and Random Match in this current Press Demo. Further below we’ll take just a quick jump into each of the three, and describe how it feels to play each as we move along. We’ll try and directly call out any aspect of the How To Play I’m showing in each pic, if it’s clearly depicting a feature.
Basic Mechanics
Scramble is a unique offering. While it is squarely in the Action Game genre of wargaming, it does have some nice features throughout. One of the nicer functions is its Tactical View which reminded me of a similar view in Nebulous: Fleet Command, which gives a much wider zoomed out view of the entire battle space and allows you to better visualize the area, well, tactically. I tend to switch to the tactical view a good bit, but always plan the airplane maneuvers in the normal view. You switch between your aircraft with 1,2,3,4 keys, or with the [Tab] key. One nice feature is the “g” button which gives you a quick view from the aircraft’s perspective as it is intended to be at the “end” of your planned turn. Nice touch. That is very useful. I use that every time I plan now.
Example Random Mission
These shots were from a quick 2 v 2 Random Mission.
Available Missions
This is strictly based upon the Press Demo released last week, so the final product may differ considerably, but here is a list of what is available under Missions:
Example Mission
We’ll do a full run through (possibly unsuccessful) of the “Escorted Stukas” mission. Below is just a gallery of shots from one mission to show off how the interface looks in all its format and functions.There are a couple of screenshots mixed in showing you the blackout feature, which is a nice touch. If you stress the airframe and the pilot, you get ample feedback.
Evaluation Of Press Demo
“Slider, you stink” (Top Gun)
No, the game does not stink, but for some reason the scene from Top Gun where Slider is playing with the airplane training models popped into mind when thinking to myself how to describe this game. If you like the idea of playing with up to four or so of said models, virtually, many times over then, this game is for you.
Two small complaints, but they are not show-stoppers
- I wish that the throttle was more dynamic. You really only have 0, 50 and 100% throttle settings, I wish you could set that anywhere from 0-100.
- Also, the gunnery is one of the only parts of the game that is slightly less intuitive to what is otherwise a relatively intuitive set of controls. You have to pick a target by clicking “x”, and then you have to enable your guns for that turn using “z”. It’s a very control pad thing to need to do, and for a PC game user, it’s just not intuitive. For a game control playing ps5 gamer, maybe it’s more intuitive.
Now, with these two complaints out of the way, I’ll say, I was pleasantly surprised with how much I’ve played this over the past week. It’s a very cathartic game to play as someone who considers himself to be a mid-core flight simmer. I’m one of those guys that likes the Flaming Cliffs 2024 DLC for DCS over some of the survey modules. I come from a background in IL2:1946, Cliffs of Dover Blitz, IL2 Great Battles, that whole line of 1C Maddox Games glory, so I’ve simmed for several decades. But even then, this flight sim nut case still generally enjoyed this “action game”. Scramble is squarely in the “Action Game” genre, and I’d classify it even further as a “Mobile Action Game”.
Developer: Slitherine Ltd
Publisher: Slitherine Ltd
Topic: Battle Of Britain, World War 2, Air Combat
Scale: Individual flight vs flight turn-based flight action game
This action wargame does one thing very well: It simulates flight vs flight turn based maneuvering rather soundly. That stated, is this what you are looking for? I have to leave that for the audience members to decide. Is there replay value here? Yes, you can whip up a random scenario quickly and just jump in and have a little fun. I see this staying on my system and just jumping into it for a little cathartic dogfight planning on occasion. Am I going to sit for weeks playing it for hours on end? Likely not. And that’s OK. There is a market amongst grognards for something simple I can just jump into on occasion.
I’d describe this game as the equivalent of a Mobile Flight Wargame, and that is a compliment.
It has simple interfacing that could or would port well to a tablet or mobile phone based app. I don’t say that to slam it, it’s a solid game at what it depicts. It just does not offer much in the way of historical scenario context, nor larger slices of air battles that occurred in the historic battle. But then you have to ask yourself, would you want to at this granular a phasing of air combat? I don’t think you would. It’s difficult enough to re-check and adjust controls for 4 or so planes a side, let alone 24+. That would be a nightmare, but some may like the challenge.
The game also does not include anything in the way of a scripted or not-so-scripted pilot career that some Battle Of Britain based wargames and simulators support. Now, did the developer or publishing company say this game would offer that? No. Did they say they offer a well made action game depicting flight on flight simple controlled action gaming fun? Yes, and they have. There ya go, Scramble in a nutshell.
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