Harrier Combat Simulator

Harrier Combat Simulator (also known as High Roller^[5]) is a combat flight simulation game published in 1987 by Mindscape for the Commodore 64. Ports for Amiga, Atari ST and IBM PC (as a self-booting disk) followed in 1988.

Harrier Combat Simulator
Developer(s)	H+H Software[1] Eigen Software[1] Rowan Software (DOS)[2]
Publisher(s)	EU: Mirrorsoft NA: Mindscape
Designer(s)	Rod Hyde[1]
Platform(s)	Atari ST, Amiga,[3] IBM PC,[3] Commodore 64[4]
Release	NA: 1987 EU: 1987
Genre(s)	Flight simulator
Mode(s)	Single-player

Gameplay

Gameplay screenshot (Atari ST)

Harrier Combat Simulator is a game in which the player assumes the role of a pilot in a Harrier-jet.^[6] The player needs to become proficient in flying the jet, including its horizontal and vertical thrust and its advanced weaponry.^[6] The player pilots the only jet fighter that was not destroyed in a saboteur attack, and will need to destroy the headquarters of the enemy before they can launch a successful attack to destroy the Sixth Fleet.^[7] Most of the missions take place in Grenada, which was undergoing an American-led military invasion during the year 1984.^[6]

Reception

Harrier was reviewed in 1988 in Dragon #131 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game 4 out of 5 stars.^[7] The Palm Beach Post that year said that the game "would have been a pretty impressive simulator a couple of years ago", but compared to Falcon, Fokker Triplane, Gunship, and F/A-18 Interceptor, Harrier was "primitive" and "silly".^[8] Computer Gaming World rated the game a 2 of 5 in 1991^[9] and 1992.^[10][11]

Reviews

• ASM (Aktueller Software Markt) - January 1990^[12]

See also

• Strike Force Harrier, a 1986 video game by the same designer and publisher, simulating the same aircraft
• Rowan Software, the company that Rod Hyde founded after designing Harriet Combat Simulator