The Classic PC Gaming Era (1977-1989) -ATF: Advanced Tactical Fighter
This third-person stealth fighter game features a 3D map and some light sim elements. It's also notable for its great music!
RELEASE DATE: 1988
DEVELOPER / PUBLISHER: Digital Integration
PLAYABILITY TODAY: Fairly playable
BEST VERSIONS: Commodore 64 (though it was quite popular on the Amstrad CPC)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1f0722c7-6e39-46ce-b6cf-71a03a4d2079_1433x487.png)
Many gamers who grew up in the 1980s and 90s are familiar with Sega’s awesome Afterburner, a third person perspective pseudo-3D action game with furious action and scaling sprites. But most are probably entirely unfamiliar with ATF: Advanced Tactical Fighter, a PC game from UK developer Digital Integration (best known at the time for the F-15 combat sim Fighter Pilot and the helicopter flight sim Tomahawk) that offers similar action atop a contoured 3D world and which feels like a cross between Afterburner and Zaxxon. While the game purports to be based upon a real-world aircraft that was still in development at the time (the YF-22, which would later become the F-22 Raptor), the simulation elements take a backseat to the big ideas: a plane that has an intelligent autopilot system, smart missiles that can be fired and forgotten and guided missiles that can be controlled midflight.
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3c420254-4fd5-43fa-a27b-8aa2fb0fb590_1373x330.png)
The premise of ATF: Advanced Tactical Fighter is that you start off at a base on a randomly-generated world and have to explore to locate enemy bases and shoot down opposing fighters and SAM sites. What you want to do is largely up to you; each mission is preceded by an intelligence briefing with some basic data, and then you take off and start flying. The world is populated with grassy areas, deserts, water and polar ice caps, and flying off one edge of the map takes to the opposite side so that the game never stops scrolling. As you fly, you’re able to utilize a local radar as well as a global one so you can see where you’re headed, and the longer you fly, the more information you pick up about what’s on the map, allowing you to head off to blast nearby enemies or to look for a friendly base where you can refuel.
One of the neatest things about ATF is that you can set a direction and then press the T key to enter into a terrain-following autopilot mode while you search your onboard computer for your next target. The game also features a (very welcome!) automatic landing mode and a fairly simple control scheme that makes it easy to stay airborne and focus on combat. The only off-putting aspect of the game is that the terrain doesn’t rotate as you turn, and thus you have to pay attention to your short-range radar to understand in which direction you’re headed.
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F23c127c4-7148-41ec-9de7-2d44fa567f4f_1371x322.png)
While ATF is certainly not the most amazing flight game you’ll ever play, it’s a fun and interesting one with plenty of action and accessible controls. The smooth-scrolling graphics and excellent soundtrack go a long way towards making it a memorable experience. While I prefer the Commodore 64 version, the Amstrad CPC version seems to have a large fanbase even today and reviewed quite well at the time. The 1990 16-bit sequel for the Amiga, Atari ST and MS-DOS (published in some regions as Airstrike USA) is definitely worth checking out as well.
NOTE: This game is unrelated to the similarly-titled Jane’s Combat Simulations: ATF: Advanced Tactical Fighters, which was published by Electronic Arts and released in 1997.
As Our Series Continues…
In the coming weeks, we’ll talk about 3D games, flight simulators, sports games, gameroom games, puzzle games, unusual games and so much more.
And while you’ll definitely see some titles from prominent North American publishers like Sierra On-Line, Infocom, Activision, Electronic Arts, Brøderbund, SSI, MicroProse, Lucasfilm Games, Epyx and Sir-Tech in the mix, you’ll also see references to games from the United Kingdom, Australia, France, Spain and Japan.
If you’ve missed the earlier entries in the series, which cover ASCII games, adventure games, wargames, strategy games and role-playing games, you can find the entire archive at https://greatestgames.substack.com.
Anything I don’t share here will be in my upcoming book, tentatively titled The Greatest Games You (Probably) Never Played Vol. 1. Subscribe to this newsletter so you won’t miss it!