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The remarkable thing about Microprose is that their flight simulators, already the best on the market, get better every time. The F-19 "Stealth", which will come into service with the US Air Force in about 1990, is so secret that very little is known about it. Microprose have used information that has already been published to produce this simulator.

The Stealth fighter is not a wonder-plane. It is a small one-man subsonic jet which can be flown from land or aircraft carrier, and which sacrifices just about everything in flying terms in return for presenting a very small radar return. It is not "invisible" to radar, just very hard to see! This allows it to penetrate deep into enemy airspace on photographic, bombing or air superiority missions.

You are offered four theatres of war: Libya, the Gulf, the North Cape and Central Europe, and three levels of conflict: cold war, in which you are most likely to fly photographic missions, limited war, in which you may have to shoot, and conventional war in which anything goes. Enemy response can also be adjusted.

There is quite a difference between penetrating Libyan airspace on a reconnaissance mission against green and badly-equipped opponents and a bombing run into East Germany in the middle of World War Three!

Unlike some other Microprose simulators, this aircraft has to be landed safely. This is, I am told, made even harder than the real thing by the wire-frame graphics. Fortunately when practising you can set the program to accept less than perfect landings! Perhaps the best feature is the ability to save a successful pilot and go to another mission when you've recovered.