It was in 1991 that I first had the opportunity to play Red Baron on a then very expensive 286 machine (which unfortunately I didn't own). No joystick, no proper sound except some ugly noises coming from the PC speaker, lots of stuttering even on low graphics settings. And still I found myself drawn into this game for a good reason: An expectionally well done career mode with lots of opportunity to advance and develop your pilot. Where else in a flight simulation did you get to earn your very own fighter plane, which, by the way, you could paint in any colors you like? Where else did you feel the same kind of elation after being challenged to a one-on-one duel in the air by one of the true pilot heroes of WWI? And where else could you develop a sense of betrayal so real and gripping when one of the pilot aces, after having challenged you, decided to bring along some buddies (and you, of course, were flying alone)?
For its time, RB was revolutionary, it felt realistic, it had very advanced graphics and it was grand fun, despite the fact that it didn't run very well on the old 286 I had available.
Many years later, when RB3D (a heavily patched version of RB2 which was a bug-fest) came out, I found myself somewhat disappointed. It was a very good game, with delicate graphics, a very good semi-dynamic campaign mode and a great physics engine. But somehow the magic was gone - I still wonder why. Maybe because the feeling of being a computer gaming pioneer had somehow diminished over the years. And, if course, because in RB3D there were no challenges from pilot aces anymore. You just had to fly the missions that were thrown at you, and the sense of accomplishment and camaraderie (if you can call it that, speaking of virtual pilot fellows), wasn't there anymore.
Still, for anyone who didn't have the opportunity to play any Red Baron game so far - give it a try, especially the old RB from 1990. Make no mistake: It's an old and limited game from today's point of view, but back then, it was truly revolutionary.
A warning for people who tun Windows 7 on a Dell M1710 notebook: I haven't been able to run RB3D properly. There are numerous graphics glitches, no proper keyboard input, and it runs incredibly slow (like 10 fps) on a machine that was built almost ten years after the game came out. With the old Red Baron there shouldn't be any problems for anyone because it's run in dosbox.
1 star for RB3D because it doesn't run properly on my PC.
5 stars for the old RB, making it
>>>> 3 stars <<<< as final verdict.