Gameplay
Glenn Campbell recalled:
❝I recall playing this on a Coleco ADAM computer (via cartridge) and being absolutely hooked on it. The game met it's demise when I finally avoided the Messerschmitts, flak and crashing to reach the dam, pressed the release button for the bomb, and the screen simply went white.
Imagine what happened to that cartridge...
Still loads of fun managing engines and positions though, and what a great mission!
❞ Elias Mortenson
You are first presented with the splash screen.
... and then you get to read the credits.
Third is the main menu where you can choose the kind of game to play.
When in the game you have the following crew stations available:
Dam Busters - Pilot
Front gunner and rear gunners look almost the same, just that you see everything moving in the opposite direction.
Dam Busters - Rear Gunner view
Bombardier
Dam Busters - Bombardier view
Engine management
Dam Busters - engine management
Dam Busters - engine management
Status view
Dam Busters - status
Map view
Dam Busters - UK map
Dam Busters - Germany map
When flying, you can experience flak, enemy fighters and spotlights. The fighter has to be shot down, and you can turn out the spotlights by shooting at the lamp.
Dam Busters - Searchlight and fighter
When approaching the dam you have to go to the bomber view to open the bomb doors and then aim at the dam.
When you drop the bomb you get to see it bounce on the water.
Dam Busters
Dam Busters
... and then you get to see the dam and whether it was hit or not.
Dam Busters
MiGMan thanks Elias Mortenson from Sweden for the screenshots and information.
Note: The screen shots are from the VICE emulator. Go to Gamebase 64 for all your Commodore emulation needs!
Rob "Bomber" Henderson: remembers.
❝The Dam Busters sim was the first one to involve multi-tasking. You could be pilot, engineer, gunner or bomb aimer - in fact you had to do all at some point in the mission.
The game was just one mission - to breach one of the dams in Germany.
The graphics were simple, but good enough for the job. As it was a night mission, the sky was black and the ground was black. You had a horizon line made up of white dots which was your main attitude reference. There were the odd white dots that would pass by on the ground so help make things seem as if they were moving
As you flew over occupied Europe you would be intercepted by Me110 night fighters and harassed by search lights, both of which could be taken care of by the front or rear turrets. The gunners from what I remember didn't have a limited supply of ammo.
You had to approach the target at a set speed and height for the bomb to release correctly. To get the height, you had two lights under the belly of the Lancaster and when they merged, you were all set.
I remember that the lights weren't quite calibrated with the altimeter, and to get the correct height you had a figure of 8 rather than a circle. There was also the motor for spinning the bomb to the correct RPM which needed to be activated to make sure the bomb would skip rather than sink after release.
You also had to use the 'Y' shaped bomb sight for gauging the release distance to the dam. After getting to grips with the engine management, the game did become quite routine until getting to the dam, at which point it did seem rather random as to whether it would let you win or not.
❞ 
