Sopwith

Sopwith

MS-DOS - Screenshot - Title.

Developer David L. Clark Publisher BMB Compuscience Published 1984-??-?? Platforms DOS Genres Action, Scrolling shooter, Shooter Themes Action, World War I Multiplayer Simultaneous versus Distribution Freeware, Open source

Sopwith is an airplane shooter game developed by David L. Clark and published by BMB Compuscience in 1984 for MS-DOS. An updated release was published in 1986, and the author released a special edition in 2000. Each version was released for free. The game was programmed in C and x86 assembly and the source has since been released.

In the game, you play as the pilot of a Sopwith biplane who must fly their plane on various bombing missions while engaging in dog fights with enemy pilots.

Personal

Own?	No.
Won?	Yes.
Finished	Late 1980s.

When I first played this game, it was titled "The Red Baron" and was included in a shovelware titled called Strike Force published by Keypunch Software. Their version was identical to the original release, just re-titled and had the multiplayer removed since it used a patented protocol.

Each version of this game has since been released as freeware. I have beaten the original Sopwith in single player mode, but not the 1986 upgrade or the Author's Edition.

Review

3	4	3	2	3

Best Version: DOS (Author's Edition)

— This section contains spoilers! —

Good

• For the time, the game is pretty cool. You can make permanent craters in the landscape with your bombs, have a dogfight with your opponent (human or AI), and bomb enemy targets.
• The upgrades in the later editions are pretty cool and increase the challenge.

Bad

• The game is graphically challenged. It doesn't take full advantage of the CGA card and there is bad sprite flickering.
• The game lacks decent audio.
• The AI, due to its tenacious suicidal nature, is difficult to avoid.
• The multiplayer uses a proprietary system that is no longer supported or emulated, so it remains unplayable.

Ugly

• There just isn't much to this game. Even with the updated versions, you see everything the game has to offer after about a minute.

Media

Screenshots

• 

  Preparing for takeoff.

• 

  Bombing my opponent's tarmac.

Videos

Longplay - 1984 version - 1-player.

Longplay - 1997 version - 1-player.

Game play - 1984 version - vs AI.

Game play - 1986 version - vs AI.

Play Online

MS-DOS (v1), MS-DOS (v2), MS-DOS (Author's Edition)

Representation

Strong female character?	Fail	There are no visible characters.
Bechdel test?	Fail	There are no visible characters.
Strong person of color character?	Fail	There are no visible characters.
Queer character?	Fail	There are no visible characters.

Download

• Download (Info) - All versions and source code.

Links

   

• sopwith.org - Fan site.
• mobygames.com/game/dos/sopwith- - MobyGames (Sopwith 2).
• mobygames.com/game/dos/sopwith-the-authors-edition - MobyGames (Author's Edition).