A Dauntless flies past the carrier USS Enterprise. By pointing his plane directly at the target until he released his weapon, a skilled pilot could keep his eye on the target throughout his dive and simplify his bomb’s trajectory. That was one reason that Navy carrier air groups had more dive bombers than any other type of aircraft. Navy in the 1930s, and in 1942 it was the most accurate form of air attack. Dive bombing had been developed by the U.S. The broad flight decks of the carriers were perfect targets for the American pilots whose aircraft, training, and combat tactics had prepared them for precisely this type of attack. Somehow, against all odds, the Americans had achieved precisely the situation that Navy commanders had dreamed of: dozens of dive bombers screaming down on Japanese flight decks jammed with gassed up and armed aircraft, fueling hoses snaked about, bombs and torpedoes scattered hastily across the hangar bays. The heroic sacrifice of Navy torpedo plane crews who had pressed home their slow-motion attacks in the face of deadly Japanese opposition looked to be in vain.īut now, at the last possible moment, three squadrons of SBD Dauntless dive bombers from the American aircraft carriers USS Yorktownand USS Enterprise had arrived unobserved and unopposed in the skies above the Japanese fleet. had gained through years of backbreaking effort by Navy codebreakers was about to be squandered. The priceless intelligence advantage the U.S. So far, two days of American air and submarine attacks had failed to damage a single ship of the peerless Japanese Aircraft Carrier Striking Force. Far below, four Japanese aircraft carriers were launching the first planes of a massive strike that could decide the Battle of Midway. Navy dive bombers had found what they were looking for. (Image source: WikiMedia Commons) “Today a computer would instantly process the flood of incoming information and fly the correct profile, but in 1942 the pilot was the computer.” The famous Douglas dive bombers proved decisive in the epic carrier battle.
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This is the kind of non-invasive monetisation other free-to-play developers should look towards – there’s such a wealth of free content on offer that we often feel guilty for not digging into our wallets.Dauntless SBDs in action at the Battle of Midway. Having clocked dozens of hours, we’ve never felt strong armed into parting with real cash, though the option is there for players to purchase cosmetics and certain items.
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Of course, it’s worth mentioning that Dauntless is free to download and play. It’s a bold, colourful game with each Behemoth sporting a distinctive look that is then inherited by the weapons and armour pieces you can make from the materials Slayers collect from them. Although accessible, the combat gameplay is skill-based and will punish those who mindlessly button bash instead of knowing when to attack and when to evade.ĭauntless rocks a toonish look that many have likened to Epic’s world-beating battle royale shooter, Fortnite. Then there are the Behemoths themselves – Dauntless boasts a growing bestiary of beasties to hunt, all with unique movesets and strategies.
Gameplay is fast-paced and at first glance Dauntless may appear like a mindless hack n’ slash RPG yet there’s a level of complexity to be mined from juggling its seven weapon types and the aforementioned character customisation. Each hunt drops you into an arena like map with the action being contained to one or two of its floating islands.
Even if you’ve never touched Monster Hunter or similar action RPGs, Dauntless is very approachable and steadily ramps up the difficulty as you aim to take down bigger, more dangerous Behemoths.įinding a match rarely takes more than half a minute, immediately dropping you into the action with as little downtime as possible. Perhaps its biggest strength is just how straightforward the core game is.