Developed by Sid Meier and one of the initial simulation games of MicroProse, F-15 Strike Eagle is one of the simulations featuring the F-15E Strike Eagle, taking place in varied theaters across the globe, in the likes of similar games F-19 Stealth Fighter and Gunship.
Like its sister games, F-15 does not have a definitive storyline, however, each mission given is randomized and some variable difficulty settings (enemy pilot skill, landing capability, training mode) are given.
Tropes within this game series include:
- All There in the Manual: As this game does not show the maps on pre-flight briefings (you are given the objectives and launched into the action straight away), the paper maps provided with the game are the best idea on where to find cities, if the in-game map MFD does not help. The locations of each scenario will tell you the nationality of the pilot, either American or Israeli.
- Copy Protection: By way of the "Key Disk" technique, which required one of the original floppy disks in a drive for the game to launch (as opposed to other games which relied on looking up pages in the manual).
- Crossover: In a sense with F-19 Stealth Fighter, as F-15 allowed missions in two of the F-19 theaters to be playable.
- Damn You, Muscle Memory!: The controls in F-15 Strike Eagle II were mnemonic, which can confuse someone coming in from another MicroProse title (where most of the operating keys were on the Function or Numeric keys).
- Shown Their Work: Par for the course with Sid Meier.
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Spiritual Successor: Jane's Combat Simulations: F-15.