Blue Max

Blue Max was written by Bob Polin for Synapse Software in 1983 and it is one of the smartest action games of its generation. You fly a First World War biplane, but this is neither a side-scrolling shooter nor a top-down one — the screen scrolls diagonally in isometric projection and you cross a landscape of towns, bridges, airfields, hangars and anti-aircraft guns.

The central mechanic is altitude. You are moving in three axes at once: left and right across the screen, forward (automatic) and up and down. Bombs fall vertically, so you have to release them early and judge where they will land — the aircraft's shadow on the ground helps, which was an elegant idea for the time. The machine gun, by contrast, fires straight ahead and is only useful against ground targets when you fly low, which is exactly where you are easiest to shoot down.

On top of that the game tracks fuel and damage. Once you have collected holes in the fuselage or run the tank low, you must find a friendly airfield, match your height and speed, and land. Landing is a separate skill and crashing on approach is the traditional way to throw a run away.

Blue Max has aged surprisingly well because it rewards planning rather than reflexes. Threats are legible, objectives are clear, and death is almost always your own fault. The weakness is repetition — the terrain starts recycling after a few sorties — and the isometric view makes judging your position over the ground genuinely confusing at first.

The title refers to the German Pour le Mérite decoration, nicknamed the Blue Max, and in keeping with that the game runs a promotion ladder you climb through successful raids. There is a sequel, Blue Max 2001, but it never earned anything like the same reputation.