For the similarly named tank game, see Fire Power (video game).

Firepower is a video game of the combat flight simulation genre released in 2004 as an add on to enhance Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator 3: Battle for Europe

Combat Flight Simulator 3: Battle for Europe

Combat Flight Simulator 3: Battle for Europe , is the latest installment of combat flight simulators from Microsoft Game Studios, released in 2002. The game is more or less a heavily updated version of the first , offering a far wider range of options to the player...

. Firepower adds 18 new aircraft bringing the total of 36 military aircraft (or 56 with variants) to Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator 3: Battle for Europe

Combat Flight Simulator 3: Battle for Europe

Combat Flight Simulator 3: Battle for Europe , is the latest installment of combat flight simulators from Microsoft Game Studios, released in 2002. The game is more or less a heavily updated version of the first , offering a far wider range of options to the player...

. Firepower also adds 50 new historical type missions, new ordnance

Weapon

A weapon, arm, or armament is a tool or instrument used with the aim of causing damage or harm to living beings or artificial structures or systems...

 and improved graphic effects to Microsoft's combat flight simulation.

The aircraft in Firepower include the B-17 Flying Fortress models F and G, B-29a Superfortress, Arado 234B Blitz, Dewoitine D.520

Dewoitine D.520

The Dewoitine D.520 was a French fighter aircraft that entered service in early 1940, shortly after the opening of World War II. Unlike the Morane-Saulnier M.S.406, which was at that time the Armée de l'Airs most numerous fighter, the Dewoitine D.520 came close to being a match for the latest...

 fighter, Dornier 217m medium bomber, Dornier 217n night fighter, He-162a Salamander, Me334, Me410a Schnellbomber, Me410B-2 R-3 zerstorer, Me410B-2 U-2 R-4 zerstorer, Me410B-2 U-4 zerstorer, P-40n Warhawk, Ta-154 Moskito, Ta-152C1 R31, Ta-152H-1, Ta-183 Huckebein (Raven) Interceptor, Avro Lancaster

Avro Lancaster

The Avro Lancaster is a British four-engined Second World War heavy bomber made initially by Avro for the Royal Air Force . It first saw active service in 1942, and together with the Handley Page Halifax it was one of the main heavy bombers of the RAF, the RCAF, and squadrons from other...

 Mk III heavy bomber

Bomber

A bomber is a military aircraft designed to attack ground and sea targets, by dropping bombs on them, or – in recent years – by launching cruise missiles at them.-Classifications of bombers:...

, Ho-229 V5 Supersonic Fighter /bomber

Bomber

A bomber is a military aircraft designed to attack ground and sea targets, by dropping bombs on them, or – in recent years – by launching cruise missiles at them.-Classifications of bombers:...

, Avro Lancaster

Avro Lancaster

The Avro Lancaster is a British four-engined Second World War heavy bomber made initially by Avro for the Royal Air Force . It first saw active service in 1942, and together with the Handley Page Halifax it was one of the main heavy bombers of the RAF, the RCAF, and squadrons from other...

 GS heavy bomber, and a B-24J Liberator.

What's interesting in Shockwave Production's add on to Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator 3: Battle for Europe

Combat Flight Simulator 3: Battle for Europe

Combat Flight Simulator 3: Battle for Europe , is the latest installment of combat flight simulators from Microsoft Game Studios, released in 2002. The game is more or less a heavily updated version of the first , offering a far wider range of options to the player...

 is the vast increase in the amount of available WWII

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 military aircraft in the European Theater of Operations

European Theater of Operations

The European Theater of Operations, United States Army was a United States Army formation which directed U.S. Army operations in parts of Europe from 1942 to 1945. It referred to Army Ground Forces, United States Army Air Forces, and Army Service Forces operations north of Italy and the...

. Also there are 4(or 5 with a free patch) new bomber

Bomber

A bomber is a military aircraft designed to attack ground and sea targets, by dropping bombs on them, or – in recent years – by launching cruise missiles at them.-Classifications of bombers:...

s in which the player can man different aircrew positions.

It can be very interesting to use the bombsight

Bombsight

A bombsight is a device used by bomber aircraft to accurately drop bombs. In order to do this, the bombsight has to estimate the path the bomb will take after release from the aircraft. The two primary forces during its fall are gravity and air drag, which makes the path of the bomb through the air...

 to drop newly added ordnance onto a target like the Little Boy

Little Boy

"Little Boy" was the codename of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 by the Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay, piloted by Colonel Paul Tibbets of the 393rd Bombardment Squadron, Heavy, of the United States Army Air Forces. It was the first atomic bomb to be used as a weapon...

, Fat Man

Fat Man

"Fat Man" is the codename for the atomic bomb that was detonated over Nagasaki, Japan, by the United States on August 9, 1945. It was the second of the only two nuclear weapons to be used in warfare to date , and its detonation caused the third man-made nuclear explosion. The name also refers more...

, German radiological dirty bomb

Dirty bomb

A dirty bomb is a speculative radiological weapon that combines radioactive material with conventional explosives. The purpose of the weapon is to contaminate the area around the explosion with radioactive material, hence the attribute "dirty"....

s or the Tallboy bomb

Tallboy bomb

The Tallboy or Bomb, Medium Capacity, 12,000 lb, was an earthquake bomb developed by the British aeronautical engineer Barnes Wallis and deployed by the RAF in 1944...

. However some of these aircraft are hypothetical especially the German designs some of which never saw aerial combat during WWII

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. So is the German ordnance hypothetical as well. The graphics of these ordnance types is fascinating to watch in the simulation. Another thing interesting in this add on is that you can fly bomber

Bomber

A bomber is a military aircraft designed to attack ground and sea targets, by dropping bombs on them, or – in recent years – by launching cruise missiles at them.-Classifications of bombers:...

s in a formation, and the FLAK effects when under enemy anti aircraft fire is interesting to watch like in a war film of aerial combat. Twenty-five missions of the Memphis Belle B-17 Flying Fortress are included in this add on. One thing that's lacking though is a sophisticated simulation of the Norden Bombsight

Norden bombsight

The Norden bombsight was a tachometric bombsight used by the United States Army Air Forces and the United States Navy during World War II, and the United States Air Force in the Korean and the Vietnam Wars to aid the crew of bomber aircraft in dropping bombs accurately...

 which B-17 Flying Fortress the Mighty 8th has a decent representation of albeit not fully emulating the Norden computer, it's gyrostabilizer and ancillary equipment. Instead the Bombsight

Bombsight

A bombsight is a device used by bomber aircraft to accurately drop bombs. In order to do this, the bombsight has to estimate the path the bomb will take after release from the aircraft. The two primary forces during its fall are gravity and air drag, which makes the path of the bomb through the air...

in Firepower is fixed but it is functional. Even so this is workable in the simulation add on with a fixed sight but it takes a lot of practice. Firepower is one of the most popular add ons to Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator 3.