Play Reach for the Skies Online

Reach for the Skies throws you right into the cockpit of a WWII fighter—no frills, just the hum of the engine and the scramble to get airborne before the enemy shows up. I remember fumbling with the Spitfire’s controls at first (those dials are tiny on an old CRT), but once you get the hang of it, weaving through flak or lining up a shot on a Heinkel feels surprisingly tense. The German planes handle heavier, like you’re dragging a sack of bricks through the sky, but that BF110 packs a punch if you use it right.

What’s cool is you can switch perspectives—one mission you’re defending London with the RAF, the next you’re bombing airfields as the Luftwaffe. And if flying isn’t your thing, there’s this nerve-wracking strategy layer where you play as the guy moving squadrons around a map, trying to guess where the next attack’s coming from. Mess up, and you’ll hear pilots screaming over the radio as their icons vanish. Brutal, but it nails that "desperate scramble" vibe of the real battle.

They nailed the little things too: time speeds up when you’re just cruising (thank god), and there’s a practice mode where your plane’s basically indestructible—handy when you keep stalling during takeoff. It’s old-school hard, but in that way where every successful landing feels like a victory. If you’ve got a soft spot for history or just love the idea of outmaneuvering three Messerschmitts with a damaged wing, this one’s worth dusting off the joystick for.

Each game uses different controls, most DOS games use the keyboard arrows. Some will use the mouse , "Alt" ,"Enter" and "Space bar".