The Collection Chamber: AIRFIX DOGFIGHTER

Bomb the garden, waste the kitchen, slam the door on your enemy, turn out the lights - do anything within your power to destroy and survive.

Take the side of the Axis or Allies and bring your model plane to life in bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchens and more. With 17 authentic World War II planes to choose from and online warfare with up to eight players, Airfix Dogfighter delivers the kind of fun mere plastic and glue could only dream!

~ from the back of the box

For children of a certain age, the Airfix line of injection-moulded model airplanes were their childhood. The British manufacture began life in 1939 and become synonymous with affordable model kits for generations. By the time Airfix Dogfighter arrived in 2000, the brand already carried decades of nostalgia, though for me it always carry memories of unruly globs of hot glue and tiny decals disappearing forever into the carpet. Swedish outfit Unique Development Studios, working alongside Paradox Entertainment, wisely understood that appeal. Rather than attempt a dry simulation, they transformed Airfix's WWII aircraft into living toys engaged in glorious suburban warfare. The iconography of tiny toys doing what the real thing does in an over-sized family home reminds me of the likes of Micro Machines or Re-Volt but instead of racing around a residence, you're dogfighting in a fully explorable family home.

The house itself is the game's secret weapon. Every mission unfolds within an exaggerated domestic battlefield where kitchens hold aircraft carriers and bedrooms are your base of operations. Tables loom like skyscrapers while stairwells become terrifying dives into enemy territory. What makes it especially charming is how naturally the arcade flight model fits the environment. Instead of feeling restrictive, the cramped interiors encourage daring manoeuvres through chair legs, under beds and around dangling lampshades. Flying a Messerschmitt through a hallway while dodging anti-aircraft fire from toy tanks somehow feels entirely believable within the game's gleefully miniature logic.

Collect Stars or Crosses to increase your machine gun's firepower (left).
Hunt out the coloured keys to open up new rooms (right).

Despite the branding, this is not a realistic flight simulator by any means. Not in its level design, but certainly not in its gameplay. Physics are exaggerated, planes can hover with alarming forgiveness and dogfights prioritise spectacle over realism. Yet that accessibility is precisely what makes the game so enjoyable. Within minutes you're barrel-rolling around cereal boxes and taking corners without worrying about stalling or engine management. All you need to worry about is fuel, health and ammunition all of which are scattered throughout the environment as pickups. Yet, missions aren't always about shooting everything. Some require you to daringly steal schematics, others have you searching for coloured keys to unlock closed rooms. One even has you save a trapped wingmen from a glass cloche.

Each room contains a host of destructible items. You can shoot fine china and watch them crash into pieces, more often than not leaving a powerup or collectible in its wake. There are even interactable hotspots too. A single shot to a light switch will flip it off and on while glass windows can be smashed to explore the front garden beyond. Doors open and close with a single bullet; fireplaces can be cast ablaze; levers activated to reveal hidden areas - it all gives the house just enough interactivity to prevent it from becoming simple static scenery. The world constantly invites experimentation even when the mission objectives are relatively straightforward.

Controls may be on the simple side, but is never anything other than eminently playable. You'll mostly be using the arrow keys to move, while D and C controls your speed. No matter which of the many planes you control, their main weapon is a machine gun. Hold down the space bar and you'll be met with a satisfying rat-a-tat that's highly effective in taking down foes - so much that I rarely thought about special weapons (even though I perhaps should have). Get close enough to an enemy target, and it will lock on removing any frustrations with accuracy. Instead, the difficulty comes from your approach. You can run out of ammo, however, so don't just shoot everything at random - no matter how satisfying it may be. When you run out, you will be limited to a single shot every second or so meaning you can still feasible destroy a vase in the hope of earning some more, but it's annoyingly slow to do so. Regardless, it's just enough of a punishment for trigger happy players without locking you in a no-win situation.

Mission objectives are varied and inventive. Here, you have to free your wingman from a glass cloche (left).
Return to base after you've completed your objectives to move on to the next stage (right).

Special weapons are collected throughout the stage and range from rocket launchers and guided missiles to particle beams and atomic bombs. Fired with a tap of the Z key (a little awkward of a position by default - I recommend changing it in the options), they can do massive damage to your enemies. Whatever is equipped is shown in the icon on the bottom of the screen, but a lot of them will also be visible on the actual plane model which is a nice touch.

The aircraft themselves are based on genuine WWII planes from the Airfix catalogue, including Allied and Axis favourites, though their handling differences are deliberately broad rather than technical. They each have their own unique collectible too. Allied planes can collect golden Stars from broken ornaments while the Axis are on the hunt for crosses. These aren't solely about a high score either. For every 10 collected, your machine gun will increase in power. This means that there's a finite amount in each campaign and hunting for them is just as fun as the main mission objectives.

There are twenty missions in total - ten Allied and ten Axis - and while both campaigns revisit the same house, the developers constantly remix the environment to keep it feeling fresh. Certain rooms are closed off during specific operations, furniture gets rearranged and entirely new hazards appear depending on the scenario. One mission may have you escorting bombers through the attic while another turns the garden into a sprawling battlefield littered with anti-aircraft guns. Objectives vary from straightforward dogfights to rescue missions, bombing runs and stealing schematics.

The customisation features are incredible for the time period.
Not only do you have a "House" level editor (left), but also a "Paint Room" to customise your planes (right).

What's especially impressive is how much mileage the game extracts from its single setting. Lesser games would quickly exhaust the novelty of tiny planes in a house, yet Airfix Dogfighter constantly finds new ways to recontextualise familiar spaces. The kitchen alone evolves from an open combat zone into a claustrophobic obstacle course depending on furniture placement and mission scripting. Even replaying missions remains enjoyable simply because flying around the environment never stops being entertaining. Then there's the customisation, which is remarkably generous. The included house editor allows players to rearrange furnishings and objects throughout the environment, dramatically altering the house how you see fit. Not only that, but the game includes a paint and decal editor for aircraft customisation. Just like the Airfix model kits, you can design your own insignias from scratch and even use them in multiplayer. Well, you can in theory. It is unlikely that online multiplayer still works but from what I've seen it was just as a featureful an addition as everything else.

All of this makes Airfix Dogfighter a surprisingly complete package. Graphics are decent, gameplay is delightful and the design is nothing short of great. The campaigns may be short by today's standards, but they offer a huge amount of entertainment. Every mission feels like a child has emptied a toy box across the carpet and declared total war on the furniture. Hidden gem is perhaps an overused phrase, yet it genuinely applies here.

To download the game, follow the link below. This custom installer exclusive to The Collection Chamber uses dgVoodoo to run on modern systems with IMG Drive Lite to mount the CD ISO. nGlide also required for the 3DFX version. Manual included. MP3 Soundtrack included as a separate download. Read the ChamberNotes.txt for more detailed information. Tested on Windows 11.

File Size: 449 Mb. Install Size: 682 Mb. Need help? Consult the Collection Chamber FAQ

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