Whatever Happened to Flight Sims ?
- Thread starter Jaggy
- Start date
Yep, TFX too. The last great flight sim. Any that does get release like Lock-On are far to dry and technical and have all the fun sucked out of it. The learning cearve is far too steep. Even with all setting turned to easy.
I want TFX playability damn it!!
A long while ago I used to play European Air War, not sure if anyone remembers that - not quite "sim" quality but I used to love the mosquito, 4x .303 cal MG's in the nose alongside 4x 20mm cannons... brutal bursts of firepower!
Also was fun seeing how many B17's you could take down with heavily armoured Nazi fighters which handled like bathtubs, before getting plinked by their .50 cals...
Also used to play iF22 - I remember it had a huge manual, and was supposed to react to what you did in theatre.... which was cack, cos more than once i flicked the "unlimited ammo" cheat on, and dropped about 300 bombs and downed 40 odd enemy planes.... and it did nothing to the next mission! Good laugh tho - anyone else played it?
Also was fun seeing how many B17's you could take down with heavily armoured Nazi fighters which handled like bathtubs, before getting plinked by their .50 cals...
Also used to play iF22 - I remember it had a huge manual, and was supposed to react to what you did in theatre.... which was cack, cos more than once i flicked the "unlimited ammo" cheat on, and dropped about 300 bombs and downed 40 odd enemy planes.... and it did nothing to the next mission! Good laugh tho - anyone else played it?
The mid to late 90's seem to have been the high point for flight simulation - F16 Combat Pilot and Gunship 2000 were the main reason I bought an Amiga 600!
Tornado was superb - spent more time planning the mission than flying it.
Strike Commander was good fun.
Longbow 2 was probably the pinnacle of helicopter simulation and indeed most of the EA Janes series were stonking titles.
Unfortunately as already mentioned it seems the games industry and moved on and the publishers aren't interested in a genre that might only see a few 1000 copies.
Blackshark looks interesting but if anything like Lock On and it comes with Starforce protection it was tied down so tight I couldn't even get the game to start. (And I won't knowingly buy Starforce enabled games on principle). Maybe the Tom Clancy title will offer a glimpse of past glory. In the meantime, Falcon 4 AF is about the only link to those heady days of old.
If you want some nostalgic memories of the old days, there's a site by a guy called Migman (can't recall the link offhand) with some great articles and features on the classic titles.
Tornado was superb - spent more time planning the mission than flying it.
Strike Commander was good fun.
Longbow 2 was probably the pinnacle of helicopter simulation and indeed most of the EA Janes series were stonking titles.
Unfortunately as already mentioned it seems the games industry and moved on and the publishers aren't interested in a genre that might only see a few 1000 copies.
Blackshark looks interesting but if anything like Lock On and it comes with Starforce protection it was tied down so tight I couldn't even get the game to start. (And I won't knowingly buy Starforce enabled games on principle). Maybe the Tom Clancy title will offer a glimpse of past glory. In the meantime, Falcon 4 AF is about the only link to those heady days of old.
If you want some nostalgic memories of the old days, there's a site by a guy called Migman (can't recall the link offhand) with some great articles and features on the classic titles.
Soldato
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X-PLANE anyone ? 
Version 9 is out very soon, beta testing has gone on for ages, and through many small and large jumps.
Version 9 is out very soon, beta testing has gone on for ages, and through many small and large jumps.
I've been a subscriber to WWII Online for six years now but I mainly play on the ground (Allied). Some of my best experiences though has been playing as a bombardier/tail gunner on a large bombing run. Love doing that. Let the pilot do all the work while I sit back with my feet up
Same here, was in the beta (ouch! pooch screw that that was), taking a breather for a couple of months to do something different. Fly exclusively allied - to axis players who moan about the Spit IX I tell em to come and fly the Hurri I and the Spit I for the first 2 tiers then tell me how easy it is to be allied.
Nothing like it though for air sims, once I was flying CAP over a town that was being attacked from two sides and a stream of friendly bombers came in below and blew the crap out of the AB. Real wow moment - shame they dont promote that more.
To OP - I would say wait for storm of war - battle of britain, but that could be a loooong wait...
Soldato
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Cool thread topic. I dont think flight sims are petering out. Compared to other games they are the minority I know but what a minoroty that is. I cant think of any other game that has the ginormous amount of add-ons (freeware & payware) that the flight sims do.
And I also gotta say the quality of the free stuff will knock your socks of. Just check out the freeware Tupolev TU154 , Rick Pipers HS.748, Vista Australis, Real Environment Pro etc. and you'll see what I mean. And we cant forget Eric Dantes fabulous free Twin Otter in which Im scooting around at the moment:
FSX is a bit of let-down for me specially with its awful default terrain textures but Im sure thats something the 3rd party gurus will sort out.
I do not see Comanche 4 as a "simulation" - it is an aerial FPS with very unrealistic helicopter dynamics. If all helos flew like that we'd each have one in our backyards hee hee. But putting that aside what a great game it is, brilliant eye-candy - who hasnt hovered low over water in that game just to see the rotor-downwash!
knowledge123 - Thanks for the X-Plane link mate, I never really paid any attention to that one but you reminded me of it again and after years Im going back to their website and can see it has really matured. Hmmm....Im gonna get the demo!
Clear skies and soft landings
And I also gotta say the quality of the free stuff will knock your socks of. Just check out the freeware Tupolev TU154 , Rick Pipers HS.748, Vista Australis, Real Environment Pro etc. and you'll see what I mean. And we cant forget Eric Dantes fabulous free Twin Otter in which Im scooting around at the moment:
FSX is a bit of let-down for me specially with its awful default terrain textures but Im sure thats something the 3rd party gurus will sort out.
I do not see Comanche 4 as a "simulation" - it is an aerial FPS with very unrealistic helicopter dynamics. If all helos flew like that we'd each have one in our backyards hee hee. But putting that aside what a great game it is, brilliant eye-candy - who hasnt hovered low over water in that game just to see the rotor-downwash!
knowledge123 - Thanks for the X-Plane link mate, I never really paid any attention to that one but you reminded me of it again and after years Im going back to their website and can see it has really matured. Hmmm....Im gonna get the demo!
Clear skies and soft landings
You might want to check out Horizons Generation X addon if you like flying England and Scotland. These pics were taken before the new Water Mask updates which are still rolling out which puts 3d textured water on all inland water bodies (any water body bigger than a pond!) and the photo textures mixed on top so the water just looks immensley good. These pics are before the update though.
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=10884537&postcount=3
And some examples of the water masks can be seen here:
http://www.horizonsimulation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2256
Soldato
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Linwig - whoa! That water in the 2nd link is AWESOME. Those are really realistic!! I have to check this out, thanks for the heads up
By the way the bad news about the updates I mentioned, that Water update contains an obscene amount of data which can only be downloaded as a torrent at this moment. They are looking to bring out the update on dvds which can be posted out soon, or the new version of the add on will contain the update. Each update is about 7 gig and there are three to each region...and 3 regions in total. And the night lighting update hasnt come out yet (soon). My ISP loves me.....and boo hiss to 60 gig patches.
Theres been a cultural change in gaming. With the rise of consoles the majority of people/kids don't have the patience for the more involved games. They tend to want simpler games. There still a market for the more advanced games its just smaller and less profitable than selling to the far bigger console market.
Really great shots Rhymin, I am keeping a lookout for the Europe release when it comes out. Also waiting for the Flight Environment X patch to come out, some new goodies and I have seen a few beta shots which look stunning. Keeping up the competition with REX I guess, which also looks amazing but I will stick with FEX for now. Just a question, do you use the UTX meshes with GEX? I am off down to MFI now, for a BLT with DLT