Rise of Flight: The First Great Air War Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I got Rise of Flight about a week ago and I liked it just fine, but now they released two additional planes for FREE, the Albatros D.5 and the Nieuport 28! Now I really like this simulation and the developer posted a very nice statement about future plans and I like what I see. Plus they recently rolled out a patch that fixed issues with joystick inversion and TrackIR. Also, I've never seen a product like this generate such passionate and harsh comments amongst us flight-simmers. Weird.
Anyways, here's what I like and dislike about it.
Likes
- Very pretty visuals. 3D Models, lighting, explosions, clouds, weather are all top notch.
- Awesome damage model. Canvass did not stop bullets very well. The best damage model in the genre by far in my opinion.
- Fantastic Flight Model.
- Good sounds.
- Animated pilot with hand signals.
- Once in cockpit a very high level of immersion.
- Dogfights are a ton of fun. You're sweating by the end.
- Flexible view system with TrackIR 6DOF support.
- Many tweakable settings and cheats to make it a little easier.
All these positives combine to make the flying and fighting experience in ROF one of the best I have ever had.
Dislikes
- Activation scheme. Seems excessive, but I see why they did it. Hope they lighten up a bit.
- Multi-play is not that popular yet. Maybe now that they added more planes it will pick up.
- Hard to hit targets. Maybe the flight model is too real?
- Can't adjust stick sensitivity.
- GUI needs tweaking.
- Missing good mission de-briefs.
The negatives make some of the outside the cockpit experiences not as fun or as polished as it could be, but all this can be fixed.
Overall I really like flying ROF. Most of the complaints I see are about things outside of the cockpit. I do most of my flying in the cockpit not in the GUI, so personally I am happy with my purchase of ROF and recommend it to my simmer friends. It's not perfect by any stretch, but I like the direction the developer is going. Just like many other flight-sims the best is yet to come, but this one should get there pretty quick. I respect those that disagree though.


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IL-2 Sturmovik: 1946 Review

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(More customer reviews)This is such a fun game, and since it has all 5 IL2 based games in it there are many planes to choose from. The dynamic campign allows you to choose between many different nations and with the Pacific Fighters game allows you to fight in pacific battles using carrier aircraft. My only gripe with that section is that there arn't many torpedo bombers in the game, and the ones that are, most of the time cannot use torpedos only bombs. But other wise it is a very fun game. It can be set to easy for very inexperienced armchair pilots, or hard for diehard pilots. The aircraft damage looks pretty good and so do the aircraft. The engine sounds do sound a little generic and weak, but overall arn't too bad to deal with. Be sure to play this game with a joystick, because it is almost impossible to get the full experience with the keyboard. Great game.

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IL-2 Sturmovik: 1946 Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I've been a pilot for over 40 years and have flown everything from '20s biplanes to Navy carrier jets...and this sim is awesome.
Note: it is on DVD not CD as stated here. And it is NOT a game. There is a significant learning curve involved to successfully fly these aircraft in full-on realistic mode. It does have 'simple' modes that make it possible for anyone to fly, but don't think of this as an arcade game in any sense.
Trust me, if you can fly these birds in full realism mode, with a little time flying under the supervision of an instructor you can fly the real thing. Here there are fewer cues (just sight and sound), but in real aircraft you also have so-called proprioceptive sensations too (the seat of your pants, for one), among others.
Buy it, you'll like it! The graphics are gorgeous, the scenarios are amazing. You won't find modern airliners, but you'll find most of the WW2 machines (Russian, German, Japanese, British and American).
A flight over the cliffs of dover at sunset in a Spitfire may bring tears to your eyes...it did me.

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Wings of Prey: WWII Air Combat Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Here are some things that I would've liked to know about this product before buying:
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Minimum System Requirements For Wings of Prey
Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP SP3
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 3200MHz
Memory: 1 GB RAM Hard Drive: 10 GB of free space
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 7600 256 Mb or ATI Radeon X1650 256 Mb
DirectX: DirectX 9.0c
Sound card: DirectX compatible
Internet connection: 56 kb/s (for online play and to register your copy of wings of prey)
Keyboard, mouse
The Recommended Requirements For Wings of Prey
Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP SP3 / Microsoft Windows Vista SP1 / Microsoft Windows 7
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 2400 MHz
Memory: 2 GB RAM or more Hard Drive: 10 GB of free space
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 512 Mb or ATI Radeon 4850 512 Mb
DirectX: DirectX 9.0c
Sound card: DirectX compatible with support 5.1
Internet connection: 512 Kb/s (for online play and to register your copy of wings of prey)
Keyboard, mouse, joystick (a version of Thrustmaster joysticks, as the game can be configured by one of the thrustmaster joystick layouts, although everything can be customized)Wings of Prey: WWII Air Combat is a combat flight simulator. With the right amount of focus placed on the actual flying of the craft to the extremely well done aerial combat. The game comes with several difficulty levels that increase the actual realism of the flying itself and the enemy's skill. There are a variety of missions, including dog fights, and bombing with a large selection of planes to keep any aviation man happy. The game can be played with keyboard and mouse, but a version of the Thrustmaster joysticks such as Thrustmaster T Flight Hotas X is much better suited to play the game with.
Overall it's an excellent game that any combat flight sim junky will love.
Some off hand thoughts:
No actual taking off/ landing at base
On the harder difficulties there is limited fuel/ ammo (no way to restock) but makes it more challenging
Really good graphics & music (would recommend having above the minimum requirements to enjoy the game even more)
Multiple missions for plenty of fun offline (with good replay value)
Online capable for multiplayer missions/ combat
Roughly 45 different planes to fly
Single Missions and Campaign Mode
--Quick Side Note--
This is a game, and while the realism of the flying can be increased with the difficulty level, it is still meant to be played as a GAME, not an actual full on flight simulation. I see lots of people are rating this game low because it's not a real simulator or because it doesn't fly like a real aircraft. So I feel bad for apparently not making the point clear that this is a game and mimics flight (controlling your pitch, rudders, altitude, so you don't crash or spin out) while getting into dog fights in the sky. Sorry to all you real flight simulation junkies who were let down.

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IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This game is meant to be a recreation of the Battle of Britain by Maddox, the makers of IL2, which is a classic flight simulator and arguably the best WW2 air warfare simulator for the last few years.
The game was unfortunately released very bugged even after several years of development. Present bugs include: no radio commands; no force feedback; very slow framerates over the land (not the sea) on practically all computers; simple engine management has severe issues; no multi-core processor support; no SLI graphics card support. Patches have been released that address some of the bugs but it presently remains a mess.
My computer is a dual core AMD 4800 X2 with 4GB RAM, ATI 4850 graphics card, Creative Soundcard and Microsoft Sidewinder Joystick running Windows 7 64 bit. On my computer with all the above patches/mods applied the game runs acceptably smoothly on low quality settings which make the towns and London look like Noddy towns and the terrain itself rather bland. It is playable but flying with a decent quality of graphics grinds the game to a slideshow practically. The reason for this is probably because the graphics engine is years old (the game has been in developement for eight years).
The game was released over Steam (a digital distribution site) so an internet connection and a Steam account are required to install and register the game. The boxed version includes a rather pitiful manual and a disk but you still need to download the game via Steam, so its practically pointless getting the boxed version as opposed to getting it directly from Steam (although it may still be cheaper getting the boxed version). However because it requires Steam activation if you don't like it or it doesn't work it will be very difficult to return the game and get your money back. These days most games come with such protection and as such you have to be absolutely sure before you buy the game that it is going to be worth keeping it. Many people have not managed to get this game to work on their computers and have not managed to get their money back.
In terms of gameplay the game models the main aircraft types of the Battle of Britain quite well, you can fly many of them including the bombers and man the turrets. Complex engine management is possible for all flyable planes which models the radiators, mixture controls, throttles, etc, (simple engine management is also possible but is completely bugged). The damage you do when you hit enemy planes is amazing to watch - holes in the wings, dead pilots/gunners, explosions, panels flying off, etc. Aerodynamically however the plane representations are faulted in that it is impossible to fly at high level for some reason.
There is no dynamic/semi-dynamic campaign provided or even a random mission generator, so you are stuck with the presented missions at the moment, which considering the time the game spent in development is surprising. There is a mission creator but it is not a simple task to operate it. There is no immersion outside the missions themselves (the Il2 games have always been quite unimmersive outside the missions which is a definite fault in the gameplay design) and the campaigns are very dry as well even whilst playing them - boring briefings and no historical flavour outside of the flying itself leads to a rather stale environment for a modern game. Its also a real shame that many ancillary but crucial aspects of the Battle of Britain, such as pilot stress/exhaustion, supply effects, base destruction, plane shortages, radar vectoring issues, big wings, etc are not modelled in the game at all. The game presently concentrates purely on the accuracy of the immediate dogfighting combat and planes. Also, disappointingly, the battles themselves are very small affairs - tens of planes not hundreds, so in terms of recreating the Battle of Britain it falls rather flat, which in real life was all about overwelming amounts of German planes being intercepted by few British planes. In fact the game is little more than a series of small skirmishes set within a historical background.
The development team is dedicated and the game is therefore likely to be constantly improved and worked on over the next few months/years, so given time this game may become very good although the extent of issues and shortcomings the game has will not be dealt with quickly. Also potential buyers should also bear in mind that the game was deliberately released at least six months too early, and many people may understandably have issues with rewarding that kind of practice.

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The skies of Britain have always had a regal air. The Royal Air Force, a proud band of dedicated fighters, has always protected the towns and citizens below with might and prowess. But in 1940, the skies darkened. A devastating world war rages across Europe. The land below roils with battle, and the once-peaceful blue realm above swarms with ruthless German and Italian aircraft hungry for destruction. This is the Battle for Britain — the pivotal moment that England could soar to victory or topple into despair. Assume a lofty position, high in the skies over the continent as you enlist in the RAF and join the ranks of the elite pilots in whose hands the very fate of the nation resides. Get ready to prove your mettle in aerial combat as you take part in one of World War II's most infamous battles.

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Lock On Platinum Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I have tried out various sims, and I've found Lock On and Falcon 4 Allied Force to be the best sims for the money.
Get a TrackIR for these: it will greatly enhance the immersion: you won't feel like flying without it.
Pros:
1. Very realistic.
2. Beautifully detailed cockpit, and weapons system.
3. Flight performance is nicely modeled.
4. AI isn't dumb as a brick: you'll have to earn the kills.
5. Runs on older hardware.
Cons:
1. The menu user interface is slightly crummy.
2. Not available as a game download: you need the physical media.
3. Graphics aren't as good as IL2.
4. Minor glitches: on my setup, after landing if I am looking straight, it looks like the entire field is underwater. Looking slightly up makes the glitch go away.
This game is a lot of I highly recommend getting a copy for yourself and your friends.


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