flight sims: off to the wild blue yonder?

[pontifex]

are there any good flight sims these days?
i remember back in the 486 days there were tons of pc flight sims and most were good. now we're lucky if we get a flight sim. guess no one really plays them much anymore?

i'd like a flight sim with combat, and preferably online multiplayer flight sim combat.
i had Heroes of the Pacific in ym hand the other day but i had never heard of it and no one at the store new anything about it. it looked cool, but basing a game on looks anymore is a recipe for disaster.

i also noticed a newish looking Falcon game.

so recommend me some good combat flight sims (if there are any), modern or WWII works fine.

edit: ooh, found a demo of heroes of the pacific. will try that out.

still looking for suggestions though.

 

[AdamSnow]

I loved playing around with the Microsoft Flight Sims when I was younger... Always wished for an amazing version that had landscapes, etc that I could fly my helicopter around and everything

no such luck - and it doesn't look like they are making another one after the 2004 edition.

 

[imported_FishTaco]

Falcon 4:Allied Force is a recently released upgrade of Falcon 4.

http://www.simhq.com/_air5/air_160a.html

 

[pontifex]

i went looking for more games and there is next to nothing new for flight sims...

 

[pontifex]

yikes! good thing i didn't buy heroes of the pacific! that is terrible!! too arcadey for me.

 

[Hotpepperz]

Battlefield 2 has some nice ariel combat for all the flighty people. BF2 is not based around air combat though. They have a demo for free download although it is over 500Mb. I have been in some pretty intense head to head ariel battles. Tons of fun.

I have had Air Corps and Red Baron 2. All good graphics for the time, but somewhat cartoonish for todays graphics.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: Hotpepperz
Battlefield 2 has some nice ariel combat for all the flighty people. BF2 is not based around air combat though. They have a demo for free download although it is over 500Mb. I have been in some pretty intense head to head ariel battles. Tons of fun.

I have had Air Corps and Red Baron 2. All good graphics for the time, but somewhat cartoonish for todays graphics.

i do have the full version of bf2 but thats nowhere close to what i'm looking for.

it really sucks, everything out seems to have bad reviews or just looks crappy (graphics).

 

[bchivers]

I just bought Pacific Fighters to-day,haven't had much time to play with it yet but it looks good to me. Much better than Heros of the Pacific.

 

[Eolis]

Look at Lock On. Its a flight simulator, not arcade flight like BF2.

http://www.lo-mac.com/

Even though the game is not new, it takes a fairly good comp to run it at max.

Some screen shots:
1
2
3
4

 

[klah]

Originally posted by: AdamSnow
I loved playing around with the Microsoft Flight Sims when I was younger... Always wished for an amazing version that had landscapes, etc that I could fly my helicopter around and everything

no such luck - and it doesn't look like they are making another one after the 2004 edition.

Here is a list of blogs from many people at MS who are actively working on the next version of Flight Simulator:

http://forums.flightsim.com/dc/dcboard...._topic&forum=32&topic_id=15&mesg_id=15

 

[sigs3gv]

FlightGear?

 

[gorcorps]

Originally posted by: Eolis
Look at Lock On. Its a flight simulator, not arcade flight like BF2.

http://www.lo-mac.com/

Even though the game is not new, it takes a fairly good comp to run it at max.

Some screen shots:
1
2
3
4

The terrain and stuff didn't look too bad, but the hud and cockpit look gross .

 

[Matt2]

Janes had the best flight sims. Longbow, Longbow 2, USNF'97, ATF, F-15, IAF, F/A-18, USAF... now those were some thoroughly enjoyable flight sims.

 

[pontifex]

i've read from many reviews that LOMAC a very buggy game too, even with the latest patches.

i think right now i might go with the new falcon game. i need to see if there is a demo 1st though.

you know, i wonder if the reason we saw a huge drop in flight sims is because of 9/11 and that the terrorists used flight sim programs to help them learn to fly?

 

[Seeruk]

I too was looking for a good FS recently, but found nada...

The most recent good flight sims (again looking purely at combat-orientated ones) for me were CFS3 which I have lost and IL2 Sturmikov (misplaced disc 2 ).

Both games brought my machine to a virtual crawl at the time and I would love to go back to them now with the beast that I have

Anyway - I think that the reason there arent many flight sims is that they are not actully that popular. I mean real serious flight sims where I can snap the wings off my Spitfire if I attempt a loop whilst plummeting in a nosedive at 750 mph or so

I saw a study recently that showed that people just don't get immersed in a flight sim like they do in a FPS with a strong story or a MMORPG. The most popular games were those that had a strong narrative and people felt attached to their character. The least popular was flight sims because they felt no story or attachment to their avatar (which at the end of the day is a plane afterall )

So yeah I wanna see something new and great too - but if anyone has suggestions I am happy to hear them

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: bchivers
I just bought Pacific Fighters to-day,haven't had much time to play with it yet but it looks good to me. Much better than Heros of the Pacific.

i looked up that game after you mentioned it. it looks cool. graphics aren't the best.

 

[43st]

Anything based on the IL2 engine is awesome, great graphics and amazing flight "feeling". This would include...

- IL2 (older stand alone game)
- Forgotten Battles
- Pacific Fighters
- Ace's Expansion pack (FB, PF, AEP work together as a merged install)

Look at Hyperlobby for online action. Check out SimHQ for forums and such.

 

[pontifex]

warbirds 2005, just found that. too bad it costs money to play though.
will have to check out the trial. again, graphics aren't great but seems ok enough.

 

[ViperXX]

Another vote for the IL2 series. Best WW2 flight sim on the market.

 

[pontifex]

warbirds sucks....

i think i'm just totally out of luck

just tried a demo of LOMAC. might have been cool if i could get it to work right. all i could do was fly, not combat. none of the buttons on the kkeyboard or joystick made it fire guns or missiles.... couldn't even figure out how to use throttle or anything...left, right, up, and down is all i could do really.

 

[sonoma1993]

they need to make flightsim game that'll have an awesome multiplayer mode. It would be awesome tobe in air to air combat against 15-40 people instead of a computer.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: sonoma1993
they need to make flightsim game that'll have an awesome multiplayer mode. It would be awesome tobe in air to air combat against 15-40 people instead of a computer.

warbirds is primarily an online multiplayer game. i didn't like it though and not sure its worth the 13.95 aq month either...

 

[43st]

Here you go, buy this... IL2: Forgotten Battles Gold Pack

The gold pack includes the Ace's Expansion. Down the road you can purchase Pacific Fighters.

The other options are Falcon 4, Lomac, and maybe the new BoBII. The IL2 series honestly beats them all though.

 

[EagleKeeper]

USAF and USN have excellent sim training packages.

Stop by the local recruiter and ask how to get one.

 

[warcrow]

I hear Gradius IV has an amazing physics engine -might be too arcadey for you though.