Suggest a flight combat game?

[Geosurface]

So, I pretty much never, ever play flight simulators of any kind. But, today at Best Buy the Logitech Attack 3 joystick was on clearance and I grabbed it.

I thought I could probably pick up a decent, not too advanced flight combat game on Steam. I see some, but I wanted to get a recommendation. One I noticed on sale was Dogfight 1942.

Would love some suggestions, something that's cheap on Steam.

 

[KaOTiK]

DCS A-10C Warthog

 

[Geosurface]

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm looking into it now but I worry it may be too complex for me.

How simple is the arcade mode? If I just want to mess around is that viable?

 

[Dankk]

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm looking into it now but I worry it may be too complex for me.

A-10C Warthog is one of the most detailed, complex flight sims currently available. I read your question and thought about suggesting it; but didn't for that reason. The learning curve is massive so you may want to look elsewhere.

What's your budget? For $20 you can grab IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover off of Steam. It's a simulator, but you're flying WWII-era planes, so it's still not as complex as flying a modern-day aircraft with a huge cockpit full of digital panels and buttons.

AFAIK, you can actually adjust the realism to fit your comfort level. You can go all out 100% sim, where you manage the fluid levels and stuff while you're flying, or you can pretty much make it auto-pilot and just worry about shooting stuff. On top of that, the graphics are very nice.

I'm not big into flight simulators, so maybe take my suggestion with a grain of salt. I know there's other people on this forum who are a bit more knowledgeable and could help you.

I haven't played Dogfight 1942, but based on your criteria, I would avoid it. It looks way too arcadey, and not very simmy at all. (Unless arcade games are what you're looking for). You want more of a balance between simulation and arcade, no?

 

[acx]

Try Tom Clancy's HAWX series

 

[rivethead]

Wings of Prey is pretty fun and cheap (on steam.....will likely go on sale during the holiday sale if you wait). You can dial in different levels of realism.

Downside is that it requires its own DRM called YuPlay. I've never had issues with YuPlay, but it's annoying to have to deal with that AND steam.

 

[cmdrdredd]

FreeFalcon, an add on for Falcon 4.0. Turn off some of the more difficult settings and you have a pretty good sim that is easy to pick up. If you leave the difficulty up it's pretty much like flying an F16 for real, almost every button in the cockpit works as it does in real jets.

Although Falcon 4 isn't always readily available for the base install.

 

[MiataNC]

WWI = Rise of Flight (http://riseofflight.com/en)has a free full featured demo you can try if you like bi-planes. If you like it, then you only have the buy the planes you want to fly vs a whole game.

WWII = IL2:Sturmovick 1946 is an older game that really shines on modern hardware, and it is packed full of WWII goodness. The list of planes you can fly is huge, and it even sneaks in some "what if" jets that never saw action in WWII

WWII = Cliffs of Dover the successor more or less to IL2:Sturmovik. It requires a lot more CPU/RAM/Video to run at high settings, and is focused only on the Battle of Britain.

Modern = Lockon: Platinum (made by the same developer that created DCS:A-10C mentioned above) is much less complex than DCS:A-10C and is a lot of fun if you want to fly a handful of modern planes (SU-27, Mig-29, F-15, A-10A, and a couple others)

Modern/Etc = The Strike Fighters series by Thirdwire (https://store.thirdwire.com/store.htm). Offers a wide selection of options (mostly Jet age) that are focused more on the lighter side of simulation, but still fun and challenging to fly.

 

[Geosurface]

Thanks for these suggestions guys. I appreciate it.

I'll look into some of these, I'm definitely leaning more toward something pretty casual. I just want to use this Attack 3 joystick, not have to mess with every single button on it routinely... and just fly around shooting some planes and dicking around crashing on purpose, etc haha. Sorry, just not a serious simulator guy. The closest I ever came was MechWarrior 2.

 

[Dankk]

Thanks for these suggestions guys. I appreciate it.

I'll look into some of these, I'm definitely leaning more toward something pretty casual. I just want to use this Attack 3 joystick, not have to mess with every single button on it routinely... and just fly around shooting some planes and dicking around crashing on purpose, etc haha. Sorry, just not a serious simulator guy. The closest I ever came was MechWarrior 2.

In that case, HAWX would be a fine choice.

 

[power_hour]

Combat space games might be fun with a joystick. Games like Galaxy on Fire 2 and X series / Freelancer / Descent might be worth a try. GOG has some of the old classics that Steam don't have. Just Google the games for joystick support before pulling the trigger. GL

 

[finglobes]

DCS A-10C Warthog

That sim is 60% off today on Steam ($16).

There is also Lunar lander but thats a steep curve too (but only $10 on Steam)

http://www.avault.com/reviews/pc/lunar-flight-pc-review/

 

[BladeVenom]

This is another example of how Microsoft has screwed over PC gamers. Microsoft flight simulators became the most popular, putting a few other series out of business, and then they abandon the market because flight sims are too complicated for the Xbox.

 

[stealthycow]

Combat space games might be fun with a joystick. Games like Galaxy on Fire 2 and X series / Freelancer / Descent might be worth a try. GOG has some of the old classics that Steam don't have. Just Google the games for joystick support before pulling the trigger. GL

Space combat is the first thing I thought of. In particular, Free Space 2.


If you want space, go to gog, get Free Space 2 for $10, Free Space 2 Open mod for graphics and stuff, and have an amazing time.


I guess if you're looking for something terribly boring that's NOT in space, ignore this - BUT SPACE.

 

[JamesV]

Too bad Combat Flight Simulator 2, from Microsoft no less, is unavailable on Steam. That is the game you want; if you can stomach old video game graphics, since the actual gameplay is so good. I still boot it up yearly and play through, or download some of the thousands(?) of free add-on planes/etc and mess around.

Any IL game is as bad as A-10 imo. You literally have to be 'on their ass' to hit them, which can result in 10 seconds of firing for every 5 minutes in flight. IL Sturmovik and expansions are great, but they do not have as-forgiving 'easy' modes.

After these, you are pretty much left with 3rd person/plane perspective games, which never seem to be that good. Feel more like controlling a character than being a pilot in a plane imo.

 

[Soundmanred]

Chuck Yeager's Air Combat

 

[GullyFoyle]

The one user review on Metacritic for Dogfight 1942 says joysticks are not supported on the PC version. So scratch that from your list.

 

[AdamantC]

I can't vouch for HAWX 2, but the first title is enjoyable even if the plot is approaching Homefront levels of stupid.

You might also want to give Evochron Mercenary a spin as it has a demo.

 

[Concillian]

Not traditional flight combat, but if you can stand the extremely dated graphics, Descent II / 3 from GoG is great gameplay with a decent joystick.

 

[CVSiN]

DCS A-10C Warthog

this or the new P-51 or LOMAC with the new Flaming Cliffs addon..

anything from DCS period.

or wait a couple months and play World of Warplanes..

yes it is good

 

[Xonim]

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm looking into it now but I worry it may be too complex for me.

How simple is the arcade mode? If I just want to mess around is that viable?

I'd be curious to know this as well. I picked A10C and uh...the helicopter one....for $12.50 each a few weeks ago, just waiting until / after christmas to get a joystick before I check them out. They seem to be highly recommended, but I'm not sure I want to actually be a pilot...

 

[Geosurface]

I've been trying some Freespace 2, need to refine my config more on that but it seems promising.

I've also been playing Air Conflicts - Secret Wars because it was like $3 on Steam.

I'm downloading the HAWX demo now.

 

[sze5003]

You need a hands on throttle stick to enjoy a-10c. I have the game but no stick so I can't play it with a regular joystick. Too many buttons and modifiers if you don't have a saitek x52 pro or another expensive setup. From what I did play I enjoyed the training. Starting that puppy up takes a full 10 min if you really want to know what everything does.

 

[Anteaus]

Chuck Yeager's Air Combat

Lol reaching a bit far back aren't you. Might as well go back a little further with Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Trainer. I put in alot of time with both of those games.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Their finest hour is my favorite. Sunk a lot of time into the non-linear campaigns... It's a little old though.