Combat Flight Sim Review @ 3DGW

It's been a long time since I played a flight simulator type of game. Not that I don't like them, I used to play them all the time. I can remember spending countless hours playing Chuck Yeager's Air Combat and Falcon 3.0 to name possibly the best known and best done flight sims of all time. With the limited number of releases since and the fact that they were unacceptable and very poorly done flight sims ( which I will not mention here ) my tastes changed, as did most of ours, to 1st person shooters and real time strategy games.

I had read the endless promotional press releases on Microsoft's new flight simulator game with some skepticism. As who really believes Microsoft can do games at all..let alone do them properly. Well with the current number of quality titles under their belt I am convinced that whatever Microsoft puts its mind to it will be done right. Combat flight simulator is absolutely no exception.

Game Features

With eight modeled aircraft, each with its own realistic flight models and accurately detailed cockpits. You will experience the real flight performance of each aircraft, and of course damage will affect specific aircraft systems on each plane. The war-torn cityscapes of Berlin, London, and Paris are rendered in realistic detail. Spot, chase, and shoot down your enemies in deadly one-on-one dogfights over famous landmarks, including the Eiffel Tower and Big Ben.Import thousands of aircraft from the Internet or from Microsoft Flight Simulator - strap guns and damage profiles to your planes and fly them into battle in Combat Flight Simulator. Imported planes have firing capability and can be destroyed by enemy fire. Or, bring in your favorite scenery from Microsoft Flight Simulator and experience a dogfight over a modern-day-city. Combat Flight Simulator constantly calculates flight stick positions for every enemy plane. Each aircraft is controlled by a sophisticated sighting system that combines realistic fields of view, visual range, and pilot experience level. Expect to face a mix of aces, average pilots, and novices in battle.

Game Play

The game once installed offers you the options of quick combat or campaign missions based missions as well as the usual training missions. Since it had been awhile since I had done any flight sim based games I opted for the training missions and was pleasantly surprised to see that they were very well done. I cleared out some of the joystick rust I had accumulated over the years and was soon ready for the real thing.

Well almost, first before I went into the campaign mode I opted to do the quick combat option to see what the AI was like in the game. The AI is reasonably easy on the rookie settings, however when you start to up the ante you will find that perhaps you need to re-visit the training school again .The single missions are a blast to play and I enjoyed all of them that I tried.
The campaign set is extremely well done and well thought out. I never was one to play campaign style missions so I spent more time on multiplayer and single missions.

What impressed me the absolute most in this game was the graphics. The planes look like you had stepped back in time to the 40's and were actually in the fight of your life. The thrill of seeing a P51 shoot across your nose is quite exciting when it is up close and personal like that. The ground effects were not overlooked and not the usual blocky tan and green ugly patches that was the norm in the last few years. I even stole the second voodoo2 out of the kids machine so that I could experience this game in SLI mode. WOW at 1024x768 this game is even more a killer. For those of you with the newest TnT based boards you are in for a very tasty treat. Once you get that enemy plane lined up in your sites and let loose with gun and cannon fire and see the parts start to fly off of you opponent......what a rush.

Multiplayer Support

Compete or cooperate with up to eight other pilots in W.W.II over the Internet or on the MSN Gaming Zone at www.zone.com. We here at 3D Gaming World have played over d0gma's ISDN line and there was absolutely no lag with 4 players. This is one sweet game to be playing with your friends or soon to be enemy's over the internet or LAN. We have spent many a late night playing with each other over the net and it is quick and easy to setup with no hassle. Kudos to Microsoft for doing this right as well.

Conclusion
You will spend many a safisfying hour on this game either alone or in multiplayer mode. I personally enjoy doing both. I find the single player missions satisfying enough to keep me playing alone for hours . The multiplayer is good for getting together with my fellow portalites and challenging each other to some true tests of our flight capabilities without the 40 mile kills you get with the modern day planes.

If I was a game company out there and was wondering if I had anything to fear from Microsoft I would be afraid, very afraid. They kicked butt with Close Combat and now are repeating that kind of success with this release. This is another fine game by Microsoft that is done the way it should be..RIGHT and complete to the last detail. If you are looking for a game in the flight sim genre this is one to pick up or put it on your Santa wish list for the Xmas season.

I am once again a flight sim junky and enjoy kicking butt dog fighting style...........thank you Microsoft for rekindling a game genre that I had thought was lost.