What is your favourite PC Combat Flight game?

Lord of the Farce · Post by **Lord of the Farce** » 2004-11-23 03:08am

... Also known as Lord of the Farce is thinking of buying a new (as in I haven't played yet, rather than "new release") Combat Flight game for his computer, and this is as good of an idea as any other.

Although I prefer action over sim, this thread is open to any PC Combat Flight game.

My own favourites...
X-Wing Alliance: Fast paced gameplay with just enough realism, supplimented by an interesting storyline. Always love the little trinkets you get after certain missions, and the description of these items.

Crimson Skies: As above, except that there are less trinkets, and instead you get a whole bunch of newspaper clippings related to the gameplay, and you also get a photo album which shows screenshoots automatically made if you pull off certain stunts during the game (eg. flying through a cave, or one of the "O" in the Hollywood signs, etc)

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2004-11-23 05:07am

Since it appears you have a joystick, get Freespace 2 free.

Best.Space.Sim.Ever!

EDIT: let me say of the virtues of FS2:

Graphics, that when upgraded with the Upgrade, match any flight sim today.

Gameplay: no one can beat Clash Of Titans, no where can you have 6KM long ships dueling with you pecking away.

Sound: Simple, awesome.

Rogue 9 · Post by **Rogue 9** » 2004-11-23 05:09am

Flight sim? USAF, hands down. If you want a space sim, go XWA assuming you haven't already.

Post by **weemadando** » 2004-11-23 07:35am

WW2:
First Place
IL2 Sturmovik (and expansions/sequels)
Its beautiful with fantastic flight modelling and its the Eastern Front baby!

Second Place
1942 Pacific Air War
Looks dated, but still plays like a dream - the gameplay is pure gold.

Honourable Mention:
B-17 II
Its kinda like "The Sims" on a B-17 - well worth the price of admission.

Modern:
First Place
Total Air War
Mmmmm... Dynamic campaign... So sweeeeet.

Second Place
Flanker 2.0/LO:MAC (tied)
Russian goodness from Eagle Dynamics. One is fantastic because of the focus of it and the amazing flight modelling. The other because well, shit - it be pretty and I can fly a FrogFoot.

Honourable Mention
Falcon 3.0
This is a game I STILL play and its more than 10 years old. It fucking rocks.

Space:
First Place
Freespace 2
No other space sim has captured the epic feeling of space warfare like this baby. SATHANAS AHOOOOY!

Second Place
TIE Fighter
Dum dum dum dum, dum dumdum, dum dumdum, d-d-d-d-dummm... Its all that needs to be said.

Honourable Mention
X-2 The Threat
Not sure if this really qualifies as a space "sim" but be damned if it ain't several hundred hours worth of immersive gameplay - and the ability to return with a fleet of cap ships (when you're rich and powerful) to fuck the itty bitty small-time pirates who fucked you earlier in the game is damn wicked.

Action/Miscellaneous:
First Place
Crimson Skies
Be damned if knights of the sky operating out of Zeppelins ain't cool. And if it ain't - then the gameplay still is.

Second Place
Lander (the 1999 version)
Shit dawg - this was one motherfucking hard game. But ever so rewarding once you mastered it. I believe its available on the underdogs if people are interested.

Honourable Mention
Subwar 2050
Not strictly speaking a "flight" sim, but it was wicked - blowing up a sonobuoy then corralling the now freed whales away from the Japanese whale farm in Antarctica to fighting eco-terrorists in the ruins of a sunken greek city in the Med. Fantastic all the way and with some very very cool "sonar" based gameplay dynamics.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2004-11-23 09:19am

Rogue 9 wrote:Flight sim? USAF, hands down. If you want a space sim, go XWA assuming you haven't already.

/me laughs. Jane's USAF cannot compare to the goodness of IL-2 (though it is more modern) and XWA < Tie Fighter. IL-2's semi-sequel/semi-expansion Pacific Fighters is out now as well.

Losonti Tokash · Post by **Losonti Tokash** » 2004-11-23 09:35am

No one mentions Allegiance? Depressing. Probably my favorite space-sim, ever.

Edit: And it's free!

mauldooku · Post by **mauldooku** » 2004-11-23 09:52am

Losonti Tokash wrote:No one mentions Allegiance? Depressing. Probably my favorite space-sim, ever.

Edit: And it's free!

That game's awesome! It's the Natural Selection of Flight Sims, since it incorporates RTS gameplay with a 'commander' role. Technially, it isn't free: it is 'abandonware', since IIRC it was originally a Microsoft product. Now, though, the community supports it completely. I'm terrible at it, but it's truly an excellent game!

Drooling Iguana · Post by **Drooling Iguana** » 2004-11-23 12:43pm

Corncob 3D! Sure, it's old, and the graphics are crap by today's standards, but you get to fight UFOs in WW2 fighters, and it also lets you get out of the plane and run around on foot (which is required for some missions.)

Not sure how well it runs on modern computers, though.

Rogue 9 · Post by **Rogue 9** » 2004-11-23 12:49pm

phongn wrote:XWA < Tie Fighter.

I refer to XWA with the enhancements of the Upgrade Project, HEATHEN! *Destroys a couple dozen TIE fighters with the might of the X-wing.*

http://www.xwaupgrade.com

Grand Admiral Thrawn · Post by **Grand Admiral Thrawn** » 2004-11-23 12:58pm

For modern day, Lock On: Modern Air Combat is the best sim on the market (and just about the only one made in years damnit). For WWII, Il-2:Forgotten Battles+Ace Expansion is just as good, and Pacific Fighters looks amazing.

Wicked Pilot · Post by **Wicked Pilot** » 2004-11-23 01:08pm

Falcon 4.0 is the greatest, that is if you're man enough to handle it.

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2004-11-23 01:09pm

Losonti Tokash wrote:No one mentions Allegiance? Depressing. Probably my favorite space-sim, ever.

Edit: And it's free!

Freespace 2 is free.

Post by **RogueIce** » 2004-11-23 01:17pm

Rogue 9 wrote:Flight sim? USAF, hands down. If you want a space sim, go XWA assuming you haven't already.

Bah, fuck USAF and it's non-working menus. Stupid drop down things don't drop down! ARG!

Anyway, my favorite one of all time has to be Jane's USNF 97. It's old and the graphics ain't great, but damned if it ain't fun! And it fits the action over sim thing real well, since this is pretty old.

Personally, I'm all for that. Maybe I'll make a thread about it...

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2004-11-23 01:56pm

Rogue 9 wrote:
phongn wrote:XWA < Tie Fighter.
I refer to XWA with the enhancements of the Upgrade Project, HEATHEN! *Destroys a couple dozen TIE fighters with the might of the X-wing.*

http://www.xwaupgrade.com

XWA has prettier graphics but TIE Fighter is a better game hands down.

Terr Fangbite · Post by **Terr Fangbite** » 2004-11-23 05:43pm

I've always liked Red Baron (that old dos game) and Klingon Academy

Losonti Tokash · Post by **Losonti Tokash** » 2004-11-23 05:44pm

Ace Pace wrote:
Losonti Tokash wrote:No one mentions Allegiance? Depressing. Probably my favorite space-sim, ever.

Edit: And it's free!
Freespace 2 is free.

Does it kick as much ass? I've never played the thing.

Ma Deuce · Post by **Ma Deuce** » 2004-11-23 06:47pm

Ace Pace wrote:
Losonti Tokash wrote:No one mentions Allegiance? Depressing. Probably my favorite space-sim, ever.

Edit: And it's free!
Freespace 2 is free.

Where can I download it? I've seen it mentioned on several sites as being free, but I've never been able to find a download of the full game...

EDIT: Nevermind, I found a copy and I'm downloading now...

Seggybop · Post by **Seggybop** » 2004-11-23 07:29pm

TIE Fighter (original DOS version) will probably be my favorite forever.
Freespace 2 is also very good.

I really like the flight components of the Battlefield games. It's not realistic at all, but it doesn't matter.

Since everyone said it's so awesome, I bought IL-2 a few months ago. Unfortunately, it refuses to accept my controls. Depressing.

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2004-11-23 09:29pm

Tie fighter defender of empire

note I suck at carrier landings and hate rambo in the sky so

Blackbird oh yes chess with an unarmed plane.....

Lord of the Farce · Post by **Lord of the Farce** » 2004-11-23 10:31pm

Anybody else ever played TIE Fighter with Pilot/Co-Pilot? Or in other words, while the Pilot flies with the joystick (and fine-tune shooting with the mouse), the Co-Pilot manages all of the instruments (eg. shield facing, energy management, etc)?

Used to play TIE Fighter like that with a friend of my (on his computer), great fun to be had.

Rogue 9 · Post by **Rogue 9** » 2004-11-23 10:32pm

Lord of the Farce wrote:Anybody else ever played TIE Fighter with Pilot/Co-Pilot? Or in other words, while the Pilot flies with the joystick (and fine-tune shooting with the mouse), the Co-Pilot manages all of the instruments (eg. shield facing, energy management, etc)?

Used to play TIE Fighter like that with a friend of my (on his computer), great fun to be had.

I prefer to do it myself.

Captain tycho · Post by **Captain tycho** » 2004-11-23 10:59pm

Ma Deuce wrote:
Ace Pace wrote:
Losonti Tokash wrote:No one mentions Allegiance? Depressing. Probably my favorite space-sim, ever.

Edit: And it's free!
Freespace 2 is free.
Where can I download it? I've seen it mentioned on several sites as being free, but I've never been able to find a download of the full game...

EDIT: Nevermind, I found a copy and I'm downloading now...

Say Deuce, could you PM the link where you found it? I would greatly appreciate it.

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2004-11-23 11:11pm

Lord of the Farce wrote:Anybody else ever played TIE Fighter with Pilot/Co-Pilot? Or in other words, while the Pilot flies with the joystick (and fine-tune shooting with the mouse), the Co-Pilot manages all of the instruments (eg. shield facing, energy management, etc)?

Used to play TIE Fighter like that with a friend of my (on his computer), great fun to be had.

hell yes, My brother or sister make greak pilots I am the master of sensor check, coutermeasures, and all other keyboard commands...

Stofsk · Post by **Stofsk** » 2004-11-23 11:55pm

Lord of the Farce wrote:Anybody else ever played TIE Fighter with Pilot/Co-Pilot? Or in other words, while the Pilot flies with the joystick (and fine-tune shooting with the mouse), the Co-Pilot manages all of the instruments (eg. shield facing, energy management, etc)?

Used to play TIE Fighter like that with a friend of my (on his computer), great fun to be had.

YES.

I've recently put X-wing and TIE Fighter back onto my old computer after borrowing them from a friend, and the first thing I noticed was that everything was a 100x harder to do because before it was me on the joystick and a friend handling the shields, throttle, targetting etc.

Both are still playable, though X-wing is clearly inferior to TIE Fighter (I would like to pilot a B-wing with its cannons placed in a sensible fashion, same goes for the X-wing. When I shoot, I want to hit something), but the unfortunate reality is they didn't design the game with customisation in mind, as you can't set the hotkeys for the different things you gotta do. There were some awkwardly placed keys as well: for example, if you want to equalise the angling on your shields you have to press the 'S' key. Unfortunately, this is right next to the 'D' key, which causes you to go into the damage control screen. If you're playing X-wing at least, this usually ends up being jarring and takes you out of the 'moment'.

Another example is the 'X' key, which you press to link your cannons together. It happens to be right next to the 'C' key, which causes you to start the inflight camera. That's more of an annoyance than anything.

As for TIE Fighter, though I think it's much better than X-wing, I hate flying TIEs for the simple reason that they don't have shields.

Not even variant fighters with slapped on shields. None. Zip. It's frustrating playing a battle where three hits and you're out. At least in X-wing, you could do some funky shit with the shields to stay in the game, and it was hard work. But if you're in a TIE, forget about it. Pretty much the only detraction I can think on the game, and it's offset when you can play in gunboats and other shielded TIEs.

Sarevok · Post by **Sarevok** » 2004-11-24 12:07am

I like Tachyon : Fringe, Microsoft Combat Flight simulator, Starlancer and Freelancer..