I want to fly...

[Rodion Romanovich]

...and shoot down planes, any time period is fine. Which game should I look for? As usual with me, I really want there to be a demo available before I get the game so please only such games.

[edyzmedieval]

You have this:

- Lock On Modern Air Combat (LOMAC)
- Falcon 4: Allied Force
- IL2 Sturmovik
- Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator 3

Not sure if they have demos. The thing is, they all are good or in a case, EXCELLENT (Falcon 4, which is what I play) and that the money is really well invested. My personal take is the Falcon 4, but you have to be a hardcore flyer to love this game, as the campaigns and missions are complex.

[Beirut]

In all truth, you have only two choices; the IL2 series for WWII action or Lock On for modern jets. Falcon 4 is a wonderful sim with insane depth, but it`s hardcore to the max and can be very, very complicated to program and fly. Microsoft Combat Flight Sim 3 is a bona fide slice of dog excrement pie. Horrid beyond words, terrible graphics, and a CPU pig to boot. Don`t install it even if it`s free.

You best bet, really, is the IL2 series. WWII action with a huge amount of planes to choose from and lots and lots of things to do. You can get anything from the original IL2-Sturmovik sim, which is still very good and will run super fast on newer machines to the new IL2-46 game which has about 200 different planes to fly (fighters, bombers, biplanes, jets), fifty maps to fly over (Asia, Europe, Africa), and an endless variety of things to do. The mission editor is massive and easy to use. There is no other sim that compares to it, and, it`s very easy to get into and have fun with.

Lock On is good, very pretty, runs ok on most machines if you keep the action light. There are six planes to fly, a good mission editor, and two new expansion packs. The A-10 action is good fun.

If you can, find the original IL2-Sturmovik game. It five or six years old, will probably cost about five bucks, and will get you into the air fast, and like I said, on any newish machine you`ll get fantastic frame rates even with heavy air to air action going on. I think you can still get the demo. The newer IL2-46 sim looks just like the original, but a thousand times bigger.

Also, and obviously, you`ll need a flightstick. Saitek is a good choice.

[Kekvit Irae]

If you want to forgo realism for fun, Ace Combat series for the console is a great series. Sometimes you just want to blow stuff up without having to worry about having a pilots license just to play.

[Raz]

Ace Combat = Win. End of discussion.

Oh demos. Well you could always buy it from a store (make sure that they have a light policy on returns) and just send it back if you don't like it. Get cash if possible, but if you have to buy something else from the store, just get the next game on your list. =D

[Husar]

Good points from Beirut, here is the IL2 demo.
There's also Strike Fighters or one of it's newer incarnations but they have no demo as far as I'm aware.

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

Is this your first flight sim? If so, start a little simpler - Wings Over Europe is great, and you can up the difficulty settings gradually for a much more challenging game as you grow more experienced. You can get a ton of freeware add-ons as well.

After you're sick of that (which will take a long time), Lock On is a great way to go. It's pretty much the same thing, but a little more complex, I suppose.

Otherwise, go with IL2. It's another great sim for sure.

[Rodion Romanovich]

Is this your first flight sim?

I've played some old Ms Flight simulator (non-combat) and various arcade-ish flight games

[Beirut]

There are several flightsims out there, but, as mentioned, nothing compares to IL2-46.

Dogfights. Ground attack. Naval action with carrier landings. You can simulate anything from WWI biplane action to post-WWII jets. The mission editor will let you set up a simple one-on-one dogfight over the desert to recreating massive (and historically realistic) battles over Stalingrad, Pearl Harbour, Normandy, and dozens of other places. You can attack shipping convoys in the frozen Russian north, fly bombing runs over Japan, pound Panzer columns in France, attack huge bomber formations over Germany. It's endless.

The sim quality is very good, nice planes, good flight models and cockpits, but the mission builder is incredible. Hundreds of interactive kinds of planes, trains, tanks, artillery, vehicles, ships, submarines, and close to a thousand ground objects (including special effects) available to build anything you can possibly imagine. One of the coolest things is to recreate a night bombing run over a burning city. Searchlights will look for you and lock on, the flak pounds you, air raid sirens are screaming, and huge columns of smoke obscure the view. It's quite spectacular.

Now stop wasting valuable flying time! Spend the twenty or thirty bucks and get airborne.

[Rodion Romanovich]

That's a roger, sir!

[Beirut]

Check these out. These are both IL2-46.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=wpdn6Y65WOU&feature=related

This one would require a very heavy rig, but it's pretty cool and shows what's possible with the sim.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=x0mMhkMWR7A&feature=related

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

This one would require a very heavy rig, but it's pretty cool and shows what's possible with the sim.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=x0mMhkMWR7A&feature=related

Dear Lord...

That's just awesome.

[Rodion Romanovich]

Looks a bit like the battle of Midway, maybe that was the intention?

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

IL2 and FSX are at the top of my "to-buy" list, and I might get one of the two today.

[Beirut]

IL2 and FSX are at the top of my "to-buy" list, and I might get one of the two today.

Both are great but, obviously, very different.

FSX is non-combat and requires heavy duty hardware. My E6700/2GB RAM/8800 640MB GTS could be brought to it's knees by FSX. Also, though it's not required, FSX almost compels you to buy add-on programs. You can spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars upgrading FSX. It can be an expensive addiction. Mind you, if you have the hardware and the budget, it's insanely gorgeous.

IL2-46 is pure combat and screams on that system. It looks great, flies great, and the $30 you spend on it is the only money you need to spend.

Mind you, in either case, you're going to want a HOTAS (Hands On Throttle And Stick) system which can cost $200 (or more), or can be put together for 1/4 of that price with two Saitek flightsticks (my choice).

[Veho Nex]

Is it just me or does ubisoft pump out some of the best fighting sims around

Silent hunter series

IL2

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

Both are great but, obviously, very different.

FSX is non-combat and requires heavy duty hardware. My E6700/2GB RAM/8800 640MB GTS could be brought to it's knees by FSX.

Yes, I know. I've got a similar rig to yours - Core 2 Duo E6600/2GB RAM/8800 640MB GTS Superclocked/Windows XP Pro SP2. I reckon I might be able to do medium to medium high, without any airport traffic beyond necessary.

Also, though it's not required, FSX almost compels you to buy add-on programs. You can spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars upgrading FSX. It can be an expensive addiction. Mind you, if you have the hardware and the budget, it's insanely gorgeous.

How's the freeware for FSX? I know it's good for Wings over Europe, which is the reason I'm so in love with it (the user-made planes are brilliant, beautiful beyond belief). That being said, they're two completely different sims.

IL2-46 is pure combat and screams on that system. It looks great, flies great, and the $30 you spend on it is the only money you need to spend.

I have CFS3, but I like the additional graphics IL2 offers. I've tested it out before, and very much liked it. Again, however, I don't know how good the freeware add-ons are. More or less, freeware add-ons and their availability is my first consideration in buying a sim, after I make sure I can run it, of course.

Mind you, in either case, you're going to want a HOTAS (Hands On Throttle And Stick) system which can cost $200 (or more), or can be put together for 1/4 of that price with two Saitek flightsticks (my choice).

I've got a Logitech Extreme 3D Pro, with a throttle on it of course. I don't really want to upgrade my flight sim hardware just yet, so will that do for FSX or IL2?

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

Well, I got myself FSX.

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

Beirut,

I have graphics overall on Medium Low

Aircraft on Medium High

Scenery on Medium High

Weather on Medium High

Traffic on Very Low



Any changes you'd make?

[Beirut]

Let's take this to the MS Flight Simulator thread just to stay OT.

[edyzmedieval]

I have the Logitech Extreme 3D Pro too, and I'm very pleased by it.
It's very good for the price.

[Hound of Ulster]

I concur with the assessments of Ace Combat. If you have a playstation 2 AC4, AC5 and ACZero are all good buys. The backstories are actually interesting too. AC6 is gorgeoues on the XBOX360, but its brutal on the Ace difficulty setting. The Ace Combat series is more sim than most people give it credit for. The only real concession to gameplay is the almost unlimited amount of ammo you get.

[Quirinus]

To offer an unorthodox choice, I'd say Echelon, if you're into futuristic aircraft. They all have cool names like the Wraith, or the Werewolf. The missions are challenging, but the dogfights are spectacular. You can enable ammo limit and even have infinite health if you just want to kick some ass, too. The requirements are minimal-- if it can run on my cranky old tablet PC, it can run anywhere.

Though, I haven't played any other flight sim, so I don't have any standards of comparison.