Gaming Damage Inc review

http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/xbox-360/2012/08/30/damage-inc-pacific-squadron-wwii/1

 

I miss the days of MS Combat Flight Sim 1 and 2. Nothing seems to have come close to those games and it seems a much forgotten genre. I really do miss flight games, H.A.W.X was OK and had potential but was far too arcade like for me with too many over the top controls. I just want a good combat flight game... Is that too much to ask? These days it would seem so.

 

@schizofrog

Check out DCS they are amazing and have just opened up a sort of SDK for thrid party addinns to DCS world. If you want to add a plane it has to live up to the highly detailed 6DoF benchmarks they have in the A-10, KA-50, and P-51.

so far there are already a number of projects incoming including a MiG 21 which looks awesome.

I give you my word that DCS will only get better.

On the other hand there is IL-2 CLoD which has had a very rough time but still has some wonderfully modelled planes and is very playable. It has come a long way since it was reviewed on here (it was shocking at release) but is still not perfect. [EDIT: make sure to use the latest beta patch available]

A warning though that both of these are SIMS and not arcade style so expect a steep learning curve.

 

Cheers 'blink...'

I knew about IL-2 but not DCS. The issue I have is as you say, they are sims. I have nothing against sims as such especially for realism, but I do want a game that I can pick up and play without having to build the game myself as it were.
There just doesn't seem to be any middle ground. You either have to spend a lot of cash on software add-ons and build things up yourself while also learning to use full size flight control units or go the arcade route and use a control pad.
Nothing seems to tick the box the way MS CFS used to.

There just isn't the variety in gaming any more that there used to be, especially on the PC (compared to what used to be available to now, not variety compared to consoles).
I remember when 50% of PC games minimum were PC exclusive. Now it seems there are more console exclusive games which just doesn't make sense. I mean, how many people would like to play Gran Turismo or Forza on the PC?

 

well they do both have arcade modes that are more plug and play but it is true that that is not what they were designed for.

For something a bit easier to pick up keep an eye on World of Warplanes (from the guys from World of Tanks). I very briefly played the beta and it does look like fun although there is only one flight model iirc.

 

Schizofrog, it's not just a problem with Flight games either, I find driving games fall into the same trap. Gran Turismo pulls off the middle ground perfectly, and nothing else comes close - either too arcadey, or too sim-like with no progression rewards.

However, I would suggest looking at Rise of Flight. It is a simulator, but is fairly easy to grasp, looks amazing and flys extremely well. Most would rate it as the best flight combat game of the moment.

World of Warplanes on the other hand is hateful. Awful controls and unsatisfying gameplay. I played the early closed beta to be fair, but it's not improved since then.

 

"found it impossible to turn without rolling"

Er, that's how planes work?

 

The most annoying thing about the review (to me) is the HP adds that build on top of the images ...

 

Falcon 4.0 was the last decent AAA flight sim. (IL-2 is great but it is not AAA)

It came with a huge binder and took weeks of training to learn how to fly properly, never mind learning how to dogfight.

Sad that we finally have the graphics, but do not have devs willing to make a truly hardcore Flight Sim.

Yours in pissing off 3 opponents at once Plasma,
Star*Dagger

 

lol who wrote that they found it impossible to turn without rolling. Have you ever been in a plane in your life they dont just turn left or right in mid air thats simply impossible.

planes have a huge 360 degree turning circle ( harrier jump jet in hover mode is an exeption to this as it can in theory turn on the spot like a helicoptor )

they can at most adjust left like 10degrees or right 10 degrees and thats only on the more recent models of jet fighters.

H.A.W.X is very arcady but is the best of a bad bunch of recent flight games. how many missiles can one plane truly carry i dout its near 70 + which H.A.W.X seems to think is realistic.

Wtb a new microsoft flight combat sim game that will likely not happen though

 

@star*dagger

As i posted before check out the DCS titles if you want hardcore sims.

 

I think Max meant barrel rolling due to the sensitivity, not simply using the plane's rudder to slowly amble about the sky.

 

FLOL.

I did laugh!

valid point as well.

 

I did wonder if it was just me.

Perhaps it's just a case of the world (and this site) now being infested by console gamers who are used only to the cripplingly limited and clunky controls offered by the average xbox game. I was watching a video of someone playing Deus Ex Human Revolution on a PS3 the other day and was horrified at how much it felt like the whole thing was on rails.

Reality does not behave like that, games reviewers!

 

Sorry for any confusion, I was trying to get across that turning without entering a full-blown barrel-roll required - in my opinion - movements too subtle for the rather unwieldy flightstick.

 

We really need an update to MS Combat FS. I still play it, I have an add on pack that added a few planes and slightly better bomb effects, but compared to modern games the graphics are awful. I think we just need MS to revisit the game and update the graphics while leaving everything else pretty much alone, I'd buy it