| Prop Sims 1998: E3 Encounters By Leonard "Viking1" Hjalmarson | ||||
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What does a guy do to follow up after giving you a sense of whats coming this summer and fall from a batch of very dedicated sim developers? Well, first off, he adds a couple more lines of disclaimer and then broaches the political topic.... And after that gives you some awesome screen shots! After all, you haven't had a chance to see these new sims in action; I know you are anxious for some more pics! First, though, I think that the average sim fan is more intelligent than the average shooter fan. Lets lump the strategy and wargaming fans in this group also. In other words, you who read these words are some of the most sophisticated gamers out there. I think most of you will appreciate what I have to say. My impression of the producers and programmers and artists that are putting these games together is that they are the cream of the crop. These guys work long hours to bring us games that were barely conceivable just a few years ago. Personally, I think that we are getting unbelievable value from most developers for our $50. Look at a product like Fighter Legends or EAW or FD 2.0; its incredible what goes into these packages. And if you go from there to Total Air War or Falcon 4, which have the additional strategic dimensions and have to also simulate a host of complex systems... wow! It is AMAZING what we are buying for a few dollars in 1998. I wanted to say that because personally I have a warm place in my heart for these men and women. I also want to point out that there aren't really any winners and losers in this contest. Its terribly difficult to choose a "Best Of" anything this year, and its a very subjective process. Virtually all of these prop sims and most of the jet sims in development are stunning, fairly deep, and will be a lot of fun! There! I said it. I feel better already.. On to some screens!
This P47 has had a hard time of it! Probably hadn't figured out the padlock system yet. Fighter Legends uses an excellent system of the pop up window looking across the player toward the target. Although this system doesn't reflect your current horizontal orientation, since the view is limited to a small window lower right in your screen, you can actually keep a solid fix on your complete attitude while manouvering relative to your target. Excellent and simple system.
This shot shows you the bottom of a P47. Notice the exhaust stains? Whew, does it get any better than this? How about this... I was watching a sudden throttle cut out on a 109 in Psygnosis "Nations" alpha and saw the puff of smoke from the exhaust port on the left from side of the aircraft as the sudden rich mixture went only partially burned. In EAW, Nations, FD 2.0 and Fighter Legends you will see spent shell casings falling to earth as you fire your guns. Detail to the max! No, it doesn't affect the flight modelling but immersion is half the game and this will be the summer for immersive sims like no other! Finally, I know we have plenty of bomber fans out there, so here is a Fighter Legends screen with some B17s. This image you can click to bring up a 640x480 shot:
Yesterday I whetted your appetites almost to madness when I told the story of observing the melee in European Air War. Today a special surprise courtesy of TK (thanks man!). Above and right you will find a raft of shots taken this morning that illustrate the same battle I saw at E3, and a couple of GUI shots for good measure! Click below to start at the top.
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Now lets see, what was I saying about shell casings? Oh yeah, these things have suddenly become objects, for the purposes of simulation physics, not to mention resources. Here are a few TK collected for us:
Now, about those bombers.... Lets start when the bombers have just been spotted shall we? And check out the terrain =) It was barely morning, about 8 AM. The ground fog had already burnt off and it had been a long ingress to target. We were flying high and couldn't believe our luck, we hadn't seen a single fighter all the way to Berlin. I was flying a P47 off the right wing of the main bomber group.
Its hard to imagine our feelings as we sighted Berlin in the distance. Finally we were taking the fight to Gerry! It was only a few minutes after we sighted Berlin that the flak started...
It started slow at first, and then grew in intensity, like the orchestra building up for the finale. First a few black puffs appearing among the group, and then the sky becoming dark with smoke.
Soon the fighters were moving in and we had our hands full. Its quite a sight to see six gun positions on a B17 come into action. Some of the gunners were pretty good shots, but their targets were weaving and bobbing and the boom n' zoom tactics left the gunners little time to get a shot off. Anyway, that was my job!
I happened to know the crews in a few of these monsters, and one in particular caught my eye when the fighters were driven off. "Old Mustard" was flown by an old high school buddy of mine from South Carolina. I didn't have a lot of friends in the bomber group, and didn't really want any; odds of making it home on any particular trip weren't that good.... So when I saw Dusty had lost an engine and was making smoke, I started praying and hung a bit closer...
NEXT: We continue our prop coverage with Luftwaffe Commander, Nations: Fighter Command, and Red Baron II For more on EAW, see our screen shots.
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This material is copyrighted and may not be reprinted in any form without
permission of the publisher.
Last Updated June 2nd, 1998 |
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