The Me 262 with its four 30mm 's smokes less than the 109 or P-38. With all the smoke from the 30mm guns you feel as though you are firing a 75 mm cannon.

On the positive side, the angle of the nose versus the smoke dispersion on the 262 is modeled nicely. If you are pulling the nose up the gun smoke is not visible, but push the nose down or fly level and the smoke goes up. Smokey the Bear should look into this.

Unfortunately, the horizon-haze comes out looking like smog! Instead of thin yellowish white it is thick, brown and nasty looking just like a flight over Los Angeles. The clouds with their darkness, added to the smog and muddy cockpit lighting makes for a dismal experience. All these visual features, except for smog over the Channel, may be "real" but they do not play well in the simulation experience. It is a challenge to the point of frustrating hopelessness to shoot down much more than slow, stationary enemy bombers.

Views and Padlock

P51 Glancing Out.

In all fairness, part of all this visual strain is the basic flight sim flaw- one, limited size CRT that gives a tiny, myopic window on the air war. Even a 19 or 21 inch monitor gives about half the square inch view that the front windscreen alone in a real fighter offered. You have no peripheral vision, save for fleeting snap glances that shift view to only that direction.

Padlock is also a compromise since it is not entirely natural. In this sim it switches back and forth to front view from the target by itself, another disconcerting effect. All this true-to-life shading and shadow concentrated on your little CRT makes for a twilight world. While this certainly wasn't the intent, that's the way it comes off. With a brighter world, perhaps less realistic, the virtual pilot has more fun. I just don't find it entertaining to try to shoot rats in a cave at midnight with sunglasses on.

Sounds Like?

Sounds are on par with Aces Over the Pacific. This is a compliment to Aces, created in the early part of the past decade. Fighter Command has no business portraying the Mickey Mouse audio it does in Y2K. The first flight I tried was the Me 163 Komet. I loved flying it in the good old days of Secret Weapons Of the Luftwaffe and couldn't wait to climb in again. While I had no immediate beef with the flight model, the rocket engine sounded like a turbine, and the 30mm cannon sounded like 30 CALIBER machine guns!

Click to continue

P51 getting airborne.

The sound of cannons gives the impression of a snare drum being rat-tat-tatted. In SWOTL at least there was a healthy "thwump" for the cannons. To top it off the guns on the Komet had way more ammo than they should have. Shutting off the engine in the rocket-powered 163, as one must to save the limited fuel, shares the same sound with the jet powered Me262. The 262's engines sound as though they have a piston growl mixed in, bearing no relation to a real jet.

Aircraft passing in proximity to your plane sound about like you are riding in a bus with the window open as traffic passes; an indistinct background noise. Piston engines have a decent sound but not great, yet the throttle off/on start cough is superb.

The landing gear sounds are top notch. But when you bail out and descend there is a six-note sound that poorly mimics wind which repeats until you hit the ground. It's sort of like a poor man's Bridge On The River Kwai tune. After a couple of ejections I was hoping the enemy would put me out of my misery by strafing me in my chute. So far every bail-out has ended in death even though I seemingly floated to the ground okay? All this is a total throwback to sims of yesteryear.

Things That Go Bump..

There are what seem like serious impact damage sounds on your aircraft, but in debrief you see that your plane has receive zero damage. While the sounds are good, it leaves you wondering what all the racket was about. Was it other, nearby aircraft getting hit or what? This is distracting for no good reason.

Then there is the most ancient sound effect I've ever heard. Back in the old days before computer-generated sound effects and graphics in Hollywood movies there was one particular over-used sound associated with a diving prop-driven aircraft. It was a whine almost on par with a Stuka dive siren, fine enough for 1936 films.

Flashing forward to 2000 I got a nostalgic memory ripple. Not bad. But when I noticed that every aircraft invoked the sound in level flight at higher but not maximum speeds, including the 262 and 163, I was dismayed. Fighter Command needs a famed Meatwater sound pack overhaul badly.

Go to Page Three: Campaign Blues.