by D. Eric Marlow, "Snacko" January 11th, 2000

  The Quick Start missions are available for those who want to jump into a rapid assignment. Both combat areas are represented in Quick Start, and the pilot gets to choose between an Air-to-Air mission and an Air-to-Ground mission. Time and day and weather are selectable in Quick Start. The Quick Start missions do not include a mission briefing, nor do they include a debriefing. Points are assessed, and a tally board is available for the highest scores.

The Combat Mission area is made up of a series of single missions from the chosen two theaters. Missions consist of Air-to-Air, Air-to-Ground, Anti-Shipping, Reconnaissance, Strategic Attack, and Air Defense. Multiple scenarios are available under each mission category.

In general, the Combat Missions are well built and fun, albeit short-lived - there is not a lot of ingress time, and most flight plans are a simple racetrack loop to the target and back.

One of the best features DI has gratefully held on to is the mission planner. Each Combat Mission allows information to be displayed via the mission planner. Waypoints can be added, and some can be modified. Intel is available as well as meteorological information. The one quirk is that you cannot change loadouts on individual aircraft in your flight. It seems that a change in one aircraft's loadout gets reflected in all other aircraft in that flight, even if they have different targets.

Interface from the COMMAND version.

Campaign

There are no included campaigns. This will not arrive until the COMMAND version ships with Super Hornet GOLD.

Mission Building

There are no mission building capabilities. This too must wait for the coming GOLD version.

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Gameplay

Gameplay is an all-encompassing area that highlights the depth and flow of the game. Such areas as "suspension of disbelief", immersion, and feel are examined. For this area, we look at the different game components and offer some insight as to how enjoyable the experience tended to be.

The game's artificial intelligence on the whole was exceptional, especially for enemy fighter aircraft. It's tough to get a MiG-29 off your tail if he's already converted on you. I did feel that the enemy aircraft seemed to operate without GLOC effects, giving them more capabilities than I had when my G-effects were turned on.

Tracer fire is very prevalent and the AAA is quite deadly. Incoming SAMs are not easily eyeballed, as the padlock system does not allow for incoming missiles.

Wingmen in general follow your commands, but run on rails until you give them a specific order. They do not form up on you after takeoff, but tend to go right to their mission objectives.

Go to Part IV: Pilot Stats, Graphics