Connor "Cman" Anderson

  CONCLUSION

The attractiveness of World War II flight simulations, at least for me, has always been the beauty and poetry of flying at the apex of the development of propeller-driven aircraft. In WWII you have a technology -- the piston-engined aircraft -- that, by the end of the war, was simply as advanced as physical laws and existing materials were going to allow it to get, period, full stop.

That precision technology combines with the end-of-an era feel of guns combat. Eyeball-to-eyeball, seat-of-the-pants flying in personal combat is an increasingly romantically remembered type of war fighting. It has become as relevant and well remembered as the chivalric duels to which it is often compared. Unfortunately, the monumental deeds performed by the O'Hares and Gallands will soon be equivalent to Arthurian legend in the popular mind. Only a few will wish to keep their sacrifices alive.

The bottom line for people like Doug Balmos and Dale Addink will always be: how REAL is it? In the final analysis this is going to continue to be a very crowded market for what is considered a "niche" game genre. There are going to be multi-player flight sims that are fun and easy to play but which stint on the realism - Quakebirds is the pejorative I'm looking for.

But, the developer that gets it the most "real" is going to get the cream of the market. That magic 20% of any potential user base that is totally committed to fidelity and will pour money into their habit year after year can make a new player in the market viable.

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Many have asked the question, "But isn't Aces High just a better Warbirds?" as if that were not enough of a goal for Hitech Creations. I think the answer here is, yes; it is a better Warbirds. If comparisons to Warbirds herein seem gratuitous - well, let's face it people, Aces High is definitely a way better Air Warrior or Fighter Ace -- and is therefore in a class that places Warbirds as it's only serious competition as far as realism is concerned.

Will Aces High succeed? Well, these two guys have a track record and street cred' that the folks at Microsoft and IEN would give their port reproductive organs for. The Aces High beta is a bold, entertaining beginning. As the old WWII ditty has it, "We've done it before and we can do it again." I think that one is getting hummed a lot down in Grapevine, Texas these days.

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Connor "Cman" Anderson is a recovering journalist working as an IT consultant. He is a member of the infamous Dweebs of Death virtual fighter squadron.

You can download and fly the Aces High beta from HiTechCreations. Total download with the hi res textures is around 5.5 MB.

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