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Crimson Skies
by Jim "Twitch" Tittle

Rockets are available with explosive, armor piercing, and flak warheads. There is a good selection of guns and cannon---but nothing you are familiar with. You’ll see Bruin Arms .70 caliber cannon, Colt .60 caliber MGs plus Sperry 30 and Carver Arms .40 calibers of fictional manufacturers. A really cool feature is that you can load your choice of slug: armor piercing, explosive or dum-dum ammo. Take note historical sim makers.

Night over Manhattan

My only complaint is the overall rate of fire. The ammo amount is more than adequate but the round counter counts down as slow as the ancient Secret Weapons Of The Luftwaffe of a decade ago. For example, if you have one .60 cal on each inner wing they both will fire. If you have one .60 cal on each outer wing they both will fire. But you cannot fire all four guns at once. Your enemy takes a lot of firing to go down. You may, however, mount a PAIR of weapons in one location and get around that little dilemma if you do not go overweight.

This means very few rounds are heading toward the target at any one time since you can only fire your weapons one group at a time. I developed a blister on my trigger finger due to it. Lead and ballistic drop is a bit hard to get a handle on too. Gotta figure out how to hack that stuff! The downside of increased R.O.F. could lead to running dry if you get heavy-fingered since you usually have many enemy aircraft to deal with.

Radio chatter and bandit position call outs are far superior to historical sims. You ALWAYS know where the bad guys are. The other stuff is a bit hokey and tailored to the fantasy aspect of the sim, but I like some of the calls like “take that punk!” Your wingmen are actually more communicative than in the historical ones. And if that’s not enough, the radio transmissions SOUND like radio transmissions. Just enough static and tinny sound is added to the radio calls so they sound superb. If a WWII sim had as many radio calls with this sound quality it would be great.

The engine sounds are pretty weak and throttle setting had no effect on their pitch. But they are supposed to be little engines, not 2,000 HP hulks. You do hear other planes engines at varying distances quite well. When your engine is damaged you will hear it struggling to run but don't worry, until the whole plane sustains fatal damage you will fly just fine.

Hanger bay in airship

Gun sounds are good. Not super-great but better than some historical sims of a couple of years ago. The sounds are distinct for all calibers from the rapid rip of the .30 to the slow "thwump" of the .70 calibers.

You will benefit in Crimson Skies if you have flown WWI or WWII flight simulators. Consequently, you will be a better virtual WWII pilot if you've had a taste of CSkies. Think of it as a flight school to keep your reflexes sharp. Think of it as a fun escape where you don't have to be concerned that your flight model isn't yawing starboard on take off like you read the real plane did.

Just loosen up and have FUN!

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