by Tim "Flyboy" Henderson with Leonard "Viking1" Hjalmarson January 12th, 2000

  Back in December we ran a comparison between DI's Super Hornet (DISH) and the Jane's F/A 18 beta (JFA). With the release of the Jane's sim, it's time for a second face-off. In this comparison we will look at the major areas, comparing each Hornet side by side as though they sat on the same deck. These areas will include:

• Interface
• Graphics and Environment
• Systems/Avionics
• Physics and FM
• Campaign and Missions
• Cockpits and Padlock
• AI and Wingman Control

Hornet Two-Step

TIM: Leonard and I are both frequent flyers of the jet and prop genres. Viking1 generally prefers EAW, I prefer WWII Fighters. We both fly F4 occasionally, and both still have Longbow II and Total Air War. We both prefer our sims with substantial meat on the bone.

Graphics are important to both us, but they are not the qualifying factor. We both still think Jane's F15 is a great sim, in spite of outdated graphics.

The dynamic campaign is the ideal in our collective minds, but we are still pretty happy with a semi-dynamic approach when it is well executed with substantial flow between the missions. We are both pretty intense on wingman control, however, and both of us make use of Game Commander. We value wingman control both for immersion as well as realism.

Finally, we both enjoy mission building. I tend to bypass adjusting mission parameters, however, while Viking1 gets into this area more often. FM and physics are equally important to both of us, and we greatly value realistic weapons and systems performance.

Click to continue

In spite of all that we have in common, each of us look at sims through our own preferences and history. We've written this article together to give a little more perspective. Now let's look at a quick compare feature list for our two Hornet sims. First, DI:

DI's FA-18E Super Hornet

1. No in flight refueling 0
2. Weak terrain graphics 6
3. Excellent object detail 9
4. Excellent carrier ops 9
5. Limited wingman control 5
6. Detailed avionics 8
7. Exaggerated aircraft performance 6
8. Predictable views, excellent padlock 9
9. Excellent cockpit 10
10. Spartan interface, weird key map 6
11. Booklet manual and tiny key card 6
12. No mission builder 0
13. No co-op Multiplayer 5

Jane's F/A 18E

1. In Flight Refueling 10
2. Excellent terrain graphics 9
3. Moderate object detail 7
4. Moderate carrier ops 8
5. Excellent wingman control 10
6. Detailed avionics 10
7. Realistic aircraft performance 10
8. Predictable views, average padlock 8
9. Good cockpit 8
10. Good interface, mappable keys 9
11. Excellent spiral manual and key card 9
12. Full mission builder/planner 9
13. Full featured multiplayer 9

This list doesn't quite describe all the joys and frustrations peculiar to each of these simulations, so let's go through the list section by section and sim by sim for a quick comparison.

Go to Part II