By Thomas "AV8R" Spann

  Currently, Flanker2.0 is at its best when you get a package together and you fly with your buddies. If you can get Roger Wilco (included with the sim) or any other compatible voice comms running, fighting guns battles or just cross country navigation in formation is superb. Not only are you flying a hardcore sim, but just the feel of flight while online is top notch.

Cockpit View in MP

Nothing spoils immersion in multiplayer flight worse than when see your wingies jumping all over the skies. Or even worse, when they ram you because of warping as you try to fly tight formation. F2 is rock stable in this respect like no other sim. Now if SSI can fix the missile logic, then MP will be awesome and Flanker 2 will be King of the skies.

SUMMARY AND RATINGS

With Flanker 2.0 we have a great Soviet fighter simulator. We have gone through AV8R's Top Ten Flight Sim Commandments to wring this product out. While it sports cutting edge graphics, sounds, flight model, cockpit, documentation and multiplayer stability, it suffers from some maladies in the artificial intelligence, A2A and SAM missile logic, mission editor robustness, and campaigning depth offerings.

No current military combat flight simulator comes close to what is in Flanker 2.0, save Falcon4.0, even in its unpatched condition. Comparing it to patched versions of Falcon4.0 or even FlankerV1.5 is not comparing apples with apples.

In my conversations with SSI's Carl Norman, (Executive Producer), I am assured that they know of the critical issues and are going to Russia to plan their priorities and implementations. If Su27's maturing into FlankerV1.5 is any indication of their patching commitment then we can all expect good things to come for Flanker2.0. Personally, I give Flanker2.0 a hearty two thumbs up with the understanding that prompt and critical issue stomping patches will soon arrive, and long before the Su39 release.

In short, Flanker2.0 is positioned to be an all time classic surpassing even Su27 1.5; but it is now in the hands of SSI to deliver the goods and complete the great start that they have made. Let's hope that Flanker 2.0 ends on a high note and doesn't fall to mediocrity.

Till we meet in the virtual skies, Check Six.

Ed. Note: All images in this article are copyright of COMBATSIM.COM™

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Ratings:

• Core: 90
• Gameplay: 85%
• Graphics: 95%
• Sound: 90%
• Intelligence/AI: 75%
• GUI/Mission Planner: 80%
• Fun Factor: 90%
• Learning Curve: 5 hours for basic gameplay, continued education to master

Overall Rating: 85% (unpatched, 100% or Classic if critical issues are patched)

System Requirements:

• Win95/98 (DOS not supported)
• Pentium 200, (P2 300 or greater recommended)
• 32 MB RAM, (128 MB or greater recommended)
• 600 MB Hard Drive (for full game installation)
• 8X CDROM (24X and greater recommended)
• Video cards: DirectX compatible 3D cards (TNT AGP cards work best, PCI and Voodoo cards supported but not optimal until patched)

Reviewer's System:

Win98, Intel P2 400, 128 MB RAM, 300 MB Static Swap, 32X CDROM, 16 MB CL Blaster Riva TNT1, resolution set to 800x600 with all game options to medium level.

FLANKER2.0 RESOURCES:
Links and Downloads

SSI's Flanker2 website Redshift's Unofficial FAQ for Flanker 2 Su27 Flanker Challenge Ladder GTT's Flanker2 Camo Commander Stinger's Su27 Flanker FBO
(Padlocking and A2G targeting in game narrated training addons and trk files) Phantom Dave's Flanker Front Page
(sounds, skins,cockpit,missions,joystick files) Paul SCOUT Seifer's all english cockpit addons
(gives English labels to replace Cyrillic ones) PretzelWorks' Su27 Flanker to F18 Blue Angel conversion kit
(Fly the Flanker with Hornets clothing) The Flanker Gateway
(Flanker2 web site ring) Papa Doc's Flanker2 Voodoo Texture Replacements
SAM avoidance IRONHAND.ZIP tutorial
For those of you that can't run Flanker2.0, Flanker1.5 can be found at: CD Access.

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