By Thomas "AV8R" Spann

  The Flight Model

The FM is the heart and soul of any simulator. SSI's Flanker has made its reputation on this component, and F2 surpasses v1.5 in fidelity and that right "feel" a 30,000 kg nimble fighter should have.

There are many simulation components that cause a game to fall into the categories of "arcade", "mid-level" or "hardcore"; but FM definitely is primary. In F2 what you get is a solid feel of speed like no other current flight sim. Just do a fly by at low altitude and you'll become a believer. No more slow motion action.

Next, start pulling some serious G's and you'll find yourself in hog heaven. Speaking of hogs, being that the Flanker is huge like the F15 Eagle, you will have to learn to apply stick with a soft hand else you will be low and slow and dead. In the right hands, the Flanker can turn with the best of them including the F16 Viper - which is why it is such a fearsome Soviet fighter.

Next try a take off and land. You will see the nose bob up and down over the characteristically rugged runways. The big bird will start to lift off and rise right on the numbers as the specs say. Now go try to land on the carrier. Yes, I said carrier. The Su-33 is a naval version with beefed up gear and landing hook (and other upgrades). Use the NAV mode, line up the ILS needles and land on the deck hitting the 3 wire. If you miss your approach angle, speed, descent rate, AOA, gear, flaps, hook or the wires you're a cooked goose.

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A Flat Spin

If you're still not convinced, try dogfighting or doing acrobatics. Then you will see the power of the Force, Luke. In a dogfight, energy conservation ("E") is as key as is SA - especially in Flanker.

What you will experience is not only the heavy nature this bird, but also the power of the dual engines. As you pull high 9 G turns you will see slip, gravity, stall, spins (including flat spins) effects. Get some battle damage or even ingest some foreign objects (FOD), and you'll be flying a crippled bird. You can even set options to emulate system failures if you want to test your "what if" piloting skills.

Still not amazed? Ok fine, let's turn on the smoke from the wing tips or even go to high altitude where the contrails from your engines will show up. After going vertical to the point of stalling, go to F2 external view and watch your plane fall backwards and then nose over. Pull the stick and rudder hard to port and enjoy the sensation of a full on flat spin. Post stall departure modeling is superb in Flanker2.

Tail Slide

Go to Part II: Artificial Intelligence