I could just make out the French coast when the radio crackled to life,
"Unknown contact, 2 o'clock high!" I had two P-38's stay with the
bombers and ordered my wingman to form up with me to investigate.
As we grew closer, my wingman called: "Enemy fighters, 12 o'clock."
I ordered him to engage the Fw-190's and called on the other two 38's
to assist.
I had no time for fear, long experience taking over in the heat of
battle. I tried to look everywhere and be everywhere at once. I was too
busy to be worried; I was living in the moment. All that mattered was
the enemy in my sights as I shot him to pieces, and survival.
There were too many of them. For a brief moment time froze and I saw
over a dozen aircraft filling the air with screamin' death. We were
outnumbered. No matter how many we shot down, there were always more.
The moment ended abruptly with loud impacts on my fighter.
Desperately, I twisted my 38 and nearly lost control as I pulled
instant max G's and micro-blacked out. I could hear the rattle of the
elevator and feel the plane flex and shudder from the strain I put on
her. She came around in an impossible move, the edges of blackness
tunneling my vision to nearly a pinpoint again.
Fear gripped my gut in an icy flash, and I thought, "I can't
blackout now, I need to get around, I need to survive -- I want to
live..."
If you thought that was an extract from a real W.W.II fighter pilot's
memoirs, well it was -- but a virtual one, and that pilot was this
reviewer. Which is better for a simulation, suspension of disbelief or
real-accuracy? I will make every effort to answer that question,
amongst others, in this review.
ActiVision Makes Its Bid
The much anticipated and long awaited release of Fighter
Squadron: Screamin' Demons Over Europe (FS:SDOE), a World War II combat
aircraft simulation, has finally happened. FS:SDOE, published by
ActiVision and created by ParSoft, hit the gaming community like a
bomb, polarizing the hard core community overnight. Let's take a closer
look at what this product did to cause such uproar and whether it
really warranted this much attention.
Like the other W.W.II air combat sims released this year, by
Microprose, Microsoft and Origin. ParSoft and ActiVision had hopes of
captured market share for themselves by promising an ultra-realistic
World War II Fight Simulator. FS:SDOE does deliver some stunning
graphics, the sensation of flight, dogfighting to a refined edge, and
introduced some new technologies, pushed back the envelope, but did it
keep its promise intact?
Promises Made
When the hard-core community heard that ParSoft, the creators of
A-10 Attack! and A-10 Cuba, were teaming up with ActiVision to put out
a World War II flight simulator there was dancing in the streets. There
was great hope that ParSoft would put out a flight model of the same
quality as A-10 and the hard-core flight sim community would finally
get what they had been craving for so many years.
Early information and previews seemed to indicate that the dream would
come true- the tension mounted. The two main contenders ParSoft faced
were Microprose's European Air War (the First, and some say the best),
and Jane's WW II Fighters.
Both of these titles, despite teething problems of their own,
immediately grabbed high ground: EAW with its 'dynamic' campaign model,
massive air battles, and the ability to fly online with friends and
foes in co-op battles for the recreate the war crowd. Jane's stood out
with it's intense and stunningly beautiful aircraft graphics and
excellent online play.
Yet both these sims fell short of the mark. EAW was hobbled by it's
failure to allow personalized markings, lack of working surfaces,
functional but drab graphics and poor online ability. WWII Fighters was
limited by it's rather relaxed flight model, limited scope and lack of
campaign.
Interestingly, EAW is considered the premier solo simulation available,
with a small but strong following for online play, and Jane's has
become the focal point for many online enthusiasts. With the split
decision there was no apparent king, and the hardcore community gazed
with longing toward ParSoft and their coming release.
Previews, rumor, and speculation promised a game that would
model true Newtonian physics, a flight model that would match or
surpass that of A-10, and a sensation of flight as real as today's
technology could support. On the down side, it was also made clear from
the start that FS:SDOE would not have a campaign.
ParSoft also stated that this would be a serious attempt at a "true"
simulation, including the opportunity for expansion. Players would be
able to add in their own planes, with their own flight models (FM's),
custom paint scheme's, custom mapping, custom mission designing and
support for 8-16 online players.
In short, although FSSD would lack the ability to put you in the WAR
(campaign), it promised to put you in the cockpit! The stage was set,
and ParSoft and ActiVision set themselves up for an acclaimed
simulation or just another disappointment.
Reality Check
Like EAW and WWII Fighters before it,
FS:SDOE provides a remarkable game and simulation, but it's not
perfect. Despite a wonderful physics model and a FM that conveys the
sensation of flight very well, there are noticeably missing elements
which we'll cover later.
The simulation community had concerns about what planes would be
included in the game, as well as their number. FS:SDOE released with 10
aircraft, and all of them flyable. For the American's the P-38J, P-51D
and B-17G. The British received the most variety with the Spitfire V,
Mosquito VI, Typhoon, and Lancaster. The Germans come equipped with the
Fw-190A2, Me-262 and Ju-88A4.
This decision also raised some criticism as the typical Me-109's,
P-47's and such were not present. This isn't as big an issue as it
seems, however, because these aircraft and others will eventually be
added in with OpenPlane®, ParSoft's instruction set for construction of
aircraft.
Even the manufacturer's label on the gunsight is relatively legible.
Room with a View
The graphics come very close to Jane's in both functionality and
beauty. The clouds in the game are the best seen yet in any aircraft
simulation. Planes are beautifully modeled with moving surfaces for
ailerons, rudders, flaps and elevators. Put too much stress on the
wings and watch them flex and warp. Do it for too long and they break!
The level of detail is incredible. Break a wing, and see the wing rib
exposed and in complete detail. Shoot off the tail of a bomber and see
inside the fuselage. Lose part of your wing and see the jagged edge and
small super structure dangling. Fly past an aircraft and look through
the cockpit and see his instrument panel, with all dials and gauges
working.
The instruments are legible even out here.
Everything you could hope in terms of detail is present except bullet
holes. The terrain graphics are also well done and allow the pilot to
determine his altitude when low over land with little effort (it is not
as easy over water, but that's the way it is in real life.) Hills,
valleys, farmlands and small communities are present on the landscape.
Airfields are well done and enhance the sensation of flying, landing
and taking off. There are coastal defenses, bunkers and ground units.
Planes smoke when damaged, sometimes from engines, but also from wings
and from the landing gear area as well.
Wind is modeled and smoke from chimneys bend as the wind blows,
enhancing the experience. Fires spread when ignited, from building to
building and even trees. Oddly, fires on planes are the least
represented of all the graphics. Fires on aircraft are more functional
than they are beautiful when compared to the rest of the simulation.
Now Hear This
Sound in FS:SDOE is well done. There is nothing truly awesome
about it, but it does convey the sensation of being there. Engines vary
for pitch depending on throttle settings, machine guns and cannon are
easily distinguished, and multiple gunfire is easily understood. One of
the simulations nicest sound features is the ability to hear the plane
creak, groan, grind and scrape when you load stress and G's onto the
frame.
Although Air Warrior II and III also modeled this, FS:SDOE seems to
have taken it a step further. You can hear the ailerons scrape when you
move them and with increased speed you can hear them flutter slightly
along with the elevator and rudder. Your aircraft is constantly talking
to you, and for me this really enhances the in-flight experience. After
all, planes really do that. A few have reported soft background hissing
or pilot voices that are too soft. There has even been one person who
reported that sound cuts out altogether for him.
These occurrences are isolated, more system related than
software related and with a bit of troubleshooting should be easily
addressed. If your sound card is capable of it and your CPU fast
enough, you might try adding this to your sdemons.ini to see if it
improves your sound quality: DSFreq=44100 and DSbps=16. Although this
won't do much for the sounds that come with the game which are in 8
bit, 12000Khz sampling, any future sounds added can take advantage of
the higher Khz sampling and may improve your sound quality just
slightly.
Where's the Beef?
Gameplay is smooth and well executed. FS:SDOE has the typical key
commands with a wide variety to allow you to control your engine, prop
feathering, flaps, landing gear, braking, ejecting, weapons selections,
etc. Also there are trim controls, view commands (internal and
external), and HUD overlays to help the new flyer or experienced flyer
who desires that extra amount of information on what goes on around him
or her. System commands like gamma control and window sizing are also
present. For online communications there is the typical chat key and
type-in communications.
The sensation of flight is truly stunning. The physics that were
promised are fully present. Watch a piece of a wing get shot off and
flutter away on it's own spiral and maple seed effect. Lose a wheel and
see it race down the runway until its momentum fades and then see it
spiral in like a quarter, tighter and tighter until it stops. Come in
too hard and watch your plane bounce and possibly damage the landing
gear.
Or watch two planes collide in mid-air and see them both careen out of
control as you would expect. Blow up a target and pieces and parts fly
away on their own trajectories, reacting to their environment as they
should.
Naturally, the physics of flight are also present. Each aircraft has
their own unique characteristics which closely parallel the historical
abilities of those aircraft. This adds greatly to the immersion of
flight. You can even feel the airflow over the wings and tail, modified
by your aileron/rudder/elevator inputs!
Who Stole My Flight Model?
Oddly enough, despite this wonderful sensation of flight and seeing the
FM working and interacting as you would expect, ActiVision, during the
beta process decided to dampen the effects of three key elements:
energy bleed, stall effects and spins. ActiVision did this in an
attempt to attract the common gamer as well as the hard core gamer.
Here is an example (pointed out to me by a fellow enthusiast) of the FM
remaining intact but somehow the Stall/Spin just isn't fully there:
Get the Me262 up to normal speed and with the power full on
begin a climb of 40 degrees nose up and to the left at around 30 to 40
degrees (turn on the HUD.) Keep that attitude as your speed bleeds off,
and dwindles down to around 120 kts and below. You should have full
deflection on your elevator, and use your ailerons just enough to keep
you at that 30 degrees turn to the left. When you feel airflow
completely separate, the plane will snap roll off to the right
violently. Unfortunately, that's it, it won't stall any further.
Looking through the open bomb bay doors.
Oddly, this is only true of undamaged aircraft. Once a plane has been
damaged to the point that stalls and spins are a real danger, then they
are modeled as such in the game. This discrepancy has caused more than
one gamer to turn red in the face, and I'm don't mean from
embarrassment. Why ActiVision didn't decide to deal with this as an
option setting will remain a mystery.
I tried contacting ActiVision as well as ParSoft. Although ParSoft
responded and all our correspondence was Cc'd to ActiVision, ActiVision
has remained silent. This is not unusual for a Software company, since
they usually have a policy to not preannounce any planned fixes or
updates until patch/updates pass QA and are ready to launch.
Michael Harrison, the lead programmer for FS:SDOE at ParSoft,
on the other hand, has been very open. He had said on some forums that
ActiVision had requested that ParSoft tone the FM down. I contacted
Michael about this, and he had this to say:
Well, what I actually said was:
Fighter Squadron belongs to ActiVision (at least, the game and name do.
The engine's ours) and there are some things that got dumbed down at
their request, but overall I'm pleased with the way it turned out.
And to be equally honest, I regret using the words "dumbed down".
This has resulted in many people making the assumption that ActiVision
came along and told us to make the planes arcadish, which isn't true.
What I was referring to (with my unfortunate choice of words) was us
(ParSoft and ActiVision) working to get rid of some extreme stalling
behavior that made the aircraft much harder to fly than they should
have been.
At the time we were making these changes, we were also working
like mad to get the game out the door and it would appear that we may
have gone too far in the other direction for the hard-core sim fans." 1
When I asked Michael about ActiVision's silence and ParSoft's immediate
plans to address some of the FM issues, he had this to say:
To be perfectly blunt (which is normal behavior for
me), we have given the public what we can as far as information goes.
As soon as the game came out I let people know that we were working on
the CD problem and a Rush patch, I've stated that I'm working with
ActiVision to determine what will be in the more general patch and that
I'd let them know what we're going to do, as soon as we know. Many of
the people who are complaining that we haven't told them what we're
going to do, simply haven't taken the time to look for the answers that
are already out there." 1
Although there is a tremendous amount to like about the
physics that are modeled and the FM as well, there are other issues
that can set one's teeth on edge. Like:
· Fog that limits visibility as a fps saving convention
· Airwalls at the edges of the map screens to prevent players and planes from fall off the edge of the map.
· Bomber engines falling off and disappearing after catching fire, as if the engine never existed on the wing.
·
Landing your plane without landing gear or raising your landing gear
while landed, then drop your landing gear and watch your plane rise up
like an elevator, sometimes damaging it, sometimes not.
· Occasionally pieces that break off your plane don't act
like a piece of the plane but paper or cardboard and flutter like you
would expect for paper or cardboard.
· Multi-engine controls that are not documented, but can
be adjusted within the keyboard.inp, does not fully work and Michael
has openly admitted to a bug with multi-engine control, which is being
worked on.
· SLI and Rush video cards not fully compatible with the initial release.
· Once the program is installed, the game not recognizing that the CD is present and not letting one into the program.
There has already been a beta patch release which takes care of the
vast majority of the CD problems, and ParSoft is working very hard on
the SLI/Rush video issue. This latter patch is in the QA stages as this
article is being written. There are high hopes that the other issues
and especially the FM issue will be addressed as soon as the dust
settles from the release.
Anyone Seen My Padlock?
Some of the more interesting features of FS:SDOE are enhancements of
current technology. One of the gems in the game is its padlocking
system. Not since Falcon 3.0 was launched has there been an evolution
in the implementation of padlocks. Many have tried, with various
degrees of success, but none have really taken it to a new level. The
padlock feature in FS:SDOE, however, has succeeded. Its movement is
smooth and accurately mimics head movement.
The experience is enhanced by the ability to zoom in and out
while in padlock view, independent to the zooming from the
static/virtual cockpit view. Also, as a target gets closer to the
center of the gunsight, the padlock view slowly and automatically zooms
in closer to the target aircraft. This auto zoom feature can again be
adjusted with the zoom control keys "[" and "]".
A flyable B-17.
This outstanding feature draws you into the scene and does an admirable
job of mimicking the ultra-concentration one feels in situations like
this as you focus attention on your target! As the target moves away
from your sights, your view pulls away (depending on how you have your
zoom configured), leaving you with that sensation of reawakening to the
world around you.
The targeting keys for friend, foe and neutral are all
available in the game and matched flawlessly with the padlocking
system. One of the interesting features of targeting is the ability to
look somewhere and "lock" your view with the Ctrl-t. When combined with
the padlock this allows you to target "areas," very useful for ground
strafing and landings.
Targeting controls allow you to cycle forwards and backward (t and
Shift-t) as well as tag your wingman or other friendlies with Alt-t.
Used in padlock mode, it will smoothly orient your view (as you would
imagine your head would do) to the target of choice in real time.
Couple this with the HUD assist of target tagging (like Jane's and EAW)
and you will easily pick up your target. For a challenge and treat,
like the pilots of the time, don't use tagging. The farther away you
are from your target the less precise the padlock feels, but as you get
closer and closer the more "focused" it becomes.
Missions Anyone?
Although the mission editor is powerful, flexible and has an
easy to use interface it is not easy to master. This is in part due to
the documentation, which is more of an outline than clear how-to
directions. There are many factors and variables you have to account
for when designing the missions. Be prepared to spend a lot of time
with the editor until you become familiar with it, because the rewards
are definitely worth it.
All missions can be created for use as both solo and multiplayer. Be
aware that a multiplayer mission has a limit on the maximum number of
planes. The default is 8 planes, but if you add this: NetMaxPlayers=16,
to your sdemons.ini file you'll be able to extend that limit to 16
players/planes.
Besides being a fully functional mission editor, this is where
you also determine the computer's AI ability. AI in FS:SDOE has five
slider variables: Skill, Aggression, Loyalty, Morale, and Sanity. These
variables are not truly a general AI, but represent how the computer
pilots will react within the design of your mission. Design it poorly
and the AI may not do what you expect based on other factors or
variables you have not clearly defined.
The mission designer will require a major investment in time to master.
I suggest you start small and as you become comfortable, expand into
more complex mission designs. On the Internet there are already several
areas where created missions are available. You might want to take a
look at one of these in the editor and see what that designer did to
make it work.
Plainly Open
One of the features that gives FS:SDOE it's greatest potential
is OpenPlane®, the ability to create from scratch your own planes,
ground units, new structures, maps, pretty much anything that the
designers of the program could do. WARNING: The documentation that
comes on FS:SDOE's CD, explaining OpenPlane®, is not a program or an
editor, but the tools and notes you'll need as a competent programmer
to design your own editor to do this type of thing.
Although ParSoft has given all that is necessary to do this on your
own, it is not for the casual gamer, but geared more for the
professional programmer. I expect that there will be a torrent of
editors soon from the talent that is available on the net, but right
now, a lot of people are scratching their heads over OpenPlane®.
Is Anyone Home? Online Play
Online game play is also a glowing feature of FS:SDOE. It is
easy to use and simple to start up an online game. When a game is
started, the host has the option of setting up a Full speed game and a
1/2-speed game. Full speed is for systems that can sustain 20fps or
more and 1/2 speed for all others. This allows slower machines to
compete online without being edged out by the faster machines.
Some individuals, like AMD owners with fast processors, may still be
forced by the program to fly at the 1/2-speed settings. This can be
worked around by adding two lines to your sdemons.ini file:
NetRTHWMin=10 and NetRTSWMin=10. This will let you play online at full
speed regardless of your computer horsepower. This workaround will not
give users of slower systems any added benefit however and may even put
them at a severe disadvantage vs. faster systems.
Although the game ships with the ability to play with up to 8
players, the engine is capable of handling more. By adding
NetMaxPlayers=16, to your .ini file you can increase it beyond the 8
players. Be warned, if you choose to increase the default multi-player
settings to 16, be sure all the players have fast systems and good
connections, or stability will suffer.
If players take all plane slots, you can decrease your chance of
problems. The host systems computer will fly all slots not taken (as AI
aircraft) and unless you have a strong system, it will cause connection
issues as your system must process not only your plane but the AI's
planes as well. Experimentation will be required to find the happiest
medium for you. I found 10-12 to be a good setting on my K6-2 333
system.
Summary: Aim for Perspective
Too much pre-release hype and emphasis on the recreation of real-world
flight and physics modeling was this products Achilles heel, and
ActiVision and ParSoft have only themselves to blame. So, if you're
into suspension of disbelief, you'll love FS:SDOE. If you're a fan of
real-world accuracy you will still be impressed by the sim, but your
hopes will certainly be dashed if you believed all the pre-release
promises.
Fighter Squadron makes me feel like I'm actually in a dogfight
- and actually at risk of getting killed - more than any flight sim
I've ever flown. That feeling comes from the game's ability to color
the mechanics of the sim with meaning and its ability to connect with
my imagination. In my experience that's very rare. It is the strength
of the fighter pilot role and conviction that this is real that is
critical to my enjoyment - not the intricacy of the sim.
Perhaps this is why we're seeing some people go nuts over this
game, while others are not that impressed. The people going nuts are
connecting with the game in a way that's rare for interactive products,
and that's because it's connecting with them in an emotional way
instead of merely an intellectual one. Maybe for the first time they're
actually feeling like they're IN the cockpit - which is something
they've always dreamed of.
The cockpit from the co-pilot's view.
My fervent hope is that at some point the game will become polished
enough for everyone to get into it, and suspension of disbelief and
real-world accuracy will merge into the promise. Then you'll feel what
I feel when I roll out at 20,000 feet in my P-38 and bear down on a
flight of German fighters below. Because when I do that I'm not playing
a game.
Recommended System
For non-3Dfx users I recommend a PII 266 with graphics turned
down, or a higher speed CPU if you want it all. For 3Dfx users the box
says 200Mhz, but I would recommend a 233 with graphics turned down.
Otherwise, you will need a 266 or better with graphics turned up.
Note: the minimum install is 285 meg, and full install is just over 600
meg. The documentation provided with the sim is in error.
Ed. Note: Send us your custom missions! Click HERE. Please send as a zip file attachment.
