As with any serious flight simulation, radio comms are critical to
coordinating your squadron and mission ops and success. Below is the
main Radio Menu, followed by sub-menus.
The "Patrol Area" call is to ground radar control for
a vector and distance to your patrol area. You should already have
written down the ETA for each waypoint so that you don't miss your
rendezvous with other flights or mess up attack coordination.
Navigation, meanwhile, is via your inflight map in addition to
calling to ground control for a radar vector to your patrol area.
Oddly, there is no way to request vector to a particular nav point via
radio, and there doesn't seem to be a way to call up this information
anywhere in the mission planner interface. There is, however, a
waypoint padlock key (F4) which turns your head to the required
direction, and you can also toggle the INFO BAR to views setting which
will then read out the vector.
Combat Sub menu
Another nice touch is the ability to padlock the subject of the last
voice message you heard using F5. When someone calls "I can't shake
him!" you can quickly find the source of the call and rush to his aid,
if you are free.
Post Combat Sub menu
Tower Sub menu
FAC Sub menu
About the only omission from this setup is the ability to order your
wingman separately. Thankfully, it's not a big problem in MiG Alley
since your wingman sticks to you like glue and generally follows the
goals and objectives that you choose for yourself.
When playing in the campaign it is assumed that you will fly as
squadron leader. You may choose to fly as a wingman, but the comms menu
will not change to reflect your choice, and your calls to Close Up or
Spread Out will not be obeyed.
Below, two shots from the same planner interface screen. I brought up
the Mission Folder using an icon at the top of the planner, and then
highlighted Nan Rail Bridge. This brought up the waypoints and route on
the mission map.
Clicking on Profile in the Mission Folder then brought up the
Route info box. Click the zoom in shot below for the full screen image
of the planner. The zoom in shot shows the default Tasks screen and the
player would have to click on the Air Cover tab to bring up the info
for his flight.
I've had a number of questions regarding the HUD radar overlay which
you see in the screen shots at top left. This display is configurable
via the preferences menu to give you either a "perfect" god's eye view
around you, or a more realistic display. This threat indicator shows
the position of other aircraft relative to yours, with the vertical
lines showing the pitch position and the more or less horizontal lines
within the smoked disk showing the relative yaw position. Red are
enemy, blue are friendly.
Inevitably, not everyone will be happy with this implementation.
However, combined with the AUTO padlock feature, it is a very effective
situational awareness and dogfighting tool. I've never had an easier
time maintaining sight of the bandit, and my kill record is starting to
show it. Cockpit reflections also help maintain SA.
By the way, another preference setting, as in Flying Corps, is
target size. I'm uncertain as to whether this enlarges the on screen
aircraft image you see (I don't think so), but it certainly varies the
hit bubble size. Novice players will be able to fly with full realism
but still score kills using this feature.
There have been some comments on the graphics of MiG Alley on
our forums, but personally I don't think many will complain once they
have the sim in hand. The instruments are particularly well done, and
they are readable in the 3d cockpit whether you are zoomed in or out.
On my 19" monitor at 1024x768 I have found that I can even read them
when in a panned view, looking down and right at an air strip, for
example.
It is possible to modify the artwork in the game and then choose your
markings via the included Paint Shop (for campaign missions only). It
isn't clear to me whether both nose and tail art can be modified, but
it looks like it might be possible. I designed a red Maple leaf as you
can see top right.
Force feedback support in MiG Alley is quite complete and so far seems
very impressive. You can even select particular areas to include or
exclude, as below. Support is at least as well done as EAW.
