Flight Sims?

[bobbynewmarkiii]

Bigup the Jetfighter II love!!!

Also - ne1 remember Strike Command, or something like that... Awesome.

My Dad swore by Proflight on the Atari ST - now that was some boring shit.

Space flight sims r a different genre... it's cheating to mention x-wing, x-wing alliance, Wing Commander 2 (I hear III and IV were good as well) & freespace 2, which are indeed awesome with a joystick.

[gtmtnbiker]

I have a Logitech Wingman Attack 2 stick that someone gave to me from Freecycle. What kind of PC games can I play with it? Is it just flight simulators?

[Hatta]

Space flight sims r a different genre... it's cheating to mention x-wing, x-wing alliance, Wing Commander 2 (I hear III and IV were good as well) & freespace 2, which are indeed awesome with a joystick.

I dunno, the mechanics are pretty similar. There's no ground to crash into, and no stalling in space, but otherwise what's the difference?

[bobbynewmarkiii]

There's no ground to crash into, and no stalling in space

There's also no constant up or down, which is kindof integral to terran based flight. The whole being in a vacuum thing is pretty big as well - I remember a game called I-War 2 being interesting in that regard and really using momentum which would be maintained unless a specific force acted against it.

[Hobie-wan]

Edit: Has anyone tried Skygunners on the PS2? I just read about this one, and it looks great. Localized by Atlus too, which is always a good sign.

I didn't care for it myself, but I'm not much of a race/flight game kind of guy so I think it was just me. My copy is up for trade though if anyone wants a go.

[Pulsar_t]

Thanks for the recommendations guys. Unfortunately, that cheap flight stick was cheap for a reason-- it's dead. It doesn't even get detected by my computer and it's supposed to be plug and play. I tried downloading some software from Logitech for it, and that doesn't recognize it either. Crap. I threw out the receipt too. That was dumb.

That's a shame. I recommend this joystick if you're still interested..



I've been playing sims since TFX on DOS and let me tell you that I am severely disappointed by the sim market nowadays. Concerning the experience itself since virtually all sim products lack dramatic storyline and in-game scripting don't expect anything you can find in games like the Ace Combat series. Mostly the challenge comes from reading the lengthy manuals and learning how to control those mechanical juggernauts.



I believe DCS Black Shark would be a perfect entry game for you. It has both arcade and sim modes and it looks pretty provided you look up the user-made enhancements and tweaks. Also X-Plane as mentioned previously

[J T]

Thanks Pular_t. I might pick up that flight stick. I'm so bummed that mine didn't work and now I want a new one.

[executioner]

Think most combat flight sims had arcade modes or shortcuts to skip taking off and landing. There are some good old and newer ones like LHX, Falcon 3.0 or 4.0 (long manual), F/A 18 (Jane's), Enemy engaged: Commanche vs Hookum, KA52 team alligator, Lock-on, B-17 Fllying Fortress, Mig Alley (reminds me playing Mig Alley Ace on Atari computers), F-15 (Jane's) and IL-2 Sturmovik.

There were also many decent F-22 sim games when it was announced and think some games were based on the different models designed by the many manufacturers who were competing for the contracts or just on what people thought they were gonna be like. Also there should be various Apache helicopter sims like Longbow.

The space sims are my favorites with x-wing, tie-fighter, x-wing alliance, wing commander, freespace but there's also the classic crimson skies. I busted dozens of flight sticks back in the days with star wars sims.

Since I've seen you are old school kinda a guy, graphics should not put you down and be a problem. I mentioned some helicopter sims but they're damn difficult, but more fun to blow up tanks and armored vehicles sometimes. Its been maybe 10 years since I've delved in the genre and I'm very spoiled with ace combat like arcade gameplay. Have yet to try secret weapons over normandy or blazing angels of wwii. Its time I dust of my wingman attack 2 which hasn't much battles in so many years.

[MrPopo]

You might also consider picking up A-10 Tank Killer and its sequel:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-10_Tank_Killer

Nothing like teaching tanks what "death from above" truly means.

[Pulsar_t]

The thing with simulations is that they're supposed to be cutting-edge stuff.. That's why you won't find me playing any of those older games unless I absolutely have to (M1TP2 comes to mind)