posted 11-17- 04:30 PM               

I also know what you're thinking, "why would he want that again?!". Well its so I can look at the terrain system.

So can anyone out there make an image that I can download? I can provide the upload space. I would be more than happy to provide proof that I am a real honest-to-god owner - including pictures of me with the box, scans of the manual, etc.

posted 11-18- 01:05 PM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by Vahnatai:
i 'need' it too *wink wink*

---

Ummm, I can't tell what you mean. I assume from the *wink wink* that you think I want to pirate it. As I said, I really do own it, paying $90CDN for it the week it came out. I have the box on the floor beside me, the manual and quick-ref on the desk behind me, and can provide pictures of both. I even have the CD case it came in, but the CD is missing. I've looked high and low for it, it's just *gone*.

posted 11-19- 08:24 AM               

Now on the upside I do think this game has a few amazing things in it. The terrain is indeed great, although the loader needs to be fixed so you don't see it working it's magic.

Also the graphics are superb, they must be using 2 or 3 times the number of polys, then putting up 3 times as many planes, and it still runs fast. Watching the 109's come in on an attack looks like film, it's really amazing.

Of course, the game sucks. Oh well.

Sadly it turns out the terrain file is a single 137Mb binary file. Oh well.

posted 11-19- 01:40 PM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by Smokey:
So, are you saying this game isn't worth
getting even with the 2.0 patch?

---

The problems with this game are many - bad UI, HORRID control layout (something they could have fixed with 1/2 hour of work), etc. However all of those are largely ignorable.

And the game is stunning to look at. The plane models are excellent all around - right down to tiny details like the counterbalances on the 109's tail and stuff like that. They also do things like shake the screen and tracers to give it the correct sort of vibrations. And watching a 109 come in as you blast away from the turrets is astonishingly realistic looking, like a film.

What is a real problem is that the game is just plain boring. You don't DO anything. Basically a mission consists of 15 minutes of setup, 15 minutes of flying in "skip forward 10 mins" mode, and maybe 3 minutes of actual fighting - which can be fun. It's not really a flight sim at all, the only thing you get to do every mission is run the bombsight, so maybe you could call it a bombsight simulator. You never actually FLY the plane, you leave that to the auto.

What did they fix in 2.0? I have the patch installed, but I can't really see any difference.

posted 11-19- 04:47 PM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by Smokey:
I read something about more engine management
in 2.0.

---

Yeah, it also included the changes from the 1.x patch, but I don't know what was in that.

quote:

---

The game had a bad reputation for
crashing to desktop at one time. Has that
been fixed?

---

I never had this problem, although I think it was always RAM related. I do have a new problem with big flashing coloured triangles showing up instead of things like smoke, but that's definitely video related.

quote:

---

You can fly the plane if you
want to right? Do you have to land the plane
at the end of a mission?

---

Yeah to both, but basically you don't do it. If you wanted you could get into the plane and press Return (skip forward in time) a bunch of times and the mission ends. You don't have to do anything at all!

Now that's _have_to_, but in general most of the game is just downright boring. It ain't no SDoE anyway!

posted 11-20- 10:14 AM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by Hawk:
I got those colored triangles the other day when I pulled this game out of the bottom shelf for a try out. I assumed it did not like my det 2188 drivers or direct x 8.

---

Yeah, there's some talk about it on bombs-away, it seems to be pretty common.

posted 11-20- 03:28 PM               

I personally rent though.

I don't see any reason why a quality (NOT b17 2) flight sim isn't worth $90.

I would say SDOE was.

In fact I've always though fligt sims should be more expensive, makers have a hard time making money with flight sims, they have a long development cycle and a small user base. That means they should be more expensive.

They last years, at least the good ones do, so they are more worth their money then something like max payne for 65 and lasts a weekend.