Flight sims hit target for budding fighter aces

Flight sims hit target for budding fighter aces
You just can't keep a good global conflict down. The Second World War is enjoying a revival at the moment, headed by Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan.

Software companies have been quick to catch on to the trend, with several military flight simulators out for Christmas.

Leading the charge are Microsoft's Combat Flight Simulator and Microprose's European Air War.

It's sobering to remember that the average life expectancy of Allied pilots in the Battle of Britain was just three weeks.

The fate of the Free World rested in the hands of fresh-faced youngsters of 19 or 20. Some lived long enough to grow those handle-bar moustaches. Many did not.

The skies were dangerous and both of these technically excellent games may give an insight into what it was like.
Combat effects in both games are as realistic as you can get on a computer, and the sight and sound of bullets ripping through your fuselage may make you seriously think about getting a desk job.

But which to choose, or should a budding fighter ace buy both?

Combat Flight Simulator
Microsoft
PC

Until Age of Empires, Flight Simulator was Microsoft's biggest leisure title, and rightly so. It's so realistic that some flying schools use it to help to train pilots.

It has one big drawback - you can't shoot things. But Combat Flight Simulator changes all that.

It puts Microsoft's flight-sim know-how into a Second World War setting where you can fly English Spitfires, German Fokkers, and American Mustangs.

The graphics are stunning, with a wealth of detail in the planes and landscapes, and the flight model is probably the best around.

You can have a bit of fun, too, importing scenarios and planes from Flight Simulator. I don't know how a Boeing 747 jumbo jet would fare against a Messerschmidt, but I would like to land a Spitfire at Heathrow.

And that points to the one minor flaw - it's not a serious historical simulation. The campaigns almost seem an afterthought and are light on fact. But that's a minor point in an awesome game.

Required: A Pentium 133 with 16Mb Ram, 200Mb free disk space.

European Air War
Microprose
PC

I had a sneak peek at an under-development version of Microprose's offering, European Air War, which is now complete and on its way to the stores.

It has more of a period flavour than Combat Flight Simulator and missions immerse you in the major campaigns from that era.

Much of this is because of the wealth of historical detail, especially on the planes.

There seemed to be hundreds although you get to fly only 20 of them.

Older flight sims struggled to cope with the 3D freespace nature of flying, but would-be pilots get numerous viewing angles, the ability to look around and out of the cockpit and a wide perspective which comes in useful when bandits are at 1 o'clock.

The graphics are fabulous with some stunning lighting effects and landscape detail.

Of course, there's a catch - European Air War is optimised for 3Dfx, although it will run (slowly) on a standard Pentium 166.

Required: Pentium 133 with 3Dfx, or a Pentium 166, 32Mb Ram.

In a nutshell, Combat Flight Simulator is a great flying simulator that will run on many machines. European Air War is also a great sim but has a bit more depth.
But you really do need that 3Dfx card.

-- Peter Eley, 7DAYS, 26/11/98

* Send your comments email: peter_eley@herald.co.nz