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Flight Sims and those Funny Stick Things
SniperGuy
SniperGuyGamingRegistered User regular
SniperGuyGamingRegistered User regular
I'm feeling the need to get into some combat flight simulator kinda stuff. I know microsoft makes something, and there's that IL2 Sturm game which is really old or something, but other than that, I am clueless. I also know that a joystick is the correct way to play.
So, what games should a noobie flight junkie pick up, and what kind of joystick should I go for? Hopefully for about 50ish bucks, and even better if it works on my 360.
So, what games should a noobie flight junkie pick up, and what kind of joystick should I go for? Hopefully for about 50ish bucks, and even better if it works on my 360.
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You want a Yoke? [steering wheel] or a joystick?
I'll have to ask my AFROTC bro's. They train with a yoke wheel, with an big HDTV for a monitor with the colonel giving instructions by their side. It honest-to-God helps them train. But if you're going to be playing for shits and giggles I can see why you'd want a stick.
Oh, man I flew a Cessna for about an hour once, and I was so scared shitless
STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM THE LOGITECH ATTACK 3 though. Terrible POS, died in about 2 months for me.
Games: X-Wing. TIE Fighter. You need DOSBox for these guys but it's worth it. Oh yes it is.
Freespace. Freespace 2. Available off GoG.com. The only true contendors for the TIE Fighter throne.
Crimson Skies. Air pirates + awesome 30's music and voice acting. What more can you need?
IL2 Sturmovik: Durr. Buy the 1946 pack.
Do x-wing and tie fighter still hold up graphically?
And is Microsoft's Combat Flight Simulator worth anything?
Edit: Upon further investigation, it depends on which release of those games you play. If you play the later, collector's edition re-releases of those games, they both use the advancements from the Tie Fighter engine. If you play the X-Wing Collector's Series re-release, they both use the Xwing vs. Tie Fighter engine, which looks even better.
If you're just playing the original versions, which is what I was remembering, then Tie Fighter looks better.
Crimson Skies for the 360 is not the same game as Crimson Skies for the PC. Combat Flight Sim isn't worth it if you're got Sturmovik.
Also, as far as games to play, Allegiance and Independence War 1 & 2 haven't been mentioned yet. Stick & throttle is also good for mecha games that aren't Mechwarrior 3 (which is best played with a mouse).
The Logitech Extreme 3d Pro is fucking great, I have one. Best Stick I've ever had. Of course, there are sticks like the Saitek X52 HOTAS, but they're crazy expensive, and the logitech does the job just fine.
Games:
- Il-2 1946 is the version with all the Il-2 games in. Il-2 is a realistic, serious combat flight sim, with all the realism you can get. Even taking off is hard, especially when you're flying a Corsair out of a Carrier flight deck. it probably uses all buttons in the keyboard plus the stick. It's fucking great too. You can reduce the realism on the settings page, but it's kinda like missing the point. And there is no story, just dynamic campaigns. Steam has it for 10 bucks, and it packs hundreds of flyable planes.
- I really liked HAWX, it's like Ace Combat on a PC. It looks really good and plays fine on a 360 pad. It's quite arcadey. Steam has it for 50 bucks, you can probably find it cheaper on stores.
- Lock On Gold is excellent for realistic modern air combat, but it has Starforce.
- Freespace 2 is the best looking space sim ever made, because Volition released the source code and a truckload of people spent hundreds of hours making it a hell lot better. It's now a completely modern-looking game. And it's hella fun to play. They also let you play Freespace 1 with the new engine. You can buy the games on GOG for cheap then apply the super engine.
- Wing Commander games are my favorites. I have all of them running fine on vista, thanks to DOSBox and fan patches for the Windows games. I really, really love playing them.
First there are the animated, DOS, 2D ones: Wing Commander 1 + Secret Missions 1&2; WC2 + Special Ops 1&2; Privateer (best Elite-like game ever IMO) and Armada (turn based strategy with space battles). All of them a really good and run fine on DOSBox, with full sound and voice for 2 and Priv. Oh, and you can import your pilot from WC1 all the way to Secret Ops 2, with SM1&2 and WC2 and SO1 in the way.
These games tell the story of the unnamed player pilot, who starts as a rookie at the glorious Tiger's Claw against the violent cat-like Kilrathi. Gameplay is kinda like WW2 Pacific Theater on space, with emphasis on guns, but with a few missiles. There are very pretty animated cutscenes and complex plots for the time. On the second game you've fallen from grace and have to prove your worth again. Privateer is about a different character, a mercenary in the frontier star systems. You can play any way you like, merc, bounty hunter, pirate, merchant.
Then there are the FMV, DOS, software 3D ones: Wing Commander 3&4, both with Mark Hammil, Malcolm McDowell, John Rhys-Davies and the Dharma Scientist guy from Lost; Privateer 2 with Clive Motherfucking Owen, John Hurt, although it's not Wing Commander in anything but the name, setting-wise.
WC3&4 continue the story of the hero from the 1st 2 games. WC3 takes place at humanity's darkest hour in the Kilrathi war, and how we managed to win against all odds thanks to the player (who's now called Christopher Blair, and played by Mark Hamill). WC4 is the story of a civil war that takes place after the end of the previous war. It's a lot more ambicious and has a more complex plot.
Then there are the two last games, Wing Commander Prophecy and Secret Ops, both using the same 3D accelerated engine. The first has FMV, and it's about a new crew a few years later. SO was a free to download game that can be played for free, and lacks the movies, but still has in-mission conversations.
You can get most of them for cheap on ebay, I guess.
- TIE Fighter and X-Wing are pretty good, but can get kinda ridiculous in the later campaigns. They look kinda rough today too. X-Wing Alliance looks better.
- There is also Starlancer, not bad, kinda wonky on modern pcs. Oh, and Crimson Skies, although really good, just won't run on modern GPUs.
- The X series has spaceships, but it's more of a Financial Tycoon game than a pew pew pew space combat game.
I guess that's it. There are a few more oldies and indies.
EDIT: Oh, yeah, Independence War.... IW1 is hell to make work on modern PCs, though. IWar 2 runs fine, is very pretty and playable, but they kinda throw you at the stormy ocean and tell you to drown less. It's not a friendly game.
Man, I really miss the Xwing/Tie series. I still have all the discs, but I'd rather they came out with something a tad more modern that takes advantage of newer hardware and higher resolutions. Lucasarts used to turn out some really awesome games, and I can't think of even one I'd play now.
I have the Extreme 3D Pro as well. It's a great joystick, but I haven't found any recent games that needed a good joystick.