Recent air combat sim recommendations?

Games
41

you could also try chucking ace combat 6 in your xbox and skipping all of the cutscenes :D

I remember a few years back a huge stink was raised on simhq by someone who claimed he was a rl jet pilot and claiming ace combat was more realistic on some counts than falcon4. The things he found more realistic were the feeling of zipping along with your hair on fire, and the twisting, turning nature of air combat.

I am no fighter pilot, but i for one love the ace combat series for just that. Also, watching replays of your exploits in lovely graphics on the big screen is awesome :D

42

Iā€™ve been looking for similar info, so thanks to all that replied here.

Quick follow-up. What is a good place to start for someone (like me), who likes the idea of playing a flight sim but has no idea what to do? I have IL2, but I think I am too used to TIE Fighter, the gravity thing confuses me.

43

Man how I miss the TIE Fighter days myself. What the hell happened with that license?

Here is a quick link that Iā€™ve been reading on the IL2: 1946 quick-startā€¦
http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/23110283/m/9121094645

44

Sadly, Totally Games doesnā€™t make stuff like that anymore <sighs>. I so wish they did. I still replay through Tie Fighter regularly. That reminds me, I think itā€™s time for another go-aroundā€¦

45

Is Microsoft Flight Simulator and its expansion still good choices in the non-combat realm?

46

Sure, that and X-Plane, IMO, are both fantastic for the non-combat stuff.

47

As far as X-Plane goes, is the terrain worth 70gb?

48

Not having played the latest edition with that terrain, I couldnā€™t tell ya, but the previous versions I played were great.

49

This thread makes me weep.

I wish someone would give me venture capital and 2.5 years. Iā€™ve had a design for a WW2 sim percolating in my mind for a couple of decades now that would be fun and accessible enough to broaden the genre, but realistic enough to appease everyone short of the hardcore psychos. All I need is money, time, and a small group of ex-sim-developers who are over the pain and idiocy of the genreā€™s demise. I donā€™t ask much, do I?

Cubit,

You can just install the DVDs for the regions you want to fly in in X-Plane. So if you only fly on one or two continents, you can cut the install to just those DVDs.

50

I agree with you about the weeping, and if I had millions of spare dollars, theyā€™d be yours.

51

guysā€¦ ace combat! its freakin tie fighter with emo storyline and the likeness of real life jets for your tie-gunboat missile spreading, hellfire dodging pwnmobile.

52

<puts up hand> Donā€™t even talk to me anymore. Srsly. :P

53

Anyone have any experience with Wings over Vietnam that theyā€™d care to share? I realise that it might be a little dated in the graphics department, but there seem to be a lot of addons for the Thirdwire games and Iā€™ve got to say that despite my on again/off again love affair with F4:AF, the idea of dropping dumb bombs from an inverted A4 over Vietnam is pretty appealing :)

54

WoV with the Yankee Air Pirate addon(payware) is incredible.

55

I enjoyed it for a while, though quickly got bored. The real high point for me was being able to fly an A-1 Skyraider in another comabt sim that wasnā€™t Janeā€™s Fighters Anthology. :)

56

and thatā€™s what killed the air combat genre, killed it dead.

57

Heh, I know, right? Shame, it is. Reading this thread makes me weep as well as long for the mid-late nineties, where we had a plethora of wonderful flight sims coming out regularly. <sigh> I miss those days when I could look forward to the next Janeā€™s, D.I.D., Interactive Magic or Microprose sim.

58

Iā€™d say stick with IL2 also, not sure if it was mentioned above someplace and I missed it but there are some community made mods for IL2 over at allaircraftarcade.com that might be worth looking into.

59

I want Longbow 3. No need to even change the gameplay from Longbow 2ā€“the game already had pretty much everything I want in a simā€“just reskin it with a newer, prettier engine, and maybe add some trees.

60

The next game from the guy who made IL-2, Storm of War: Battle of Britain, is the only one I can think of to look forward to. Unfortunately you may need binoculars ā€“ he takes his time.