Hi folks:
I posted this at another forum here at SimHQ last week, but I thought it'd get better traffic here. Also, I've got some Fraps game movies if anyone has post space for them on a server.
I've since played the game some, and am having a blast. I've been able to navigate back to the carrier VFR with the new terrain after taking a hit that fragged most of my electronics. Had to ditch due to my gear being locked up. I've finally learned my autopilot, and how to dodge a/a missles (i.e. I'm having fun with this sim
)
Here it is:
Hi Guys:
Ok, first impressions & disclaimers on F/A-18 ... Freedom.
1) I'm not hardcore, so this is a good game for me.
2) Given that I'm not hardcore, I don't like the removal of invulnerable setting from Korea - this was the same in PSF.
3) The exterior visual model is the same as PSF.
4) The terrain is ala 1998/99. Blurry at ground level, but still good inpression of speed down low but not closeness. It looks quite a bit better than the
screen shots on Graphsim's site. At altitude, you're flying from the Gulf into Iraq - no doubt about it. It's actually kind of creepy knowing I'm siming the same skies where the killing is actually taking place.
5) The cockpit is non-clickable, and the hatswitch was only fixed views. However, it did seem to pan fully during a padlock. However, the instruments are actually 3D in the pan unlike Korea/PSF. I like the way it looks better than Korea/PSF. The view is zoomable from the previous 3D view angle in PSF all the way into just the HUD. The panel instruments are working all the time panning/padlock is going on. The view magnification isn't saved when you switch views which can be a little annoying to have the magnification jump suddenly.
6) It is a CD only package.
7) Gameplay seems the same as PSF. Don't know if they fixed anything from before.
8) I did have a glitch with the gun firing continuously as I cycled through the weapons. It stopped when I got lock with a sidewinder. I.E. it does seem to have at least one bug.
9) Don't know if they removed the nuke. I guessing they probably did so Graphsim didn't have take it from annoyed parents of patriotic juniors who were nuking every civilian from the Gulf to Turkey.
10) Fraps works fine with this. I did some movie captures last night, and they look good.
11) The movie replay is a big draw for me. I love to watch my flight movies on my Home theater setup. I'm in the movies Ma!
I'm glad I bought this game. Then again, I was glad that Xicat released PSF to run on the non-voodoo cards since I loved F/A-18 Korea so much, but couldn't run it on my new computers.
The feeling of flying over Iraq at altitude is very eerie. I often buy sims to get the sense of what it was like for the pilots who actually flew in these theaters. I can appreciate the certain dread felt when attacking an airport or warship. I know the "Oh My God" of a Spit pilot flying into 800 german planes during the Battle of Britain. I've witnessed the unstoppable sweep of the D-day invasions (thanks for Viking's addon for CFS3), and the utter futility of trying to stop the Japanese attack at Perl Harbor once they were within striking distance.
When I'm in the sim cockpit in Iraqi Freedom, I reflect on the doubts of "why are we going back" as I notice that bailing out over Iraq would mean either falling on the narrow tenuous strip of cultivation hugging the rivers (that birthed civilization), or falling on the barren, God-forsaken "for as far as the eye can see" nothingness of hellishly hot desert.
Scruff
The head down view was better than expected given the 3D format and the color MFD is crisp throughout range zoomable. The exterior views are good but the transition to view of radar locked objects can be a bit slow. I believe this is due to the 'synchronization' of the relative distance, as close objects appear almost immediately.