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#4380557 - 09/21/17 01:47 AM Echelon--an oldie that still looks decent  
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,802
Forward Observer Offline
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This is a video I recorded with FRAPs of a mission from an old futuristic flight game/sim called Echelon released way back in 2001. It was developed by a small Russian group
and published by Bethesda. It got a 90% score and an editor's choice award from PC Gamer mag back then. However, it wasn't promoted well by Bethesda and multiplayer had issues.

Due to a disagreement over money that the developers claimed Bethesda still owed them, any patches to help fix multiplayer were withheld, so the game just sort of faded away.

It's has a linear campaign with about 20 or 23 missions---each usually more complex and difficult than the previous. This mission was simply called the introduction, which was confusing to many. The game had a series of tutorial missions to learn the flight characteristics and controls which which would then lead to the first campaign mission as a cadet.

However, if one could manage to beat the relatively hard intro mission, they would get immediate access to the campaign with a promotion to lieutenant.

This was my first and only attempt at posting a gaming video to Youtube and I thought it so amateur that I never showed it to anyone on purpose. This was done after I reinstalled the game and played through it abut 4 years ago. I had actually forgotten about it until i got a notification that someone who must have stumbled across it and added a comment.

I recorded this as one single play through with no splicing. Only an occasional title was added later. The fly-by's were live with me still controlling the ship from the flyby camera or other external camera view. Since one flies close to the ground, it's lucky I never crashed and burned trying this without being on auto pilot. Anyway, I thought it might be of some interest.

Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=28&v=CIgfSOb8QPg



Cheers



Artillery adds dignity to what would otherwise be a vulgar brawl.
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#4380600 - 09/21/17 12:00 PM Re: Echelon--an oldie that still looks decent [Re: Forward Observer]  
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Vince H Offline
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I have that installed on my WinXP machine. I still play it too from time to time.

#4380669 - 09/21/17 07:53 PM Re: Echelon--an oldie that still looks decent [Re: Forward Observer]  
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Coot Offline
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Thanks for sharing FO. This looks like a cool game! It looks nice too. I don't think I ever heard of this one. Can it still be purchased anywhere? Love the clouds and desert terrain.


John 10:1-30
Romans 10:1-13

#4380678 - 09/21/17 08:54 PM Re: Echelon--an oldie that still looks decent [Re: Coot]  
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Forward Observer Offline
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Coot,

It's available on Steam for $3.99.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/311080/Echelon/

However, make note: several people who bought this on Steam could not get it to run. However another reviewer posted the following:

Quote
I was able to get it up and running by right clicking on the gamelauncher.bat in the install folder and running as administrator. After running it once this way it launches fine from steam. Just so you don't think I have some odd setup that might be old enough to be compatible:


I guess you could get a refund from Steam if you can't get it to run

There was also a sequel called Echelon: Wind Warriors. I had that also, but have misplaced the disk in my last house move. I don't think I ever finished it, so i might buy it again for only $4.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/311100/Echelon_Wind_Warriors/

Cheers


P. S. I still have the original LP album that your avatar came from. Gunfighter Ballads and trail songs. I got it when I was a freshman in high school way back in 1959/1960. I almost wore it out playing El Paso, Big Iron, and The Master's call.

Last edited by Forward Observer; 09/21/17 09:05 PM.

Artillery adds dignity to what would otherwise be a vulgar brawl.
#4380835 - 09/22/17 06:50 PM Re: Echelon--an oldie that still looks decent [Re: Forward Observer]  
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Coot Offline
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These United States of America
Thanks for the info FO. Yes Marty Robbins is one of my all time heroes. That's awesome you still have that record. I grew up listening to Marty with my grandmother and great grandfather as they liked him and his music and that's how I got exposed to it. I grew up listening to lots of the old cowboy songs and that Western genre along with guys like Marty are almost sacred to me. My initial introduction would have been to that same album on cassette. Great music and a great voice. I've got about every CD I could find of him over the years. I have a really nice, 4 CD set of more of his Western, cowboy song recordings(tons of them) in a nice large box. I think it can only be imported oddly enough from Germany or some such. I also recently found an old LP album from the late 50s, early 60s with more of his pop stuff. I love anything he did, old cowboy songs, hymns and gospel, pop, calypso, Hawaiian. Sorry to go off topic. If you're interested I found a Youtube video of Jim Glaser talking about the creation of El Paso. The Glaser Brothers too....wow. Nothing beats any of these guys. I didn't know until recently exactly who they were or that they had backed Marty on some of those albums such as Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs as youngsters. I also learned they wrote songs like Running Gun.


John 10:1-30
Romans 10:1-13

#4380852 - 09/22/17 07:57 PM Re: Echelon--an oldie that still looks decent [Re: Coot]  
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Forward Observer Offline
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His first big hit that I remember as a kid was a pop hit called "A white sport coat and a pink carnation" which I didn't care for at all. Hey, I was only 12 or so at the time. But his western themed
songs were just great. I also like his version of one of the themes from the 1960 Alamo movie, which is not on the Gunfighter's album.

Anyway, if you decide to take a chance on the Echelon game. I think you'll like the the flight mechanics. The various ships you get to fly are really a lot fun--from nimble fighters to high speed interceptors to heavy ground attack craft bristling with auto turrets for extra air defense. The various ships all use pulse jets for both lift and directional control, but all within some imaginary planet's atmosphere. Consequently it's sort of like flying a combination of a fixed wing plane, a helicopter, and a hover craft. The high speed interceptors are the one exception. They have small wings for lift, so if you slow down too much they begin to drop.

The flying controls handle mostly just like that of a conventional fixed wing aircraft, but your movement is more like that of a helo in that you can additionally hover or move laterally. There's lots of chases and fighting through the canyons of the fictional mining planet. Just like a helo, there is a ground effect in that the closer to the ground you can get the faster you go. In addition to pulse weapons and missiles, you can also load out ballistic machine guns and cannons for alternate fire power when your energy is low. Of course these have a limited amount of ammo, so they have to be conserved.

Cheers




Artillery adds dignity to what would otherwise be a vulgar brawl.
#4380918 - 09/23/17 01:49 AM Re: Echelon--an oldie that still looks decent [Re: Forward Observer]  
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CBSKentucky Offline
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I can't believe it!

Echelon!!

The nostalgia hit me like a ton of bricks. What an absolutely superb classic. I still have the disk somewhere...

To this day, one of the more immersive gaming experiences I've had.

Thank you so much for posting this.

#4380938 - 09/23/17 06:11 AM Re: Echelon--an oldie that still looks decent [Re: Forward Observer]  
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Coot Offline
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I was thinking the video made the flight mechanics look kind of like Novalogic's Comanche games.

Last edited by Coot; 09/23/17 06:11 AM.

John 10:1-30
Romans 10:1-13

#4386863 - 10/26/17 08:41 PM Re: Echelon--an oldie that still looks decent [Re: Forward Observer]  
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These are currently 59 cents each on Steam during the Halloween Sale.

#4387130 - 10/28/17 09:37 PM Re: Echelon--an oldie that still looks decent [Re: Forward Observer]  
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Forward Observer Offline
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Can't beat that with a stick.

Cheers


Artillery adds dignity to what would otherwise be a vulgar brawl.

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