Its funny Boxcar, its almost like ET doesnt know what it wants to be; hardcore or simplified. The avionics are super simple, even by EF2000's standard. But the flight model "feels" right , but w/o enough drag I believe. And the damage model really seems to be extensive.
The game seems to be geared to make knifefights the norm rather than BVR fights because your Meteor BVR missles dont seem to be inclined to hit their target except under very low aspect conditions...which is OK by me.
Somebody said it best in here somewhere when they said:'I dont have to worry about working the aircraft, but can concentrate on what Im supposed to be doing.'
And flying IS alot of fun, its unfortunate though that you seem to spend more time watching someone playing pool, or sitting in a briefing, than you actually get to fly.
You have six pilots, when theyre dead your out. In fact as the game progresses, and you have fewer and fewer pilots, for me its like I dont get to enjoy landing the mission Im flying because someone else has stumbled into an ambush and I have to try and save him. I know that sounds like a contradiction to not flying enough, but its almost like I feel like a babysitter instead of a pilot.
I would much rather have a F4 style frag order; choose the mission you want, alter it however you see fit, and when you click FLY the clock speeds up to allow you to start your mission in a reasonable period of a few seconds...instead of twenty minutes sitting in front of your PC...waiting.
The campaign is fun, the flying and fighting are fun, but like Tom Petty said:"The waiting is the hardest part"
There's just too damn much waiting in this game. If Rage doesnt fix this before they hit the shelves here in the US, things will get VERY nasty in here in short order Im afraid.
Thats just my opinion.
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