OIF advantages...
- Realistic terrain at high altitude
- 3D cockpit (PSF's Padlock View cockpit with working instrumentation)
- Manual that prints well
- Loadout presets with recommendations
- Possible future patch updates

PSF advantages..
- Graphics scalability
- Difficulty scalability
- Training videos
- More replay features (i.e. Name, Description, Search)
- More replay views (i.e. Tower View, Platform Views) which stay current during replay
- Better looking cockpit (OIF uses PSF's secondary less detailed cockpit)
- Better default front view (i.e. more visible daylight)
- Prettier water including lighting effects (i.e. color, texture, glistening sun and moonlight)
- $10-$20 cheaper

Plane exteriors look exactly the same to me but this might be Pretzel Magic.

Am I missing anything? I'd probably recommend both (PSF $10.00 CompUSA, OIF $20.00 Best Buy) as they do complement each other (foliage vs. desert settings). PSF is probably a must have for any newbie just for the numerous training videos. OIF has more promise with possible future updates assuming the older PSF will never be updated.

I'm throwing a few jabs at OIF lately, but I'm glad I bought it. Once the front view zoom save is implemented I'll feel allot better about this game, especially if the rest of the pit is updated to PSF's standard (i.e. HUD housing). I'm looking very forward to the next patch.
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Mark

Hello Mark,
I would recoment OIF to anyone who hasnt played GSC previouse F/A-18 titles.

The "speed" menus are nice and the 3D cocpit is also kool the more I fly it.

Couple things missing. Light strings over Baghdad at night. Remeber they didnt knock them completly out. And textured water. Like in PSF.

One thing in PSF and OIF I dont care for is after you kill a bandit it falls from the sky like a leaf. In Hornet 3.0 and Horent Korea the enemy aircraft had damage levels. Such as 1 or 2 engine out, and if you nailed them really good you were rewareded with an nice explosion/break-up.

Cheers!
Pretzel

Hi ya Pretzel,

I certainly respect your opinion. As much as I like the Ready Room and Cockpit features in PSF, I admit they do make the game look dated. It must have been really impressive when it was first released, though. Heck, I'm STILL impressed! PSF feels to me like it has allot of content or something. Oh well, "speed" menus = modern progress, I guess.

My biggest hang-up about OIF for newbies is the lack of any training videos. The PSF training "classroom" is very well done, IMO. The narrator doesn't sound very excited but the info is good – what counts.

The OIF 3D cockpit is going to be my favorite F/A-18 feature once the front view zoom factor is remembered. My front view is about perfect by just squeezing in the fuel Time display. Zooming out the front view enlarges the outside view area on the snap views which is REALLY nice! My NAV / Map screen is cropped in half though, so if I have to do a look-down, my front view is lost . Zoomed out, the OIF cockpit looks really good. The plain HUD housing and canopy bow vs. PSF is a small thing, I guess.

Sometimes the water in PSF looks a bit fake to me (am I watching too many LO-MAC videos?) but most times, it looks really good. The sun and moon lighting effects make it look drop-dead gorgeous! Overall, I'm very impressed with PSF's water, especially considering the game's age. Man, this game must have blown people away half a decade ago!

It's too bad they simplified the enemy damage levels since Hornet 3.0 and Hornet Korea. I thought Hornet Korea = PSF with better graphics and that everything else was exactly the same. I guess not.

I hope some of the missing PSF features find their way into OIF and that some long-time missing features are eventually added (i.e. dynamic campaign(s), moving carrier, A2A refueling, coherent ATC). I personally would pay top gamming dollar (+/- $50.00) to have all of this stuff added and issues corrected in a re-release of PSF even without any graphic enhancements! Graphics aren't everything (excluding your add-ons - man those clouds are nice). I just wish the time and effort creating OIF would have been put into improving PSF. What an awesome game!

Thanks for commenting on this.
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Mark