Flight Combat Simulators games..help

[kaicooper]

hi there

im looking for good flight combat simulators
not like ace combat or hawx..
i mean somthing in WWII or WWI mostly..for PC ONLY

all i care about is great simulation with some action like

Heroes Of The Pacific
wings of Prey

i prefer single player only

thanx

[Gespenst]

IL-2 1946 with Community Universal Patch is the only thing you ever need
http://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php/t ... 975.0.html

And there's Cliffs of Dover and Battle of Britain 2 (be sure to get the unofficial patch) if Battle of Britain is your preference.

Otherwise there are Jane's WW2 Fighters, European Air War and Fighter Squadron: Screamin' Demons over Europe (http://www.moddb.com/games/fighter-squa ... ver-europe)


Those are old pre-2000 releases however so good luck getting it working on modern hardware.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Crimson Skies (different game from the Xbox one, I recommend playing in 4:3 aspect ratio even with the fan-made patch*, that I'm afraid works correctly only on nVidia GPUs) and Secret Weapons Over Normandy.

*) Other proportions deform skybox.

[Bitter Almonds]

Dumb question, but how do you play old stuff on new hardware or OS

[Obiwanshinobi]

Depends how old and on what. For DOS games there's DOSBox, for older computers - emulators not unlike those that emulate consoles and arcade hardware. Some games are ported to new engines (like Descent: FreeSpace to vastly enhanced FreeSpace 2 engine), some other - patched by fans up to support modern OS (like the aforementioned Crimson Skies). Windows itself offers "compatibility with older interations" modes that either work or they don't for given application...

[apatheticTurd]

Heroes of the Pacific got a sequel called Heroes over Europe, which is pretty much the same thing but set in the European theater and with a gimmicky "ace kill" feature that lets you kill the pilot or put the engines of an enemy plane. It has some frustrating difficulty spikes and lack content in comparison to its predecessor due to a deeply troubled development, but it's still a pretty good game.

[HydrogLox]

Heroes of the Pacific got a sequel called Heroes over Europe, which is pretty much the same thing but set in the European theater.

By and large Heroes over Europe was rejected by fans of Heroes of the Pacific - expecting HoE to be a flight-sim is a setup for dire disappointment. To enjoy HoE you have to approach it as an arcade game and bring along the tenacity of a shmup player. For example in the "The Butcher's Birds" mission you have to down 30+ FW-190s within a fairly short period of time in order to later pass the "Keep 50% of the Bomber Wing Alive" objective - something that can only be achieved if you are an Ace Kill quick draw or (more likely) an experienced "Energy-Attacker" (downing (preferably multiple) planes while power diving). After that you still have to deal with an ace (boss) fight. On top of everything HoE doesn't have a cockpit view and you better get used to "flying" in "Look to Target" mode to sustain a decent "kill-rate". Flight-sim skills don't translate to HoE - it's its own thing.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Truth be told, Heroes of the Pacific wasn't typically described as a sim either, at least in the PC gaming press I read at the time. Personally, I've had it with the pilot chap's voice in demo (imagine A LOT of this).
I might add Secret Weapons Over Normandy isn't much of a sim either; the speed up-slow down dynamics brings it closer to Viewtiful Joe. Dude's narration typically bad, but it's something of the "historical" dogfight games' trademark.

[apatheticTurd]

Heroes of the Pacific got a sequel called Heroes over Europe, which is pretty much the same thing but set in the European theater.

expecting HoE to be a flight-sim is a setup for dire disappointment.

Mentioned it because the OP mentioned HoTP, which is hardly a sim either.

[HydrogLox]

expecting HoE to be a flight-sim is a setup for dire disappointment.

Mentioned it because the OP mentioned HoTP, which is hardly a sim either.

Which was addressed by the first part of my statement which preceded what you quoted:

By and large Heroes over Europe was rejected by fans of Heroes of the Pacific - expecting HoE to be a flight-sim is a setup for dire disappointment.

i.e. despite HoE being technically being a sequel to HotP, a lot of HotP fans did not feel that their expectations and hopes of it being HotP in the European Theater was being met (I think the old discussions on the Ubisoft forums still exist). The "flight-sim" remark was a throw-in reference to

all i care about is great simulation with some action

What I was trying to point out was that liking flight-sims and enjoying HotP sets up the wrong expectations for HoE - and that one isn't going enjoy HoE if flight-sims and HotP are the two extreme boundaries of one's "appreciation spectrum". HoE already has enough comments like

this game is such crap XD Play IL-2 Sturmovik

i. e. "HoE is crap because I rather play flight-sims". FYI: Heroes Over Europe removed from Steam

[Gespenst]

all i care about is great simulation with some action

Wings of Prey hardly a "great simulation" either.

i. e. "HoE is crap because I rather play flight-sims".

Ah yes, the classic problem of having ultra-realistic simulators dominated the genre as the "golden standard" of realism™ that people calling out every other lighter/less favorable alternatives as "arcade trashes".