IL Strumovik

[Bender Unit]

Anyone tried the demo of this yet?


Erm ... WOW!


I chuffing love this game, its awesome - I feel like some real fighter ace as I swoop and roll shooting down Gerry! Some awesome near misses with other planes whilst dog fighting.

Playing this in HD on a huge screen is amazing - my eyes dry up! Simulator is hard as though - no hud, or target markers just how it would be in real life so you find you self squinting at the horizon looking for planes to attack! Oh and I also seem to go into a flat spin alot in Simulator for some reason?!

[Andy Jones]

Erm ... WOW!

I was rather impressed by this demo too.

Dropship on the PS2 was the last decent flight sim for me and the Hawx demo did nothing that made me want to go out and buy it and the Red Baron demo was dire!!!

[JohnnyC]

Was going to mention this, but it's not as mainstream as Hawx was (which I loved also).

I do have some gripes with the demo though:

* The difficulty should have been named 'arcade', 'simulation' & 'realistic' - IN THAT ORDER - errr, why should 'realistic' have a radar, did Spitfires have radars that no one knew about?

* The scissoring effect (on the PS3 version at least) on screen is terrible sometimes.

* Why are the controls so difficult when not on arcade - I've never flown a Spitfire in real life, and maybe it does stall everytime you turn too tight - but this is a video game FFS (I don't care if it is supposed to be on the 'realistic' setting, Spitfire pilots didn't use a DualShock3).



Having said all that, I pre-ordered this last week, first game I've ever pre-ordered on the PS3


Oh, and they've copied the locked-on view that Blazing Angels 2 had, although in this it's not as easy to control in said view.

[Bender Unit]

* Why are the controls so difficult when not on arcade - I've never flown a Spitfire in real life, and maybe it does stall everytime you turn too tight - but this is a video game FFS (I don't care if it is supposed to be on the 'realistic' setting, Spitfire pilots didn't use a DualShock3).

Agreed, I have tried repeatedly to master it on Simulation, and it seems to be in you bank to hard the plan just goes into a flat spin. I thought it was due to my air speed falling during the turn, but even at 100% throttle it happens. It seems that going beyond 45 degrees of bank that’s when things go wrong, and you also have to be smooth and gentle with the controls.

Online could possibly be awesome though …

[JohnnyC]

Had another quick play with this lastnight.

It runs in 1080p. The scissoring and framerate is marginally better if you switch the PS3 to 720p, but this is a pain.

Why oh why did they do it in 1080p? I'm all for higher resolutions, but drawing the amount a flight simulator does - it just can't cope. It's the same story with Call Of Juarez: Bound In Blood, FPS's can't cope with 1080p

[Bender Unit]

Maybe its a PS3 thing, runs super smooth on the 360 and mines running at 1080.

One small compliant is that I would have liked more ground detail - the countryside can look quite sparse - but I suppose that would change with the city missions.

[H3RB]

Had another quick play with this lastnight.

It runs in 1080p. The scissoring and framerate is marginally better if you switch the PS3 to 720p, but this is a pain.

Why oh why did they do it in 1080p? I'm all for higher resolutions, but drawing the amount a flight simulator does - it just can't cope. It's the same story with Call Of Juarez: Bound In Blood, FPS's can't cope with 1080p

yeah i noticed that on call of juarez, its an amazing game think im on the last mission now but as you say sometimes the draw distance and screen tearing is insane!! uncharted was the same in some parts.

[H3RB]

Maybe its a PS3 thing, runs super smooth on the 360 and mines running at 1080.

One small compliant is that I would have liked more ground detail - the countryside can look quite sparse - but I suppose that would change with the city missions.

most 360 games actually run at 1080p they are usually upscalled, apparently microsoft have said 360 games dont even have to support hd resolutions as of this year bring on the wii style graphics...

[JohnnyC]

Had another quick play with this lastnight.

It runs in 1080p. The scissoring and framerate is marginally better if you switch the PS3 to 720p, but this is a pain.

Why oh why did they do it in 1080p? I'm all for higher resolutions, but drawing the amount a flight simulator does - it just can't cope. It's the same story with Call Of Juarez: Bound In Blood, FPS's can't cope with 1080p

yeah i noticed that on call of juarez, its an amazing game think im on the last mission now but as you say sometimes the draw distance and screen tearing is insane!! uncharted was the same in some parts.

Had a look at the back of the box for Call of Juarez, it said '720' My TV deffo said 1080p when I played the demo

Uncharted was 720p though.

[JohnnyC]

Been playing the full game today. Lot's of missions, I think I counted around 70ish (so more than Hawx).

Only unlocked a handful of aircraft so far, but not all have cockpit views

There's a nice training option where you can choose the location, weather, enemies etc.

I'm particularly impressed by the clouds and the way the sunlight reflects on them

I'm only playing it non-stop as I'm hoping to unlock an Me-163 or Me-262

[Andy Jones]

It tells us what campaign your on via the friends list

Has the OTT screen tearing gone in the full game???

[JohnnyC]

Has the OTT screen tearing gone in the full game???

It's still there, but it does seem mildly improved over the demo.

[JohnnyC]

Anyone got Birds of Steel?
(it's a sequel of sorts)

[Andy Jones]

Ive dowloaded the demo but not tried it yet (useless answer I know)

Still not finished sturmovik but I intend to go back to it at some point as it was very enjoyable, I just found hawx and the recent ace combats a bit yawn in comparison.

Saying that I was one of the few that enjoyed the new top gun hard lock demo.

[JohnnyC]

Ive dowloaded the demo but not tried it yet (useless answer I know)

Demo? Have you defected to the xbox or something?

[Andy Jones]

Ive dowloaded the demo but not tried it yet (useless answer I know)

Demo? Have you defected to the xbox or something?

How dare you Next gen quite possible

Demo was on US PSN last week and having tried it last night it's very Sturmovik so it will be a purchase for me after i've gone back and finished that one.

The graphics are fabulous and the game engine seemed a bit more polished.

Only gripe was the training missions which I ended up skipping as it was a bit like watching CBBC (not that I watch it) as in ...... now we are going to take off, first, i'm going to build up enough speed so watch me and how the rear of the plane will lift up, now flaps blah, blah now landing gear blah, blah (it was the American demo so perhaps the training instuctor was localized )

First impressions are fans of Sturmovik will enjoy this one too.

[Andy Jones]

UK PSN is getting the demo this afternoon

[JohnnyC]

UK PSN is getting the demo this afternoon

Superb, cheers for the heads up

[JohnnyC]

Demo is excellent.
Pity none of the retailers I've been in stock this game (Game, Asda, Sainsburys, HMV, Tescos)

Anyone using a joystick for these games?
I got a steering wheel for the wife so she could play GT5 as she can't use the controller, but I'm not completely won over by the steering wheel - maybe I'm too used to the standard controller and fear the joystick might be the same