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The 'About' tab amends that to 8800GT, embeds a YouTube trailer (HD), and reads in part

Rise of Flight is a state-of-the-art PC flight simulation title that sets a new standard in fidelity, beauty and realism. You can fly any one of several famous World War I fighter planes such as the Spad XIII, Fokker  D. VII, Albatros  D. V.a and the Nieuport 28 into aerial combat.

As a new fighter pilot you can fly several helpful Training Missions and once graduated, you can fly several Single-Player combat missions against a computer opponent. If you feel you have mastered the art of aerial combat you can embark on a Pilot Career and fly a historically accurate Campaign for the French, British, German or American air forces. You will be tasked with destroying enemy fighters, bombers and balloons, escorting your own bombers or attacking ground targets such as trains, trucks, tanks and artillery. As you complete your missions successfully you will be promoted and awarded commendations by your military high-command. You can rise through the ranks from a green Lieutenant all the way to full Colonel.

Rise of Flight features an advanced flight model that simulates the unique handling characteristics of WWI aircraft. Spins, stalls, loops, takeoffs and landings are all accurately modeled. The complex physics model simulates natural forces such as lift, g-force, inertia and torque, which allows for an amazing level of fidelity and interaction of objects within the game environment. The detailed and progressive damage model tracks the trajectory of every bullet and shell fragment, leaving no room for error. Stay in the line of fire too long and you’ll lose a wing or a tail, land too hard and the wooden spine of your plane will crack.

Historical references and modern computer graphics were combined to render 125,000 square kilometers of French countryside that is disfigured by a terribly cratered battlefield. Fluffy clouds fill the sky which you can fly into for cover. Rain and fog are also modeled in realistic detail making flying even more of a challenge as water drops cover your windscreen or goggles. Advanced graphics featuring moving shadows, depth of field, light bloom and reflections make the objects and scenery come to life in a very realistic way.

If you think you’re good enough, try flying against real human opponents over the Internet. Rise of Flight features a robust Multiplayer option designed to allow players to fly co-operatively as a team against the computer or human opponents. Multiplayer statistics such as aerial kills, targets destroyed and missions completed are tracked by neoqb servers.

And speaking of STALKER, this looks like another game out of Russkyland. Maybe they're a little less constrained to make bazillion-selling Madden clones over there. Minus one to capitalism.

Well, give sturner and I a little time to save up, and Books'll have some (moderately) high-flyin', no-chute competition. W00ts.

Best WWI fighter ever!

I understand that many of those WWI planes had a crankshaft which remained fixed while the engine (with propeller attached) rotated around it. This huge gyroscope caused the plane to lurch up or down when the pilot tried to turn.  Landing was daunting.

If the sim faithfully reproduces this behavior, that would be something.

Turns out there are a fair number of related videos at YT- one is Physics, another, Explosions- both have HD version (even tho YT HD is 3/4 size; a 960px wide window for 720p-source vids). Lots of physics in the 'splodey trailer, tho.

Plenty of others- individual aircraft, multiplayer, etc. Just look at 'related.'

Good to see I'm not the only one with expertise on the subject- tho, typically, I've forgotten so much.

So meanwhile...

Take that, Dreamcast & OSX Skyfighters 1918!

Mr. T wrote:

Best WWI fighter ever!

That does look like a Brennish game, but even that's for platforms that aren't the DC or Mac.

Meanwhile, I wish for my aircraft to be painted red.

Dad's birthday is in a couple of days. I have ordered this for him.

sturner wrote:

What about Warbirds? They have a WWI simulator as well as the WWII. And they support both Mac and Windows play online.

Warbirds is mostly online, no? I haven't kept up in ages, but that's my (dated) impession. I'm also quite out of date on the game engine- sysreqs, grfx, physics. Online being what it is, tho, I've a hunch they're dated too.

Bren wrote:

Dad's birthday is in a couple of days. I have ordered this for him.

GoGamer? It's 25% off there thru the weekend ($30, free shipping).

Edit: http://www.gogamer.com/Rise-of-Flight-- … ewprod.htm

Last edited by Bat (2009-09-06 6:40 am)

Amazon; I wanted him to have a gift-wrapped pressie with an actual install DVD 'n stuff. I sure hope he's got an airplane-style controller.

Top Gun Afterburner II is what I use. Saitek was too expensive.

I had a Sidewinder or Sidewinder II that I found in the street. It worked once I scraped the contact of the USB connection, but I think maybe it had at some point been dipped in a vat of KY Jelly, 'cause it was always sticky.

I replaced it with a Logitech Extreme 3D Pro when I noticed it'd been marked down to $14.99 at my local Target. I just wish there were some decent flying games for the Mac that didn't have huge learning curves.

All flight sims have a steep learning curve.

Warbirds is realism based, but because it's before fly by wire and computer and electronic fire controls it's a lot leaner. The basics of flight, and an iron sight is a short description of it. WWII and WWI flight simulators tend to be much simplier, though flying them can provide a steep learning curve, as will tactics of dogfighting.

Lucasarts, we need SWOTL stat, 10-4, do you copy 'n' stuff, over?

Last edited by Bat (2009-09-08 5:37 am)