Triggerhappy Posted December 12, 2000 Share Posted December 12, 2000 Recently had the chance to play the final beta (version 1.0) of BoB from Rowan Software for a while. If you're into flight sims this game may be one to look out for. It's not too hardcore. Although the flight model is pretty well done (IMHO - I never piloted a Spit or 109 of course ) there are quite a few things that hardcore pilots will miss, for example accurate cockpits or realistic damage modelling. The graphics aren't too good either. The airplanes are quite detailed and there are a lot of ground objects but the textures are really looking artificial. Strange colors. Third bad thing is that the missions become a little bit boring with time. In the dynamic campaign you'll fly only intercept missions for the RAF and escort missions for the Luftwaffe (although you can also dive bomb targets with the Ju-87 Stuka and play as a tail gunner in the German bombers Ju-88, He-111 and Do-17). That's a problem of the scenario of course. The one thing that's really great about BoB is that the graphics engine is capable of displaying hundreds (!) of war birds at the same time. I've had engagements with approximately 250 bombers and fighters. Together with the gorgeous sound effects and radio chatter that creates a really stunning dog fighting experience. I'd love to play such huge air battles with human opponents but unfortunately the game only allows up to eight players. Conclusion: If you love dog fighting then you should really give it a try. Too bad that the AI opponents aren't too much of a challenge for an experienced sim pilot. ------------------ laid to rest alive waiting in a shallow grave mines have learned patience - Kurtz Rührt euch! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Rob/1 Posted December 12, 2000 Share Posted December 12, 2000 One question do you have a link to the web site? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triggerhappy Posted December 12, 2000 Author Share Posted December 12, 2000 The link should be www.empireinteractive.com but it seems to be down. Empire's old url (www.empire.co.uk) is only referring to the new one. I think that Rowan's got their own homepage. ------------------ laid to rest alive waiting in a shallow grave mines have learned patience - Kurtz Rührt euch! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wesreidau Posted December 12, 2000 Share Posted December 12, 2000 Triggerhappy, I`ve recently downloaded the demo of this, and although I found the actual sim lacking in comparison to games like EAW, I find the resource management aspect intriguing. Can you tell me if there is a definite release date set yet? Empire are buggers for not responding to my emails...thanks in advance. ------------------ "Any man who judges a nation is a peewit" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Smith Posted December 12, 2000 Share Posted December 12, 2000 Chaps - Rowan's url for Battle of Britain is http://www.empireinteractive.com/BOB/ I have the demo and it is highly susceptible to graphics settings. If you want to try it out with minimum frustrations, I would suggest heading over to SimHq's or Combatsim's Battle of Britain forums where there are good tips on getting the most out of the game. The full game is already out in the UK and is set for early 2001 release in the States. No sign of it in Oz yet. BTW, I have just started playing the Combat Mission demo after reading an excellent review on Combatsim, and I'm having a blast. This forum is also very useful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Napoleon1944 Posted December 12, 2000 Share Posted December 12, 2000 Just picked up Mig Alley for $19.99 at Best Buy. Rowan games usually suck, but the price is right. Anyone up for TCP/IP for EAW or Panzer Elite? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supertanker Posted December 12, 2000 Share Posted December 12, 2000 Shamelessly ganked from my new favorite gaming news site, Quarter to Three ( www.quartertothree.com ), "In some of the most discouraging news for flight simmers since EA's dismissal of the Baltimore studios that made the best Jane's titles, Empire has acquired Rowan, the British developers who created MiG Alley and the upcoming Battle of Britain. What's discouraging isn't the actual acquisition, but this snippet from the press release: 'The Rowan team will now concentrate on developing more mass-market titles for next-generation consoles'. Translation: no more of those hardcore flight sims that don't make any money. Oddly enough, the press release mentions that Rowan was bought for a mere £30,000, with the promise of another £30,000 if certain developmental milestones are met." ------------------ "Late evening turned to early morning as you sat with fists tightly gripped and thumb poised, anxiously awaiting the next cartridge of goodness. The hardcore gamer was born from nights such as these. Show your 'Roots.'" - The description of the Atari 2600 shirt on game-skins.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I/O Error Posted December 12, 2000 Share Posted December 12, 2000 European Air War: Nothing beats going up against a flight of Heinkel 111s during 1940 or a flight of B17s in 1943... The game rocks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GriffinCheng+ Posted December 12, 2000 Share Posted December 12, 2000 Sad but true, appearently EAW is the defintely the WW2 west front sim for some time. But according to CGO, B17][ is very encouraging but still it is no EAW. Let's see what the Russians are going to do about hardcore sims. Griffin. <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by I/O Error: European Air War: Nothing beats going up against a flight of Heinkel 111s during 1940 or a flight of B17s in 1943... The game rocks. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> ------------------ "When you find your PBEM opportents too hard to beat, there is always the AI." "Can't get enough Tank?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JigVictor07 Posted December 12, 2000 Share Posted December 12, 2000 Yep, I'm sticking to EAW also. No flight sim has beaten it yet. Maybe Il-2 will... JV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flipper Posted December 12, 2000 Share Posted December 12, 2000 only problem with eaw is it doesnt really have a good capaign after bob gets over its teething troubles with the over sensitive controller setup with ff joysticks its capaign mode will be the future which all other flight sims must be judged. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triggerhappy Posted December 12, 2000 Author Share Posted December 12, 2000 To all the EAW lovers out there: I find BoB quite comparable to the Microprose sim. If you love EAW then you'll certainly like BoB. ------------------ laid to rest alive waiting in a shallow grave mines have learned patience - Kurtz Rührt euch! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuckyStrike Posted December 12, 2000 Share Posted December 12, 2000 How about the new Pacific version of Combat Flight Simulator, CFS 2? That is getting some excellent reviews. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triggerhappy Posted December 12, 2000 Author Share Posted December 12, 2000 I don't like CFS 2 too much. Groucho from Combatsim.com sums my opinion on it up pretty well. http://www.combatsim.com/htm/2000/11/imho-cfs2/ ------------------ laid to rest alive waiting in a shallow grave mines have learned patience - Kurtz Rührt euch! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralph D Posted December 12, 2000 Share Posted December 12, 2000 I'd have to add that, given all the negatives I've heard about BoB from Rowan, that having played the demo, I find it very immersive. I experienced none of the graphics problems other people mention, in fact I find them top notch onced tweaked. A real bonus is that it works flawlessly in with Win2k. I'll certainly be picking it up when it's released, but I recommend trying the demo and judging for yourself. Regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruno Weiss Posted December 12, 2000 Share Posted December 12, 2000 I also sign onto that review Trigger. It was the very first thing that rather shocked me upon loading CFS2. The planes were pretty, pretty fragile. The sounds are well, sort of a cast back to AOE to be honest. It took me a few hours to figure out that the noise of a cow's tail swishing flies was actually my plane taking damage. I'm more used to the EAW sounds of bullets impacting against metal. Then, there was the AA fire, but I thought surely they will patch that quickly. Nope, not yet anyhow. Fly anywhere near a ground target, and laser guided AA fire starts those cows to swishing their tails again, and a quick outside glance at your plane reveals more holes than swiss cheese. Graphics were impressive, but even with a PIII/733 256 meg RAM, Voodoo 5, I couldn't turn them all the way up. I'm not sure who thought 55 various minimized window views was a breakthrough but I simply found it a distraction and a system resource drain as well. It is supposed to be a flight sim, not a MS Access data base for multiple windows. (I suppose a Cray could run it at full tilt), but I eventually gave up and back in the box it went. Now, I'm used to this sort of thing by now, seen a lot of games come and go. But what amazes me is the level of quality that now appears to suit the masses with little or no disgruntlement. Makes companies like BTS who go the distance to ensure a quality product stand out even more in the crowd. Thank goodness for BTS is all I can say. BoB will have to wait till enough is out there that I can clearly see what's up with it. Meantime, I reloaded EAW to fly with since with all it's faults (and not having B17-2 to take a look at yet), it is still the more realistic prop sim I prefer. (Eye of the beholder I suppose, but it be my 50 smackers to vote with). ------------------ "Gentlemen, you may be sure that of the three courses open to the enemy, he will always choose the fourth." -Field Marshal Count Helmuth von Moltke, (1848-1916) [This message has been edited by Bruno Weiss (edited 12-12-2000).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Treeburst155 Posted December 12, 2000 Share Posted December 12, 2000 Bruno, What did they do to Silent Hunter II that you disapprove of? Is it the lack of a dynamic campaign that bothers you? Treeburst155 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col Deadmarsh Posted December 12, 2000 Share Posted December 12, 2000 I've been wanting to purchase EAW for years now but never could because I had an outdated system until just 6 months ago. Can someone tell me what the plusses and minuses are of this game and is it still worthy of purchase. After all, it came out a couple of years ago and surely looks dated. Anyway, I'd love to hear some opinions on this. ------------------ Youth is wasted on the young. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wesreidau Posted December 12, 2000 Share Posted December 12, 2000 Can anyone who has the full game tell me how the strategy element works out? Is it a good game in itself (a la talonsoft`s resource management effort)? I`m a real BoB era grognard, and one of the features that appealed was that they use historical-looking ops room charts for this part of the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iggi Posted December 12, 2000 Share Posted December 12, 2000 Flight sims will reach thier hey day when we have full wrap around screens availabe for home use. Think of yourself in a bubble. Until then, they're good procedure trainers. I actually have an idea to make one. Imagine an umbrella where you are sitting on the inside. The dome is opaque. A projector on the outside projects an image on the dome. There you go. Problems to tackle: Can the image be focused on a curved dome? The image must be distorted so that when it falls on a curved surface, the image is coherent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Heidman Posted December 12, 2000 Share Posted December 12, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Triggerhappy: I don't like CFS 2 too much. Groucho from Combatsim.com sums my opinion on it up pretty well. http://www.combatsim.com/htm/2000/11/imho-cfs2/ <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Man, that guy hits the nail on the head. I like flight sims, but I cannot sem to get myelf to lik ethat one! I am glad it is not some defect in my programming! Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iggi Posted December 12, 2000 Share Posted December 12, 2000 The best flight sim will be wwiionline. For me it's the immersion. You're fighting to support real players, your squads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JigVictor07 Posted December 13, 2000 Share Posted December 13, 2000 Colonel: Come to visit Combatsim's EAW Forum at http://www.combatsim.com/ubbcgi/Ultimate.cgi .You'll get all the info you need in there. About EAW, with all the add-ons, skins, terrains, utilities, new aircraft, new campaigns etc. that have been made you wouldn't recognize the game. It has evolved so much. You can for example fly in the Pacific, Eastern Front, Mediterranean, North Africa, Battle of France etc. No flight sim has yet beaten it in my HD. If you still can find EAW somewhere, definately get it! JV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GriffinCheng+ Posted December 13, 2000 Share Posted December 13, 2000 But an educated guess will be your squad will not have their "nationality" painted on their heads and well...CAS in "CM-style" happens. I watched an show of "Tech Now" and they said MS hired some WW2 verterans (both US and Jap) to check the flight model in CFS2. Reviews in SimHQ.com and CGO say CFS2 is okay but not so according to CombatSim.com Well the best flight-sim for WW2 PTO is still 1942PAW. Griffin. <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by iggi: The best flight sim will be wwiionline. For me it's the immersion. You're fighting to support real players, your squads.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> ------------------ "When you find your PBEM opportents too hard to beat, there is always the AI." "Can't get enough Tank?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest HENTZAU Posted December 13, 2000 Share Posted December 13, 2000 Theres another flight sim that can compete with EAW and thats Red Baron 3D. With all the free stuff out for it now, it doesn't look much like the original game, its way better. No flight sim made for single player and multi player has ever equaled Red Baron 3D for online play. On the right server its quite easy to have over 30 guys flying and fighting at once. Its free online once you've bought the game. Its hard to find now, but can still be ordered from Sierra. All the add on stuff can be found or linked to from http://www.wingsofhonor.com If you have RB3D and never tried it online go to that page and download the 1.078 patch and try it online. RB3D is what keeps me from playing CM more often. I'm not totally assimilated yet! ;o) I still love CM though. If I was told I could only keep two games it would be RB3D and CM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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