GameSpot editors' review
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CNET editors' rating:
stars
Very good
Detailed editors' rating
- Reviewed on: 03/31/1999
- Updated on: 05/05/2000
- Released on: 02/28/1999
- Originally published on GameSpot: Fighter Squadron - complete package Review
On the crowded field of World War II sims, there's a player who stands alone. He's not a jack-of-all-trades like the others, but he has some swift moves, he looks good on the field, and he definitely plays well with others. This upstart player is Activision's long-delayed Fighter Squadron: Screamin' Demons Over Europe. It definitely stands apart from other WWII flight sims. Whether that's good or bad depends on what you're looking for.
Fighter Squadron doesn't try to replicate the entire WWII air combat experience. Instead, it concentrates on the meat of the experience - the dogfight. You won't fly a real-time air campaign here or spend an hour flying to the target. The action, like the combat arena, is concentrated and intense.
That's not to say that Fighter Squadron is a "lite" action/arcade sim. The sim was created by Parsoft, the developer that brought us A-10 Cuba. Like that game, there are very detailed physics and flight models here. Damage a plane, and the parts come off and take on an aerodynamic life of their own. Knock out an engine on a P-38 and it will want to pull to one side; blow off a wingtip and it will spin toward the ground.
While the damage models are excellent, the flight models are mixed. In many respects, the planes have a feel closest to that of a real aircraft that I've ever encountered in a sim. This is particularly evident when flying in windy conditions. Unfortunately, the flight models seem somewhat neutered compared with the ones in beta versions. General handling is good, and the planes' relative performance to each other is well represented. But stalls have been dramatically toned down, and spins are nonexistent. When a plane loses speed, it usually reacts as it would if a skilled pilot were riding the edge of a stall, instead of actually departing from controlled flight. This takes a bit of challenge out of dogfighting.
Fighter Squadron offers ten flyable planes, and is the only sim in the current crop that lets you fly bombers. You can jump between any of a bomber's gun positions; there's also a bombardier station, but the bombsight is so simplified it's of little use. Alas, only one person can man a bomber in multiplayer mode. Aircraft cockpits are decently modeled, but they can't compare with those in Jane's WWII Fighters. The default view practically places your nose against the gunsight, especially in padlock mode, but this can be easily zoomed out to a more comfortable level. The padlock view works very well, although it could use more target selection options. You can use the fixed keypad views to snap the view to any direction to check for bogies or make sure you're not flying into the ground; the view will then snap back to the padlocked target.
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