Luftwaffe had the makings of an interesting, offbeat sim. Indeed, with some serious patching and a complete reissue, it could still become one. But judging by the unceremonious dumping of this game onto the marketplace in an obviously incomplete form, that's not likely to happen. The problems start right away. The game simply doesn't look all that great compared to the three other WWII games. Terrain is inconsistent, with nice rolling hills and ghastly looking patchwork areas. The plane models are decent, but have few damage effects, and they pale in comparison to WWII Fighters. Gunshots look splotchy, and explosions and smoke effect are about a year out of date. Cockpits and views are OK, though more external-view selections should have been included. There are no blind spots and the padlock works well, though it holds a lock on a plane even when the target is clearly out of view. While the 3D cockpit has a smooth action, it's rendered useless by the lack of functioning gauges. Considering the mediocre graphics, the game doesn't even run all that smoothly.
The flight models are generally quite strong, with good spin and stall modeling and a wide array of dynamic damage effects. There's little to complain about in the way these birds handle. They feel just right. However, the problems begin to mount once you get flying. Numerous bugs prevent missions from ending correctly or prevent you from getting full credit. Some collisions leave absolutely no damage to the aircraft. This is not necessarily a bad thing, since collisions are maddeningly frequent due to horrible AI problems. Both friendly and enemy craft seem to have little or no collision-avoidance routines. They regularly run into you or the ground during maneuvers. Enemy AI in dogfighting is pat and predictable, while wingman AI is simply hopeless.
The single-player game is generally stable in terms of hard crashes, but the multiplayer sessions are hard to get running and crash pretty often. With three strong WWII sims out right now, there's enough aerial-period action to keep you flying for the next year. Luftwaffe could have been a worthy, and even unique, addition to this set of sims. Even the spotty graphics could have been overlooked since the flight models are strong and the missions quite interesting. But you can't overlook the overall impression that this is a boxed beta.
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