Rating: 
Summary: What happened?
Review: Utterly disappointing... And this from a chap who gave Microsoft's FS 2004, FS 2002 and Combat Flight Sim 2 - 5 stars respectively. The box notes claim that "Combat Flight Sim 3 was built using an entirely new graphics engine", if this is truly the case (and there's no reason for me to dismiss this statement as a bold faced lie) then my next burning question would be... "For the love of God, why?!" Although I love to fly (simulated that is) I have to admit I am first and foremost a graphics geek, so my eyes tend to bend that way immediately and on first inspection of CFS 3 I was struck by the lack of "pop" CFS 3 offers visually, sure the aircraft skins are top notch, but beyond that the textures are flat, the sky looks as if someone simply scattered a handful of cottons balls over a blue field, the menus look like something pulled off the shelves way back in the mid 90's (remember those days) matter of fact CFS 1 was a stellar achievement compared to the milk toast drabness of Microsoft's latest "combat" outing. And oh yes did I mention the panels, cockpits and pathetic gunner views of the fighters and bombers are so dated visually that I thought at first glance my graphics settings were on low? NOTE ON MY SPECS (for reference): Compaq Presario 8000T, Pentium 4 - 3.20E GHz processor, Windows XP Home Edition, 1 GB DDR / PC3200 Ram, 160GB 7200 rpm Seagate Barracuda hard drive, 16X max. DVD-ROM Drive, 256MB DDR ATI Radeon 9600 (Direct X 9), Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 (needless to say I had the offender in question maxed out!). The poor visuals inside these buckets of bolts only compound an even greater problem... playability or flyability (are those real words?). The heads-up targeting display is arranged at such an awkward angle that training your sights on the enemy is like navigating a high-wire on the tip of your tong, you can't see where you're going and trying to think ahead of your enemy's AI is near impossible because you can't see him and the oldest trick in the book of leading your target simply doesn't apply here because your forced to blindly spray a line of bullets somewhere into space in a direction you think or hope your quarry might be headed! I could go on and on but I simply don't have the mental strength or enough negative adjectives to describe the horror that is found inside such a pretty box. Hopes were high, then crushed by nothing short of an amateur offering by an industry giant. It makes me wonder, does the design team responsible for this flagrant act of shoddy craftsmanship still have jobs at Microsoft and if so are they wearing gray uniforms and carrying buckets and mops? Microsoft should be nothing short of embarrassed by CFS 3, it's a tremendous set back for the true innovator of flight sim technology. Look out Microsoft UbiSoft's on your six with IL2: Forgotten Battles (which looks better, runs better and feels better), they've got four gold stars stenciled neatly on their fuselage and they're looking to make that five.
Rating:
Summary: Get ready for Frustration!
Review: Wonderful graphics! Or so they claim. I wouldn't know. After upgrading my video card, drivers and downloading 2 different patches from Microsoft this game is still not even remotely reliable. The game finally locked up this computer system so badly, that my C: drive had to be reformatted and all my programs reloaded, and that was not my solution, but the computer shop that tried to unlock it! Microsoft's solution is to basically start up the computer in a dedicated mode "clean boot" just for operating the game. Yes, just like the old "boot disk" except you have to change the config sys manually and restart your computer. So much for ease of use. My system is far above what Microsoft called for on the box, but still unable to function with the game. I have a 1ghz system 500 megs of ram and a 64megs video card with the newest drivers available. As much as I like flight games, having a computer that can only have this game and a windows operating system on it is a bit ridiculous. Better to spend your dollars on something not so risky say like Enron stock.Clarence
Rating: 
Summary: No, it is not as bad as it seems
Review: Yes, you can enjoy this game, but first you must understand a few facts about computers: First, don't complain about having to download current video drivers for this game. Do you want the latest technology, then you have to download it...often. Just because you bought the best video card you could afford a year ago, doesn't mean that it is going to run today's technology. Second, all big games run from the CD, so understand that you have to have the CD in the drive to play the game (common sense) and that there will be lag time when it accesses the CD. The world is very large and it is difficult for your PC to spawn a 360 degree enviroment on the fly. Third, turn off your background programs. The listed requirements are for a barebones PC, not one that is running a ton of spyware and third-party utilites that are hogging all your resources. Now, lets get to the review... The GOOD:
- The best detail in a 360 degree enviroment of any flight-sim to date.
- Clouds and weather effects are well done.
- The planes and targets look great.
- Nice selection of planes. The BAD:
- Load time is very, very long.
- The game has more bugs than most finished products.
- The cockpit views are difficult to see from, and the effects of speed and force on ammunition seems exaggerated (even at point blank range you have to lead the ammo so far in front of a target that it is outside of your field of view)
- Armament just doesn't feel true to life.
- The bomber controls are horrible, and while you can take the roll of bombidier or a gunner I recommend you don't, as there is no auto pilot (you can switch seats only to find that the throttle has dropped to zero and your bomber just rolled into an unrecoverable dive, or the gunner's machine guns are now locked "on" and decimating your fellow flight members) The UGLY:
- This game is too taxing on hardware resources.
- You can't belly land!!!
- Any nick from enemy flak is like getting a direct hit from a rocket - ouch!!!
- The game feels too much like you are playing an arcade game.
- The "campaign" acspect is an inconvience and interferes with regular game play. Needs to be better implemented.
- Framerates can be so bad that the plane will jerk across the sky (making a smooth landing almost impossible) So in summation, the game is not great, but it will deliver hours of fun here and there if you are patient. Microsoft can, and should have, done better than this and I don't look forward to purchasing any future Combat Flight Simulator releases.
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