Fighters Anthology

Rating:
Summary: Buy This Game
Review: Having played this game several times I have come up with one conclusion, this is a great game. Sure the graphics aren't all that great but this game has it where it counts. I can sit at my computer for hours on end just seeing what all the aircraft can do to make micemeat out oof an Iraqi airfield (and air force one:-)).

Rating:
Summary: A great Sim
Review: I have played this game at a friends house and own it. This game gives you hands-on training to be an air force pilot. I would this game is the best i have ever played in my life.

Rating:
Summary: Fighters Antthology
Review: I haven't played many flight sims but I do like this one a lot. The graphics aren't the greatest but they aren't to bad, sound is pretty good, and the ability to play it over and over it a big plus. There also is a lot of info on the planes that you fly which is cool. One problem though is I can't seem to find the web site for it or any janes game. Overall I think that this is a great game.

Rating:
Summary: A Classic Game
Review: I miss the days when games were so much fun. This is the first game I played as a multi-player. The graphics are low compared to today's standard, but good enough to keep things interesting. It's just a fun game to play.

Rating:
Summary: The best of the best
Review: If you are a flight sim lover don't think about it, buy this one. There are 100 planes to fly and single missions to help you get started and campaigns to test your metal. You can create your missions with their mission editor. Once you think your good enough go online and see what your really made of. This is another winner from Jane. Their reference CD is excellent. This is the one sim that I play all the time ! The graphics are good and after you load the game go to Jane's web site and lod their update patch. I never have any problems playing FA, one word of advise, terminate any other programs running in your system tray. Strap in and feel the G's...

Rating:
Summary: It's Just Great!
Review: It's a wonderful game. Although the cockpit is not that realistic, but the gameplay is perfect. You get to choose all kinds of plane, load a variety of weapons, and proceed with a lot of fun missions. I like it because it's very intense but also "according to the book." And the air-to-air dogfight is probably the best part of the whole game. It teaches you how to maneuvre your plane, avoid radar detection, and all sorts of stuff, treating you just like a fighter pilot. You get to use your brain. I love the campaigns and the missions. Anyways, it's a very good game.

Rating:
Summary: Very nice
Review: Janes FA is THE best flight sim around. I've had it for 2 years, bought other sims, but nothing can compare. The flight model isn't the greatest.... and neither are the graphics... but the GAMEPLAY (what really counts) is the best, bar none. Once you think you're pretty good... you go online and test yourself...(and probably get beat) against online vets. The ABAs, which are unique to this game are what keeps this one going. The ability to play 1v1..... 2v2.... 3v3... 4v4... or free-for all is great, but when you add in the ABA and the Co-op missions... it all adds up to a wonderful game. People custom build cities, and you can host guns or guns and missile fights. It's just awesome. GO OUT AND BUY THIS GAME!!!

Rating:
Summary: Better than the sum of its parts...but not by much
Review: Just because we can keep 30 year old fighter planes in active service doesn't mean that we should try to do the same thing with computer games about fighter planes. But EA keeps at it anyway with "Fighters Anthology", a compilation of previous fighter's titles, with some added bells and whistles for multiplayer as well. Those older games themselves show roots stretching back to the original "LHX Attack Chopper" of 1990. FA throws in the meat of USNF, "NATO Fighters" and ATF, but little else. Unfortunately, the qualitative differences of those games aren't so great, and you might just as well have picked up any one of those older games. In each of the older games, you were able to fly single or multiplayer missions in a variety of aircraft. You could fly single missions or campaigns, or even craft short missions using the mission editor. Though the campaigns limited you to a few planes, you had a much larger choice of aircraft in single missions (In ATF Gold, you could fly anything from an A-10 to the Russian Tu-160; from the unlovely AC-130 to the F-22; from the hoary old MiG-21 to some exotic experimental types that have never left a drawing board; you could even pit F-14's against F-5E's ala "Top Gun"). The problem was repetitive gameplay - the planes were dirt simple in terms of flying and avionics. Though each plane came with its own instrument panel, they were just for show - you could turn them off and not notice the difference; you got the real data from pop-up screens. The surface scenery, though using the naturally contoured terrain standard since "Falcon 3.0", is otherwise so bland and featureless, that they recalled 1991's "Chuck Yeager's Air Combat". Gameplay boiled down to the same two things - take out a primary target on the ground (like an HAS); splash an airborne target (or targets in the case of one mission against a host of incoming B-52's). Even though the missions were generic, they were also linear - you flew the same mission until you've achieved the mission goals. That is, that the missions were pre-scripted, but not even scripted that well. (EF2000 also has simple missions, but is campaigns were dynamic and, being a single plane game, was much more detailed. It also had much more modest system requirements) In each case, the story was always the same - too few wingmen against to many targets and threats. And boy, does it get tired fast. When you've reached a point where all you're doing is dogfighting, the games shine - but that's not enough to distract you from the cartoonish gameplay, crude flight dynamics and blocky graphics. Putting all of the Fighters titles together doesn't really add much, since any one of the games will have enough features alone to keep you coming back - just not enough flavor to hold you for long after your return. To its credit, FA has a much meatier multiplayer option than its predecessors, one allowing for broader conflicts - you can even hop into one of those self-propelled ack-ack guns like "Zip-23" and take over while on the ground. It's actually a lot of fun, but not enough to overcome the unreality of the game as a flight simulation. Also, though this is packaged in a box as a "classics" title, there is no printed manual, only (as ina jewel-box edition, bane of gamners!!) a CD manual in Adobe .pdf format. You can print it out, if you know somebody at Kinkos (it's a biggy) or if you work on weekends, and nobody notices a missing ream of printer paper. Instead, I'd go for USAF with its better graphics or, if you've got a mighty machine, wait a spell for Janes next crack at a "survey sim" game - you know you never have to wait long for a Jane's game to come out, or at least get previewed. If you've got an older machine like a low end Celeron or an early P2, FA or the other Fighters titles (other than IAF) will probably be the best you can fly. If you try and pick up one of the older "Fighters" games, you'll get a slightly weaker game, but perhaps a manual you can actually read. In short - if you already own ATF, USNF Marine Fighters or NATO Fighters, save your cash.

Rating:
Summary: Better than the sum of its parts...but not by much
Review: Just because we can keep 30 year old fighter planes in active service doesn't mean that we should try to do the same thing with computer games about fighter planes. But EA keeps at it anyway with "Fighters Anthology", a compilation of previous fighter's titles, with some added bells and whistles for multiplayer as well. Those older games themselves show roots stretching back to the original "LHX Attack Chopper" of 1990. FA throws in the meat of USNF, "NATO Fighters" and ATF, but little else. Unfortunately, the qualitative differences of those games aren't so great, and you might just as well have picked up any one of those older games. In each of the older games, you were able to fly single or multiplayer missions in a variety of aircraft. You could fly single missions or campaigns, or even craft short missions using the mission editor. Though the campaigns limited you to a few planes, you had a much larger choice of aircraft in single missions (In ATF Gold, you could fly anything from an A-10 to the Russian Tu-160; from the unlovely AC-130 to the F-22; from the hoary old MiG-21 to some exotic experimental types that have never left a drawing board; you could even pit F-14's against F-5E's ala "Top Gun"). The problem was repetitive gameplay - the planes were dirt simple in terms of flying and avionics. Though each plane came with its own instrument panel, they were just for show - you could turn them off and not notice the difference; you got the real data from pop-up screens. The surface scenery, though using the naturally contoured terrain standard since "Falcon 3.0", is otherwise so bland and featureless, that they recalled 1991's "Chuck Yeager's Air Combat". Gameplay boiled down to the same two things - take out a primary target on the ground (like an HAS); splash an airborne target (or targets in the case of one mission against a host of incoming B-52's). Even though the missions were generic, they were also linear - you flew the same mission until you've achieved the mission goals. That is, that the missions were pre-scripted, but not even scripted that well. (EF2000 also has simple missions, but is campaigns were dynamic and, being a single plane game, was much more detailed. It also had much more modest system requirements) In each case, the story was always the same - too few wingmen against to many targets and threats. And boy, does it get tired fast. When you've reached a point where all you're doing is dogfighting, the games shine - but that's not enough to distract you from the cartoonish gameplay, crude flight dynamics and blocky graphics. Putting all of the Fighters titles together doesn't really add much, since any one of the games will have enough features alone to keep you coming back - just not enough flavor to hold you for long after your return. To its credit, FA has a much meatier multiplayer option than its predecessors, one allowing for broader conflicts - you can even hop into one of those self-propelled ack-ack guns like "Zip-23" and take over while on the ground. It's actually a lot of fun, but not enough to overcome the unreality of the game as a flight simulation. Also, though this is packaged in a box as a "classics" title, there is no printed manual, only (as ina jewel-box edition, bane of gamners!!) a CD manual in Adobe .pdf format. You can print it out, if you know somebody at Kinkos (it's a biggy) or if you work on weekends, and nobody notices a missing ream of printer paper. Instead, I'd go for USAF with its better graphics or, if you've got a mighty machine, wait a spell for Janes next crack at a "survey sim" game - you know you never have to wait long for a Jane's game to come out, or at least get previewed. If you've got an older machine like a low end Celeron or an early P2, FA or the other Fighters titles (other than IAF) will probably be the best you can fly. If you try and pick up one of the older "Fighters" games, you'll get a slightly weaker game, but perhaps a manual you can actually read. In short - if you already own ATF, USNF Marine Fighters or NATO Fighters, save your cash.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Flight Sim
Review: Realistic backgrouds give the illusion of being in the real location on Earth. Comments from co-pilots and back-seaters add humor and realism. The controls are easy to learn and the reference files give detailed descriptions, pictures, videos, and some have test flights for the planes. If you love planes or flight sims you will love this game.