Rating: 
Summary: The Ultimate Hardcore Sim
Review: I have owned and played Falcon 4.0 for a year now. It is certainly not for the casual sim user, in fact I find it to be the absolute most realistic sim experience I've ever had. It took a while to learn the ins and outs, actually I still am. It's a constant learning experience, I still get shot down on campain missions occasionaly, miss the target on occation etc. And of course the graphics are amazing as well. I would highly recomend this game to anyone who is looking for an extreme challenge in flight simulation.
Rating: 
Summary: Ultra-Realistic but mixed feelings
Review: I pre-ordered Falcon and received it as soon as it shipped. Unfortunately it was seriously buggy, and even 2 years and numerous patches later still has flaws/bugs in it that are annoying at times.On the other hand, no other sim, including those from Janes (though I haven't played the flanker series, in fairness) gives me the impression of more realism. Pull the nose up while taking off too far before you're airborne, and you'll scrape the tailpipe on the runway. Practice, practice and more practice is required before you can land this beast. Try landing with damaged gear and watch the damaged portion of the gear collapse at touchdown. Get guided your your target by the audio of the AWACS controller's voice, and hear the Air Traffic Controller's welcome you back to base after a mission and then vector you onto the runway. The avionics of the F-16 are nearly overwelming. The air to air radar has 4 master modes and numerous sub modes, and there are three air-to-ground radar modes. Fortunately, once you've mastered one of each type the rest fall in reasonably quickly. Likewise, there are three different modes for dropping unguided bombs - mastering the assorted ways in which your various guided weapons work is also daunting. And I won't even mention the difficulty of air to air refueling. The graphics in Falcon are top notch, even two years later, especially the terrain. Its the only sim I've played that really gives you a sense of speed, especially at low level. There are a few things graphicaly that are sort of dissapointing - none of the other planes has as much detail graphicaly as the F-16, and when flying over cities, only certain structures are modeled in 3d, the rest are simply textured onto the ground and aren't objects. Also, the texture is a set of tiles that periodicaly repeat. They're very high quality, but in certain areas where they repeat alot (for instance, when a river flows through farmland the tiles repeat quite a bit) it can detract. On the other hand, seeing the haze and fog rolling up against realistic looking hills is terrific, as is seeing the contours of the ground on your air-to-ground radar as you fly by at low level. I also have to say that the use of sound in Falcon is first rate - hear your engine whine as you spool it up, your breaks protest as you land and complete your rollout, the zipping sound of your gattling gun as you tear into your latest victim, and your heat seaking missles scream at you as they achieve lock. The use of radio calls in the game deserves particular note as they really add to the immersion. Since Falcon 4 simulates an entire campaign and all the vehicles in it, you hear other flights of planes talking to one another, calling for help, exaulting when their bombs hit home etc. Really excellent. To sum up, if you like hard core sims, even with a few remaining bugs I think for [edit] you can't go wrong buying Falcon - the price is definetly right. I still play this game two years later whenever I get the chance. If you don't like hardcore sims though, best to stay away as even though you can tone down the realism, there are better flight sims out there for the non-hardcore crowd.
Rating: 
Summary: Looks good, plays terrible
Review: I purchased this game even after reading about all the bugs and crashes, hoping that somewhere under all the problems I could find the great sim that Microprose advertised. Big mistake. Even with the lates 1.08 patch, this game crashes to the desktop about half the time. It seems there is a hardware conflict with just about every device known. And even a PIII 450 with 96RAM and a Viper 550 card can't keep up with frame rates in campaign mode, even with graphics set at medium-it's more like watching a slide show. The real problem is that even after patching, getting the update for the patch, reading the confusing manual cover to cover several times, flying the lame training missions (you'll have to read the instructions for each mission as you fly, as there is no on screen directions), and spending endless hours "mastering" the avionics and weapons systems, the game is still not only frustrating, but borders on unplayable. Communications will instruct you to attack and enemy, give you a range and bearing, but the enemy will not be there. And when an enemy is right behind you? The tower will tell you the "picture is clear". I spent days just trying to find out what I was supposed to be TRYING to do. Oh yeah, and if you choose to use the new patch to fix some of the bugs (plenty still exist), you will not have force feedback at all. I'll admit, the graphics are great, the manual looks good, but when you consider that Hasbro aquired Microprose and forced them to release the product in an unfinished state, it makes you wonder why you should be paying to test what is really a beta version product.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Flight Sim
Review: I've only played a few other flight sims, and that was quite a while ago. When I got the urge to play again, I read many reviews, postboards, and asked a lot of questions. I came to the conclusion that Falcon 4 is the best, and from my experience, it is. I was very impressed with the 300+ page book that came with it, in a time when most games consist of a flashy box with only a jewel case inside. The guide, which was written by an actual F-16 training pilot, is very helpful. The radar modes are awesome, the advanced ones being quite complex. But if that's what real F-16 radar is like, than that's what I want! The flight model is very impressive. At the easy level, the plane feels like a video game, but at the highest level, it really feels like a sim. The team dog fights are the best. You can go head to head with anything from MIG19s to other F-16s, including other players on your local network. A must-buy for the flight sim enthusiast.
Rating:
Summary: A awsome sim but hard!
Review: I've played a lot of flight sims, but Falcon gains most of my respect and time. Falcon 4.0 truely lives up to its name of the most realistic flight sim around. The game gives you an adrenaline because of the realism and the power of a fighter in your hands. Excellent graphics and sounds. Physics is without question the best ever. The downside to Falcon is that it takes a lot of time and energy to learn. Besides having a 600 page manual(which you have to read in order to play), the game is hard to get used to. Especially landing, which took me a long time to learn. Bottm line: once in a life time game, but be prepared to be irratated
Rating:
Summary: Simply doesn't work
Review: If it didn't crash all over the place, it would be one of the most impressive pieces of software ever. Very ambitious, great manual, excellent concept (dynamic campaign, etc.) but poorly done. Frustration compounded by Microprose's reluctance to admit there is a problem, fix the problem, offer refunds, etc. Their tech support is a joke. Do yourself a favor - wait for Janes F18 to come out and get that.
Rating:
Summary: Probably Best Combat Flight Sim of All Time
Review: If you crave realism, Falcon 4 is the flight sim for you. Download the SP3 (or whatever is the latest) realism patch ...and the avionics become much more realistic, you get weather effects, up-to-date weapons and platforms, and a much more stable sim. The original Falcon 4 was buggy and crashed a lot. With the latest patches that is a thing of the past. Recommend a beefy PC to play this game; it needs high performance to run IMO.
Rating:
Summary: It's the mother of all flight sims
Review: If you want a flight sim that's easy to learn and quick to fly, thenthis is NOT the one for you. If you are a dedicated flight simmer,then this is the one you must have. It has a very steep learning curveand a very complicated manual. At first release, it was verybuggy. Then Hasbro bailed out on it after one or two patches. But, ithas a very dedicated following(truly international)including manycomputer geniuses. They have produced (FOR FREE) many add-ons andfixes. After you buy and load it, go straight to the Falcon4website. From there you can download all the add-ons and patches,including extra cockpits for the Mig-29, F-14, and B-1 bomber. I havea Pentium II 333 with a voodoo3 2000 video card and 256 megs ofRAM. It runs well, but a faster chip and a better video card will makeit even more interesting. You'll need at least 128 megs of RAM to runsmoothly, although some people have said it runs OK on less. The bestfeature is the dynamic campaign. It's the US and South Korea vs. NorthKorea, although Red China and Russia may jump in also. There are 3different campaigns in which you can adjust strength levels. Also, itnow has a feature where you can have a Korean winter set up and a newadd-on just released- a campaign in the Balkans, with new terrain andeverything! Every week new things are being added such as moreaccurate flight models for all aircraft and new terrains for campaignsin the desert of the Middle East, Israel, and Southern Europe(all inthe works). It flys on-line very well, with dogfighting, campaigns, orTE's that you can make yourself. It's like many, many sims rolled intoone! It's a steal at the present price.
Rating:
Summary: None Better
Review: It gets better every year! Members of the Falcon 4 community have worked on this game for years to improve it. Free downloadable improvements, including multiple cockpits of various other aircraft, are being added all the time. It has the best dynamic campaign of any flight sim on the market! Other Theaters of Operation have also been added, including Desert Storm, The Balkans, and Vietnam.
If you can find it, then buy it!
Rating:
Summary: F4 is THE benchmark combat flight simulator
Review: Its been over four years since the release of Falcon 4.0, but it is still proving to be THE benchmark modern fighter simulator. While the more recent fighter simulators (i.e., LOMAC) are being "dumbed down", Falcon 4.0 remains the most realistic systems simulation that a game consumer can find. The learning curve required is not compatible with the arcade gamer. On air-to-ground sorties, you don't simply press one button to lock on and another to fire -- you have to use your fire control computer. The many types of radar and delivery methods will be daunting for the new player. In realistic mode (after downloading the "SP4" freeware addon), expect to spend your first day with Falcon 4.0 just learning how to fire up your F-16 and get it running. From a cold cockpit, this is a systematic process with no less than twelve steps. Once you get it though, it'll be second nature. As you are learning to master your F-16, the war is raging all around you. You are but a small drop of water in the ocean of war in the campaign. Its unfortunate that this incredible simulator is faulted by bugs that cause infrequent CTD's (crashes to desktop). Downloading and installing "SP4" resolves many of the issues, but they still occur -- however less frequently. If it weren't for the bugs, this would merit 5+ stars.
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