Rating: 
Summary: Falcon 4.0
Review: Just like the real thing. This is not a game but a flight simulator and will take time to master.Hours ( days) of fun.
Rating:
Summary: Falcon 4.0
Review: Just like the real thing. This is not a game but a flight simulator and will take time to master. Hours ( days) of fun.
Rating: 
Summary: 1+ years old and still the best sim out there...............
Review: OK, you definitely need to patch this puppy to the 1.08 version when you install it. But it still reeks of realism, it's something you're not going to be bored of in a couple of months. I still don't feel like I have complete mastery of the sim yet. Time after time, I am humbled by this game. And,as with every undertaking of this magnitude, it's always not going to have 100% stability or the gameplay may fall short of perfection. My hope is that Microprose/Hasbro will continually support this game for the years to come. It could be just that great in a couple more revisions! At less than $20, it's really a steal. The sims coming out right now (like Jane's F/A-18) are not even close to Falcon 4.0 at revision 1.08. Caution: people with no patience for a big learning curve should steer clear of this game. The manual is over 400 pages! You're not going to be an ace within a couple of weeks. Frustration and death are going to be the norms when you are just getting into the pilot's seat!
Rating:
Summary: Setting the standards
Review: Ok; first off, we are talking about the version 1.08...you really need to upgrade if you had the original sim. Today and after trying and flying hundreds of hours in FA18/ F15/ F22's and so on... I still find this game at least compelling. The graphics quality are well above the rest, thousands of square miles of photographic-like rendered images of the Korean peninsula makes you just want to fly around to enjoy the scenery. Sounds, engine whining, voices and air lingo are fun and well crafted. The plane's design deserved thumbs up whenever you are not using the gun... The campaign IS dynamic and the mission builder a mystery to be revealed since I had the game for less than 1 month. As expected, you also have to have a fast processor and 16MB in your 3D video card to enjoy it thoroughly. But there's always a catch...and in this case may not be a drawback if you have the time to spend learning to master this birdie. It's the most realistic sim ever. The user's manual is over 400 pages and the learning curve is steep enough to make you dizzy from the glare of your monitor. And there's a plus : it's less than 20 bucks! If you like to study manuals and want everything that you may have in a fighter jet except the G's... this is it and it's worth every single penny.
Rating: 
Summary: falcon 4.0
Review: overall, this is a great sim, but with alot of things that need to be aware of. first off, u cant just fire it up and expect to wack a bogey. with as much detail to realism that there is, this is no ordinary flight sim. as in a real f-16, certain controls work certain functions. u cant use ground radar to target aircraft and vice versa. u must set down and thoroughly read and re-read the book just to even figure out part of all the functions on this bird. u need to bring up the ground radar, target a building, then figure out how to arm the bombs or mavericks...no book? uh oh, have fun figurin it out. other issues: u MUST have a minumum of a 16 meg video card with this game. 8 megs might run it, but may be choppy. missions tend to load up slow. instead of helping u learn how to arm weapons and set up a shot, the training missions dont help u out at all. PLUS'es: beautiful graphics, crisp handling, and great detail. bummer's: gotta have a pretty heavy duty video card, and u need to read the manual for about a month or two to figure out what u are doing
Rating:
Summary: The benchmark by which they will all be measured
Review: Summary: Fantastic flight model, incredible depth of simulation, amazing thoroughness of detail, beautiful scenery, fairly stable with 1.08 patch. Also, absolutely spellbinding on every level. The only jet fighter simulator better than this is classified. Words simply cannot express the mind-boggling excellence of this simulation, or my level of satisfaction at finally buying, installing and taking on its challenge.
I'm a real-life pilot with over 2000 hours of small airplane flight time, and I think it's safe to say that I've got about 10,000 hours of "flight" time on classic sims such as F-19, F-117A, Janes WWII Fighters, EF2000, Mig Alley, Falcon 3.0, Janes F-15 Strike Eagle and FS98. I started "flying" on an Apple IIe in 1983, on the original Microsoft Flight simulator with a green screen monitor. Aviation, especially fighter aviation, has been an obsession of mine since I was 6 years old. If your profile sounds anything like mine, the simple truth is that Falcon 4.0 is your holy grail.
In the earlier Falcon 3.0, the people at Spectrum Holobyte pushed the outer limits of what the "casual" PC flyer could learn and do. In creating Falcon 4.0, the team at Microprose didn't just push those limits; they rammed right through them like a Durandal through runway concrete. Be assured, Falcon 4.0 isn't a game. It is nothing less than a full blown recreation of nearly every significant function and capability of the General Dynamics F-16C Block 50/52, and of every sight, sound and situation that the real life pilot of that aircraft would experience in wartime. Name a system, a weapon, a readout, a display, a HUD function, a capability or a feature of the real F-16, and the odds are about 98% that you'll find it perfectly simulated in Falcon 4.0. About the only thing this sim can't do, is yank the blood down out of your brain and make your head weigh 80 pounds, and I'm sure that only budget considerations stopped this world-class team of software developers from finding a way to provide us with that experience.
If all you want to do is ram the throttle forward, punch holes in the sky, and gun down the bad guys without having to think too much, the excellent "Jane's WWII Fighters" is the sim for you. If, however, you recognize that modern-day fighter pilots are the ultimate high performance human beings who combine tactical combat knowledge with the ability to manage incredibly complex airplanes and systems under intense physical and mental stress, and if taking on just the idea of that kind of challenge appeals to you, buy Falcon 4.0 right now before it disappears completely. The sad truth is that this sim is simply too good for 90% of its potential market - the average "casual" PC flyer will open the (very well written) 100+ page manual and feel like a Maverick has hit him or her in the noggin. USAF fighter pilots are some of the smartest, brightest, most over-achieving people on the planet, and to master Falcon 4.0, that's pretty much who you will need to be as well. If you've got what it takes, however, the rewards are here - and I do mean all the rewards are here. Everything. This is as good as PC-based jet fighter sims are ever going to be.
Note: This review applies to Falcon 4.0 flown in Campaign mode with avionics, flight model and systems all set to "realistic." If you just want to turn, burn and heave missiles at things, you can turn all that stuff down to "easy," enter the Dogfight arena, and have a blast! Also, the essential Version 1.08 patch can be found at "falcon4.com"
Rating:
Summary: The benchmark by which they will all be measured
Review: Summary: Fantastic flight model, incredible depth of simulation, amazing thoroughness of detail, beautiful scenery, fairly stable with 1.08 patch. Also, absolutely spellbinding on every level. The only jet fighter simulator better than this is classified. Words simply cannot express the mind-boggling excellence of this simulation, or my level of satisfaction at finally buying, installing and taking on its challenge.
I'm a real-life pilot with over 2000 hours of small airplane flight time, and I think it's safe to say that I've got about 10,000 hours of "flight" time on classic sims such as F-19, F-117A, Janes WWII Fighters, EF2000, Mig Alley, Falcon 3.0, Janes F-15 Strike Eagle and FS98. I started "flying" on an Apple IIe in 1983, on the original Microsoft Flight simulator with a green screen monitor. Aviation, especially fighter aviation, has been an obsession of mine since I was 6 years old. If your profile sounds anything like mine, the simple truth is that Falcon 4.0 is your holy grail.
In the earlier Falcon 3.0, the people at Spectrum Holobyte pushed the outer limits of what the "casual" PC flyer could learn and do. In creating Falcon 4.0, the team at Microprose didn't just push those limits; they rammed right through them like a Durandal through runway concrete. Be assured, Falcon 4.0 isn't a game. It is nothing less than a full blown recreation of nearly every significant function and capability of the General Dynamics F-16C Block 50/52, and of every sight, sound and situation that the real life pilot of that aircraft would experience in wartime. Name a system, a weapon, a readout, a display, a HUD function, a capability or a feature of the real F-16, and the odds are about 98% that you'll find it perfectly simulated in Falcon 4.0. About the only thing this sim can't do, is yank the blood down out of your brain and make your head weigh 80 pounds, and I'm sure that only budget considerations stopped this world-class team of software developers from finding a way to provide us with that experience.
If all you want to do is ram the throttle forward, punch holes in the sky, and gun down the bad guys without having to think too much, the excellent "Jane's WWII Fighters" is the sim for you. If, however, you recognize that modern-day fighter pilots are the ultimate high performance human beings who combine tactical combat knowledge with the ability to manage incredibly complex airplanes and systems under intense physical and mental stress, and if taking on just the idea of that kind of challenge appeals to you, buy Falcon 4.0 right now before it disappears completely. The sad truth is that this sim is simply too good for 90% of its potential market - the average "casual" PC flyer will open the (very well written) 100+ page manual and feel like a Maverick has hit him or her in the noggin. USAF fighter pilots are some of the smartest, brightest, most over-achieving people on the planet, and to master Falcon 4.0, that's pretty much who you will need to be as well. If you've got what it takes, however, the rewards are here - and I do mean all the rewards are here. Everything. This is as good as PC-based jet fighter sims are ever going to be.
Note: This review applies to Falcon 4.0 flown in Campaign mode with avionics, flight model and systems all set to "realistic." If you just want to turn, burn and heave missiles at things, you can turn all that stuff down to "easy," enter the Dogfight arena, and have a blast! Also, the essential Version 1.08 patch can be found at "falcon4.com"
Rating:
Summary: The benchmark by which they will all be measured
Review: Summary:Fantastic flight model, incredible depth of simulation, amazing thoroughness of detail, beautiful scenery, fairly stable with 1.08 patch. Also, absolutely spellbinding on every level. The only jet fighter simulator better than this is classified. Words simply cannot express the mind-boggling excellence of this simulation, or my level of satisfaction at finally buying, installing and taking on its challenge.
I'm a real-life pilot with over 2000 hours of small airplane flight time, and I think it's safe to say that I've got about 10,000 hours of "flight" time on classic sims such as F-19, F-117A, Janes WWII Fighters, EF2000, Mig Alley, Falcon 3.0, Janes F-15 Strike Eagle and FS98. I started "flying" on an Apple IIe in 1983, on the original Microsoft Flight simulator with a green screen monitor. Aviation, especially fighter aviation, has been an obsession of mine since I was 6 years old. If your profile sounds anything like mine, the simple truth is that Falcon 4.0 is your holy grail.
In the earlier Falcon 3.0, the people at Spectrum Holobyte pushed the outer limits of what the "casual" PC flyer could learn and do. In creating Falcon 4.0, the team at Microprose didn't just push those limits; they rammed right through them like a Durandal through runway concrete. Be assured, Falcon 4.0 isn't a game. It is nothing less than a full blown recreation of nearly every significant function and capability of the General Dynamics F-16C Block 50/52, and of every sight, sound and situation that the real life pilot of that aircraft would experience in wartime. Name a system, a weapon, a readout, a display, a HUD function, a capability or a feature of the real F-16, and the odds are about 98% that you'll find it perfectly simulated in Falcon 4.0. About the only thing this sim can't do, is yank the blood down out of your brain and make your head weigh 80 pounds, and I'm sure that only budget considerations stopped this world-class team of software developers from finding a way to provide us with that experience.
If all you want to do is ram the throttle forward, punch holes in the sky, and gun down the bad guys without having to think too much, the excellent "Jane's WWII Fighters" is the sim for you. If, however, you recognize that modern-day fighter pilots are the ultimate high performance human beings who combine tactical combat knowledge with the ability to manage incredibly complex airplanes and systems under intense physical and mental stress, and if taking on just the idea of that kind of challenge appeals to you, buy Falcon 4.0 right now before it disappears completely. The sad truth is that this sim is simply too good for 90% of its potential market - the average "casual" PC flyer will open the (very well written) 100+ page manual and feel like a Maverick has hit him or her in the noggin. USAF fighter pilots are some of the smartest, brightest, most over-achieving people on the planet, and to master Falcon 4.0, that's pretty much who you will need to be as well. If you've got what it takes, however, the rewards are here - and I do mean all the rewards are here. Everything. This is as good as PC-based jet fighter sims are ever going to be.
Note: This review applies to Falcon 4.0 flown in Campaign mode with avionics, flight model and systems all set to "realistic." If you just want to turn, burn and heave missiles at things, you can turn all that stuff down to "easy," enter the Dogfight arena, and have a blast! Also, the essential Version 1.08 patch can be found at "falcon4.com"
Rating:
Summary: Don't bail-out of Falcon 4.0 just yet.
Review: This extremely comprehensive and demanding flight-sim appeared back in about 2000 and, after release looked like it was in trouble. Despite the hype (a lot of it deserved), Falcon4 (or "F4") was dogged by both huge system requirements and numerous bugs. Based on the F-16 (and following a string of hardcore sims going back to the original Falcon of 1987!), "F4" had been awaited breathlessly by fans, and arrived with numerous bugs. MPS, F4's publisher suddenly announced that they were dropping the sim, paving the way for F4's nearest competitor, "Jane's F/A-18" to become the top game for fans of highly detailed and demanding ("hardcore") flight-sims. By 2002, with the stream of flight-sims having stagnated, a 3-year old sim still has much to offer - but the sim to beat isn't necessarily "F/A-18" (a great sim to be sure) but F4, rescued and brought to beautiful useability by a legion of on-line sim-fanatics. Having gained access to F4's source-code, these fans have crafted their own software called "Service Packs" which partly patch but mostly expand the original game. I'll keep this review confined to the original, though. In short - F4 still has much to offer. F4 is focused on the F-16, the USAF's premiere multi-role fighter. Not an original concept (you can fly the "Viper" in campaigns, single missions and "instant action") but F4 never lets you forget that the proof is in the execution. The flight model is demanding: slippery along each of the major directional axes and, for a light fighter, can lose energy and get heavy really quick. The avionics are also comprehensive - think that "multi-mode radar" means "air-to-air" and "air-to-ground"? Here, you'll be fiddling with modes even in "pure" situations (in which you'll be either primed for counter-air or ground-strike missions) learning the nuances of "range-while-search" or "track-while-search" modes while hunting MiGs. The range of weapons is wider than on older games - echoing the F-16's maturation from a small jet that could only fight with iron-dumb bombs and short range missiles like the Sidewinder to a more complex machine geared for "smart" bombs, anti-radiation missiles and AMRAAM in night or adverse weather. The enemies aren't slouches either (although that may have much to do with my failure to master this sim). F4's campaign is set in a futuristic North Korea (making it more topical than "Jane's F/A-18" which has you flying off Russia's arctic frontier). An elaborate setup menu allows you to tailor realism and controllability. My Thrustmater WCS/FCS setup was recognized here as quickly as on "Jane's F/A-18" (unsurprising since they both have to run through Windows's control panel - but thank heaven for small miracles nonetheless) though F4's key-mapping editor seems more stubborn than that of the other game. While the game ran well normally using my GeForce3 card, the menu appears to offer support only for 3DFx cards and not OpenGL, the API for that GeForce graphics-acceleration. Unfortunately, F4 was one of those great games that appeared immediately before the end of 3dFx's reign as the king of graphics acceleration. Not only is 3DFx a thing of the past, but "Glide", the 3DFx API isn't supported by newer operating systems like WinXP. Like "Flanker 2.5", you can play Glide-supported games on your OpenGL system and still appreciate how far ahead of their time they were, but - stuck in software-only mode - never forgetting how long ago that time was. Sound was also an issue - with the sim modeling a great range of sounds (from the screams and roars of your engine down to the distinctive howls, clicks and whistles of each type's fire-control radar), but also suffering a lot of stuttering. Attention to detail is magnificent. Control surfaces and engine nozzles are convincingly animated and the F-16's trademark shoulder vortices appear in high-speed climbs. You can even customize the skins on both your airplane and those of your enemies. I gave mine the Israeli-style camo paint job that appeared in the "Iron Eagle" movies (now there's an idea for a sim, certainly one that can't be more unrealistic than the flick it was based on). The beauty is that, while F4 remains cutting edge by virtue of how far ahead of its time it was (and how few new sims have come to the market since then), the faster computers that can run F4 more comfortably are cheaper and more widely available. SYSTEM ISSUES: I "flew" my F4 on a Pentium4 running at 4Ghz. XP accepted this sim out of the box (something else that "Jane's F/A-18" couldn't quite claim). Performance was largely smooth but became noticeably choppy at times even on simple "instant action" flights. In more elaborate game play - especially during dynamic campaigns - F4 reveals itself an incredible hog for just about every resource your computer has: the CPU, main memory, graphics memory etc. Worse, F4 suffers an acute "memory leakage" problem: as you'd expect, it takes a lot of RAM to "create" each of those enemy tanks and soldiers and endow them with AI (but not so much that they don't just turn north and run for cover), but the program doesn't de-allocate or give that RAM back as quickly as it takes it away, which means that your campaigns will bog down really quickly. In short - if you want a truly hardcore sim, one that will make you forget your machine's obsolescence, consider what your system offers but also remain informed about what each sim's fan-base offers. With tech support becoming less supportive for such games, F4 and its competitors from 1999 will always rely on the perseverance of fans to adress their flaws. For either Jane's or F4 you'll need a machine with an even 1Ghz of processing muscle. OpenGL owners should consider F/A-18 (again - no slouch), but those owning late-generation graphics cards based on 3DFx's "Voodoo" technology should get F4.
Rating:
Summary: Don't bail-out of Falcon 4.0 just yet.
Review: This extremely comprehensive and demanding flight-sim appeared back in about 2000 and, after release looked like it was in trouble. Despite the hype (a lot of it deserved), Falcon4 (or "F4") was dogged by both huge system requirements and numerous bugs. Based on the F-16 (and following a string of hardcore sims going back to the original Falcon of 1987!), "F4" had been awaited breathlessly by fans, and arrived with numerous bugs. MPS, F4's publisher suddenly announced that they were dropping the sim, paving the way for F4's nearest competitor, "Jane's F/A-18" to become the top game for fans of highly detailed and demanding ("hardcore") flight-sims. By 2002, with the stream of flight-sims having stagnated, a 3-year old sim still has much to offer - but the sim to beat isn't necessarily "F/A-18" (a great sim to be sure) but F4, rescued and brought to beautiful useability by a legion of on-line sim-fanatics. Having gained access to F4's source-code, these fans have crafted their own software called "Service Packs" which partly patch but mostly expand the original game. I'll keep this review confined to the original, though. In short - F4 still has much to offer. F4 is focused on the F-16, the USAF's premiere multi-role fighter. Not an original concept (you can fly the "Viper" in campaigns, single missions and "instant action") but F4 never lets you forget that the proof is in the execution. The flight model is demanding: slippery along each of the major directional axes and, for a light fighter, can lose energy and get heavy really quick. The avionics are also comprehensive - think that "multi-mode radar" means "air-to-air" and "air-to-ground"? Here, you'll be fiddling with modes even in "pure" situations (in which you'll be either primed for counter-air or ground-strike missions) learning the nuances of "range-while-search" or "track-while-search" modes while hunting MiGs. The range of weapons is wider than on older games - echoing the F-16's maturation from a small jet that could only fight with iron-dumb bombs and short range missiles like the Sidewinder to a more complex machine geared for "smart" bombs, anti-radiation missiles and AMRAAM in night or adverse weather. The enemies aren't slouches either (although that may have much to do with my failure to master this sim). F4's campaign is set in a futuristic North Korea (making it more topical than "Jane's F/A-18" which has you flying off Russia's arctic frontier). An elaborate setup menu allows you to tailor realism and controllability. My Thrustmater WCS/FCS setup was recognized here as quickly as on "Jane's F/A-18" (unsurprising since they both have to run through Windows's control panel - but thank heaven for small miracles nonetheless) though F4's key-mapping editor seems more stubborn than that of the other game. While the game ran well normally using my GeForce3 card, the menu appears to offer support only for 3DFx cards and not OpenGL, the API for that GeForce graphics-acceleration. Unfortunately, F4 was one of those great games that appeared immediately before the end of 3dFx's reign as the king of graphics acceleration. Not only is 3DFx a thing of the past, but "Glide", the 3DFx API isn't supported by newer operating systems like WinXP. Like "Flanker 2.5", you can play Glide-supported games on your OpenGL system and still appreciate how far ahead of their time they were, but - stuck in software-only mode - never forgetting how long ago that time was. Sound was also an issue - with the sim modeling a great range of sounds (from the screams and roars of your engine down to the distinctive howls, clicks and whistles of each type's fire-control radar), but also suffering a lot of stuttering. Attention to detail is magnificent. Control surfaces and engine nozzles are convincingly animated and the F-16's trademark shoulder vortices appear in high-speed climbs. You can even customize the skins on both your airplane and those of your enemies. I gave mine the Israeli-style camo paint job that appeared in the "Iron Eagle" movies (now there's an idea for a sim, certainly one that can't be more unrealistic than the flick it was based on). The beauty is that, while F4 remains cutting edge by virtue of how far ahead of its time it was (and how few new sims have come to the market since then), the faster computers that can run F4 more comfortably are cheaper and more widely available. SYSTEM ISSUES: I "flew" my F4 on a Pentium4 running at 4Ghz. XP accepted this sim out of the box (something else that "Jane's F/A-18" couldn't quite claim). Performance was largely smooth but became noticeably choppy at times even on simple "instant action" flights. In more elaborate game play - especially during dynamic campaigns - F4 reveals itself an incredible hog for just about every resource your computer has: the CPU, main memory, graphics memory etc. Worse, F4 suffers an acute "memory leakage" problem: as you'd expect, it takes a lot of RAM to "create" each of those enemy tanks and soldiers and endow them with AI (but not so much that they don't just turn north and run for cover), but the program doesn't de-allocate or give that RAM back as quickly as it takes it away, which means that your campaigns will bog down really quickly. In short - if you want a truly hardcore sim, one that will make you forget your machine's obsolescence, consider what your system offers but also remain informed about what each sim's fan-base offers. With tech support becoming less supportive for such games, F4 and its competitors from 1999 will always rely on the perseverance of fans to adress their flaws. For either Jane's or F4 you'll need a machine with an even 1Ghz of processing muscle. OpenGL owners should consider F/A-18 (again - no slouch), but those owning late-generation graphics cards based on 3DFx's "Voodoo" technology should get F4.
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