111 lines
6.6 KiB
Plaintext
111 lines
6.6 KiB
Plaintext
|
|
A-10 TANK KILLER VERSION 1.5 IBM NOTES
|
|
|
|
By now, as RED BARON has proven, Dynamix has moved into the realm of serious
|
|
flight simulation with a vengeance. Future simulations from them should
|
|
continue to meet or exceed the standards set by this hugely successful design.
|
|
|
|
A-10 TANK KILLER is technology from the days when the company was still
|
|
treating the flight simulator genre as a kind of glorified arcade game. Even
|
|
with the significant improvements, the new version falls far short of the work
|
|
done in the realm of air combat; both flight control and weapons delivery lack
|
|
certain elements that give the player a sense of realism during play. Joystick
|
|
input response is still inadequately fluid and detailed; climbing, diving, and
|
|
banking all remain more abrupt than they should be for such a heavy plane.
|
|
Weapons delivery is still restricted, to prevent the player from launching
|
|
inappropriate armaments at a target. And nothing in the way of a "kick" or
|
|
sound effect occurs upon release of weaponry (except for the 30mm cannon,
|
|
which, on a Roland at least, sounds quite credible). Finally, though work has
|
|
been done to improve the mouse driver interface, problems remain for many
|
|
players, especially those with the most recent version of Microsoft's
|
|
MOUSE.SYS. Dynamix is apparently working on the mouse problem.
|
|
|
|
These are relatively minor shortcomings in a fabulously playable design,
|
|
however. What has been improved is well worth the price of an upgrade.
|
|
|
|
Most importantly, the animation design is now sophisticated enough to handle
|
|
a wide range of CPU speeds. Version 1.5 still needs at least 12MHz to run
|
|
well, but can now function on the fastest machines without losing appropriate
|
|
pacing during play.
|
|
|
|
The graphics seem pretty much the same as in the original version, but more
|
|
detailed; the outside views of the A-10 contain more surfaces for the plane,
|
|
which are now light-sourced as well. Ground objects are generally more complex
|
|
and realistic-looking. The terrain remains a blast; no-one else has yet
|
|
provided as much in the way of hills and valleys in 3-D topographic design.
|
|
Flying an A-10 below high riverbanks, or popping it up over a ridge which has
|
|
hidden the plane until the last few moments of approach to target, more than
|
|
compensates for the lack of realism in other areas. The terrain is especially
|
|
exciting in this type of simulation, as the A-10's close air support requires
|
|
that it remain only hundreds of feet in the air most of the time. Intelligent
|
|
use of ground features during play makes for one of the more exciting tactical
|
|
aspects of the design.
|
|
|
|
For players already comfortable with the controls of A-10 TANK KILLER, the
|
|
"floating camera" technology integrated into Version 1.5 will prove a real
|
|
treat. An option in the configuration menu turns this camera on; accessing it
|
|
gives the player a chance to look all around the plane, controlling the view
|
|
with the joystick. This can be a massive improvement when playing particularly
|
|
dense and difficult scenarios, as with the press of a button full situational
|
|
awareness can now be achieved at any time. No more scrambling for the right
|
|
function key to change views.
|
|
|
|
Another major improvement is in the area of sound effects. Explosions now
|
|
register not only the player's own actions, but also provide feedback for
|
|
events happening nearby. If the player is engaged in ground support for
|
|
troops, and they are being engaged by enemy units, that engagement will be
|
|
heard even if it isn't seen. This radically increases the liveliness of each
|
|
scenario, and gives the player more of a sense of being in the thick of
|
|
things.
|
|
|
|
Most serious flight sim enthusiasts these days are insisting on dual joystick
|
|
support as part of the design. Two joysticks allow the player to control
|
|
ailerons with one stick, and rudder and throttle with the other, for an
|
|
increase in the ability to do advanced flight maneuvers such as slips and
|
|
crabbed landings. Version 1.5 goes part way to fulfill these needs, allowing
|
|
access to a second joystick for rudder control. Using a second joystick
|
|
instead of the < and > keys on the keyboard allows for much finer control of
|
|
turns; no guessing on how long to hold down the key to provide the right
|
|
amount of rudder. Throttle control is still limited to the keyboard, however.
|
|
|
|
In the original design, the player had to select from a series of pre-
|
|
configured weapons loads prior to starting a mission. Version 1.5 now gives
|
|
the player a chance to put together their own custom configuration.
|
|
|
|
Finally, A-10 TANK KILLER Version 1.5 includes twenty-one scenarios, instead
|
|
of the original seven. Two scenario sets cover Central Europe, and a third set
|
|
has been designed to provide examples of the A-10's use during the recent Gulf
|
|
war with Iraq. Each set has different challenges; I think Central Europe #2
|
|
still remains the most difficult. The Desert Storm set provides desert-like
|
|
terrain and graphics, as well as a number of well-conceived representations of
|
|
actual tactical situations.
|
|
|
|
Even _with_ the entire twenty-one scenarios included, however, the one
|
|
weakness mentioned most frequently during the initial release of this game
|
|
still remains; there's just not enough replayability. Most successful air
|
|
combat simulations these days feature some sort of randomization and dynamic
|
|
generation of scenarios. Though difficult to program effectively, such
|
|
"scenario engines" not only offer much more variety than the hard-wired
|
|
designs can, but sustain the sense of surprise and thus again, realism,
|
|
necessary to keep the player's interest. I hope Dynamix has this kind of thing
|
|
in the works for their next release.
|
|
|
|
A-10 TANK KILLER Version 1.5 comes packaged with three 1.2MB 5.25" floppies
|
|
_and_ four 720k 3.5" floppies, which should make it easy to install on almost
|
|
any machine. It runs well on PCs with a CPU speed of 12MHz or faster, and
|
|
supports EGA, VGA, and MCGA graphics standards. Sound support includes both
|
|
AdLib/SoundBlaster and Roland. Dual joysticks, as well as mouse and keyboard,
|
|
are supported. The game should be installed on a hard disk, and requires
|
|
about 3MB of disk space. No copy protection has been implemented in the
|
|
design.
|
|
|
|
If you haven't seen A-10 TANK KILLER yet, definitely check out Version 1.5.
|
|
If you already have A-10, the upgrade is easily worth the twenty bucks. A-10
|
|
remains a highly playable, challenging game, and its good points far outweigh
|
|
its weaknesses. Now if only Dynamix could do for A-10 what it did for all them
|
|
biplanes!
|
|
|
|
A-10 TANK KILLER Version 1.5 is published by Dynamix and distributed by
|
|
Sierra On-Line.
|
|
|
|
|