Flight Games on PC

Destiny

Platinum Member
Jul 6, 2010
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After watching Battle 360 and Dogfights on the History Channel - Trying to find some good flight games that uses WWII type planes... any recommendations is appreciated... I prefer them to be on Steam if possible.
 

Anteaus

Platinum Member
Oct 28, 2010
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IL-2 is on Steam and it is considered one of the best WW2 sims ever released. You might want to get a set of flight controls if you don't already have some.
 

MiataNC

Platinum Member
Dec 5, 2007
2,215
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IL2:1946 is on Steam, cheap, and one of the best WWII Sims ever made.

As mentioned above you will need flightsim controls.

Wings of Prey is based on the IL2 engine and is console based. It works pretty good with a 360 controller

Sent from my Lumia 710 using Board Express
 

Via

Diamond Member
Jan 14, 2009
4,670
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gl, I hope you have a lot of patience.

I found the B-17 game in a bargain bin for like a buck (back when you could actually find those kind of deals on boxes), and it was too complex for me.

I never could get the damn thing to take off.
 

Destiny

Platinum Member
Jul 6, 2010
2,270
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I used to play the original F-18 game on my power MAC... then I got addicted to FPS... but flying in Jets in BF3 and watching those documentaries got me interested in them again...:biggrin:
 

mmntech

Lifer
Sep 20, 2007
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IL2:1946 is on Steam, cheap, and one of the best WWII Sims ever made.

As mentioned above you will need flightsim controls.

Wings of Prey is based on the IL2 engine and is console based. It works pretty good with a 360 controller

Sent from my Lumia 710 using Board Express

Wings of Prey uses Ubisoft's crap DRM, unless they dumped it. Have it for PS3. The game has a laughably short single player mode. Lacks the fun f--k around factor and dynamic campaigns IL-2 had. Get IL-2, it's the definitive combat sim. Be warned that the learning curve is high.
 

turn_pike

Senior member
Mar 4, 2012
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This relatively new i.e. 2011 sim flight game from DCS is widely considered to be of exceptional quality but I have never played it myself.
 

mmntech

Lifer
Sep 20, 2007
17,501
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This relatively new i.e. 2011 sim flight game from DCS is widely considered to be of exceptional quality but I have never played it myself.

I have heard of this but don't know much about it. It's on Steam. May have to pick this one up. They also have another game called Black Shark, an attack helicopter sim.

There are still a few hard sims floating around, but the genre is on life support. It's a shame Microsoft shut down Aces. The Combat Flight Simulator series was fantastic. CFS3 killed it. It was a good game at it's core but too buggy and too difficult to mod. FSX suffered the same problem. It's inefficient coding still chokes modern hardware. Microsoft Flight is some sort of cruel practical joke on Flight Sim's core hobbyist fanbase. X-Plane is the last civilian sim left. It's definitely not as visually rich as FSX was and flight model isn't that much better. I get turned off by anything that suggests having dual CPUs (not cores, CPUs) for a better experience.
 

shortylickens

No Lifer
Jul 15, 2003
80,287
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Wings of Prey is a decent game but it has the atrocious YuPlay DRM and knowing what I do now, I would never have bought the fucking game.
 

Druidx

Platinum Member
Jul 16, 2002
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Thanks.
I had the original thrustmaster HOTAS back in early 2000. I wasted 100's of hours playing Falcon4. Then played it again a few years later when the mod group made it everything it should have been. None of the current fps games appeal to me so I thought I would try some sims out.
 

shortylickens

No Lifer
Jul 15, 2003
80,287
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They have a 500 dollar system too, but I figure if you wanted that you wouldnt be asking for advice here.
 

Markbnj

Elite Member <br>Moderator Emeritus
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Sep 16, 2005
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Not a big fan of Wings of Prey. Got it and played it for maybe 30 mins. Too arcade-like for me. IL2 and DCS Warthog are both excellent, but as noted you'll need controls and some time for the learning curve.
 

runzwithsizorz

Diamond Member
Jan 24, 2002
3,497
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Anyone want to recommend a set of flight controls.
For adaptability, durability, and support nothing beats CH products.
Saitek, is a close second. If you are going to start out with just a stick, make sure you get one with *3 AXIS* control! That way you will have rudder control. I still fly the early Micro$oft combat sims on an *XP*, OS
system. There's even, is/was a fan based site where you could download fully functional, (speed/weapons), planes, and missions. Oh the joys of taking off on a mission in a squadron of P51's in your F4 Phantom:D


http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&amp;key...qid=1338739377
 

Druidx

Platinum Member
Jul 16, 2002
2,971
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I could have sworn Thrustmaster went out of business or was bought out several years ago. It was the 1st company I was genuinely impressed with due to their great customer service. On 3 separate occasions, they happily sent me free replacement parts for products that was years out of warranty.
 

Anteaus

Platinum Member
Oct 28, 2010
2,448
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Thustmaster was bought by Guillemot Corp in 1999. They still make top tier flight controls. Check out the TM Warthog HOTAS.

http://www.amazon.com/Thrustmaster-H.../dp/B00419ZUXS

I have a set and it's awesome. The magnetic sensors really set it apart from the competition. If you use it with DCS Warthog, all of the buttons work as they do in the real aircraft.
 

shortylickens

No Lifer
Jul 15, 2003
80,287
17,082
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Not a big fan of Wings of Prey. Got it and played it for maybe 30 mins. Too arcade-like for me. IL2 and DCS Warthog are both excellent, but as noted you'll need controls and some time for the learning curve.

It has a simulator mode.
 

Anteaus

Platinum Member
Oct 28, 2010
2,448
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Yeah, I tried it in both modes, still found it too game-ish.

You found DCS Warthog to be too game-ish? It's flight fidelity and completely functional cockpit make virtually every military sim release before it play like quarter arcades, with a few exceptions (i.e Falcon 4). The fact that it plays like butter when the graphics are maxed is just icing on the cake, but maybe thats what you mean.

You should get Warthog hotas and learn to use all the various targeting computers hands on, it's breathtaking. :)
 

shortylickens

No Lifer
Jul 15, 2003
80,287
17,082
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No he was talking about Wings of Prey, which was ported directly from the consoles as Birds of Prey.
 

Markbnj

Elite Member <br>Moderator Emeritus
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Sep 16, 2005
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WELL!
:colbert:

The quality flight sim era died with DOS. Since then its been scraps from the tables of consoles.

Well, you pretty much got that right. Look at MS's new Flight game. But IL2 is pretty good, and the DCS games are damn near military quality.