| Janes Fighter Legends by Leonard Hjalmarson |
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Obsessive. Thats what they are. One glance at a screen shot top right will tell you, these guys are obsessive about their simulations. Thats good, because its the only way they are likely to match my expectations!
Hey, lets be honest. There are only two sims that I spend time in these days: one is by Janes, and the other is by DiD. I used to fly and fight and even do some deep diving in a few other sims, but when the chips are down and time is scarce one finds the best of the best and just keeps on returning. Until a few more simulations arrive on the scene this summer, Janes F15 and DiDs TAW beta are the only things that are seen flashing on my monitor late at night. Recently PC Gamer unveiled Fighter Legends to the world, and that brief article had us all on the edges of our seats. I was ready to charter a plane south to interview Paul Grace on the spot! Luckily, Paul is in Atlanta this week and my time with him is already secured.
It seems that when Paul and crew had to ask the BIG QUESTION last spring they could only come up with this one: What was the best flight sim of all time?" They could only come up with one answer: Chuck Yeager's Air Combat. Inevitably, that was the direction they chose, and the result is Fighter Legends. What this means for you and I is that we are about to see another simulation worthy of the Janes crew, only this time its aimed at prop heads and set in the skies of WWII, with seven of best fighters of the European war. Oh sure, there are MANY more aircraft in the skies than these, but these are the ones you and I will be flying:
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Thats quite a selection, and should make for some incredible dogfighting fun! Janes is aiming at a simulation that will look and run good at 640x480, but will also go as high as the hardware will allow. With 400MHz mainboards running at 100MHz already hitting the market, and with the hardcore crowd not too shy to turbocharge that engine with the latest Voodoo2 SLI offerings, Janes has to aim pretty high. How high? We know it will run at 1024x768 on that setup, and thats good enough for now!
Is this ATF but in WWII? Apparently not. The goal for flight modelling and challenge is considerably higher than the ATF series. Aircraft will not only have unique individual characteristics but far more factors will be taken into account in the modeling of flight. Just as important for realism and that illusive sense of immersion, physics modeling will be far beyond the ATF series. As in Fighter Duel 2.0, the general hit bubble is finally gone in favor of some heavy ballistics and object modeling. It will be possible to score a hit on very specific parts of an aircraft, and the particular area of damage will then affect that aircraft in specific ways.
Even though light on realism, ATF was one heck of a success for Janes and has made for some solidly satisfying online play. And this is where Fighter Legends may truly shine. The campaign will be scripted, maybe in a manner similar to F15, but most of us won't mind. Replaybility will be high owing to Janes setting up an online site that will host those among us willing to take to the virtual skies over Europe with players from all over the world. Best of all, it will be possible to join a battle in progress. Thanks to PC Gamer for breaking this story. Watch for more information when we return from E3!
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