When I first interviewed the team working on Microsoft Combat Simulator I realized that they were FAR more serious about the project than I had assumed. As a result I've been looking forward to some stick time with the beta. Yesterday I finally had my chance, and I can now confirm that this will be a great sim!

My first impression of a few hands on moments is memorable: a sense of realism and response in flight that has promise for hours of fun. And graphics and avionics modeling that live up to my rather high expectations!

My first task, of course, was to crank detail and realism to the max. I actually chose to boost resolution only slightly on my default Matrox MGA G200 setup: to 1280x1024. (With the exception of interface screens, images on this page can be clicked to bring up 1280x1024 screens, around 400K). I then chose a single escort mission and jumped in to fly.

Stunning. The terrain is far beyond MS Flight sim, as promised. And at high resolution and 16 bit color, its drop dead gorgeous. You can actually run in 32 bit mode, and I'll give that a go soon. Picture the great terrain of EAW but at four times higher resolution! The sense of speed down low at high resolution is almost nauseating!

The feeling of flight was fabulous. The jitter of the gauges and rich engine sounds, the stick response felt perfect. Engine lag is modeled and you can watch the turbo boost kick in at higher RPMs.

There are simple orientation cues provided, cockpit toggles from virtual to fixed, and a standard snap view system (although the view system is not on the F keys- an option would be nice here, although you can remap to your hearts content). If you want the utmost realism you can even choose to manage mixture settings yourself.

A word to Voodoo 2 devotees... its great for some things, too limited here. At 1024x768 under D3d everything looks just fine... until you kick in D3d under Matrox at 1280x1024. Suddenly the 3dfx image looks washed out. I find myself wishing I had a 21" monitor instead of 19! Oddly, my frame rate with the DX5 driver at 1024x768 V2 was about the same as Matrox at 1280x1024, and I suspect this may be reflecting the use of large textures.

Speaking of frame rate under Direct3d, at 1280x1024 I have seen from 6 fps to 25 fps with cockpit on, maximum detail. Turn off the cockpit and the frame rate almost doubles in most situations. Here is the summary: cockpit on at altitude with few aircraft around, I'm 24-28 fps. At medium alt with a few more aircraft, usually around 13 fps with cockpit on. Get fifteen or sixteen bombers in the scene and I've seen as low as 6 fps. Remember: this is FULL detail and this is a beta. But running this high you will want a minimum PII 300, and you may have to deselect some graphics options. However, if you have a PII 400 you could probably run at this resolution in any situation.

Click for 1600x1200. See Checklist detail below.

If you recall Fighter Duel, the cockpit was revolutionary. You could watch the guages jitter in response to engine vibration. This cockpit is no different, except it looks even better since resolution is higher. Starting your engines give you the biggest jolt, and you will see the horizon shift when the engine catches. Naturally, at full realism you will also have to apply some rudder to counteract the torque and stay on the runway.

Checklist. You can toggle four different lists including Cruise, Descent, and Landing.

Engine sounds, as I mentioned, are fantastic. I have a digital wave file of a Merlin engine and Microsoft has captured the Merlin very well. Machine guns sound great, and cannons have a suitable THUMP. Damage is also appropriate. I was on the tail of a JU88 and not having much effect, then closed the distance slightly and fired my cannon. I watched the JU88 come apart in short order!

While taking on some Spitfires in a Focke-Wulf a bit later, a Spit got on my tail as I took a piece out of another one. Pulling up hard and applying full rudder I managed to shake him, but I had taken damage and suddenly found that right rudder had little effect. Later I got into a spin and barely pulled out around four thousand feet.

Voice and chatter are here, nicely done and appropriate. Wind is modeled, and I believe weather may be present in limited ways though I haven't seen it yet. The manual has no reference to either in the index, but I've seen the setup for wind in the single mission interface.

Click for 1600x1200

Display options abound, as they do in Flight Sim '98. The beauty of these features is that they are selectable and configurable to your liking. If they bother you, don't use them. If you like the additional SA, turn on a few extra windows and set them up as you prefer. You can place and size these new windows however you like. I prefer a chase view window in the screen top right. Note that if you have the right hardware Combat Flight Sim will allow you to place different views in multiple monitors!

Click for 1280x1024

The tactical display, which is a situational awareness cheat, is on by default. I leave it in the top left or turn off. Its a very unobtrusive display, as you can see from the screen shot above. The display is actually transparent and in the shape of a square. Your aircraft is the yellow icon in the center, and friendly aircraft are yellow dots. Enemy aircraft are indicated by red dots. Here is a zoom in of the tactical display from the upper left corner of the shot above...

The following status display comes on when you use the no cockpit view. Its logical and informative, check it out:

To my delight, Microsoft has offered a full set of narrated training missions! For those who are unfamiliar, Janes pioneered this route in Longbow. You will find yourself in the seat of a particular aircraft, with the instructor speaking to you as if he is in the seat behind you. The instructor guides you as you make the manouver, from a manouver as simple as landing to the complexities of air combat moves.

The manual itself devotes a large amount of space to flight basics and combat manouvers. For example, aerial combat is broken into five stages: 1) Detecting; 2) Closing; 3) Attacking; 4)Maneuvering; 5) Disengaging. Learning to master each stage will improve your ability to make the kill and survive to fight another day. The manual also includes tips, like not firing your guns until the enemy aircraft fills your sights (a good tip but requires some solid flying ability without over-running your target!)

The manual, like the interface for the sim itself, does a nice job of creating atmosphere. It opens with an acknowledgement for the WWII cartoonist/pilot George Rarey (his cartoons appear throughout the book), and then proceeds to biographies of some of the more successful allied pilots, including Ian Brodie, who acted as an advisor to Microsoft. Bios are sprinkled thoughout the manual, including a photograph of D.S. Gentile (The Debden Gangsters).

A brief word for the artists working on sims these days: WOW. The quality of work being done, from EAW to Reb Baron II and here in MS CFS... is awesome. Interface and information screens are gorgeous and contribute greatly to the sense of period.

Since this is a beta, I won't comment on typical beta issues, though I found this beta very stable. My only disappointment with the current development of the sim is that you will not fly as a squadron leader, and you cannot issue commands to other aircraft. Unless this comes as a later add-on, the limitation will remain.

The big question that I can't address in this brief first look is AI. First, I need more time with the sim. Second, this a beta and its likely that the AI is still being tweaked. In spite of that, I'll fly some more missions over the next few days and try to return with a second report and a look at the level of challenge you will face at veteran and ace levels.

In our next preview we'll also take a closer look at the campaign mode, which is where most of us will be flying after we complete some training. And we'll experiment on the new STB V4400, a Riva TNT based board, to see how much we can improve the frame rate at high resolution... = )

In our first hands on preview we made a quick overview of the sim, talked about the manual, and then shared a batch of high resolution screen shots. I've had a chance to spend a little more time looking around, so here are some more shots and a few more general observations.

First, I have attempted to run in 32 bit color, and I can safely say that only the fastest systems will be making the effort. My frame rate dropped by about 35%, and the gain in image quality was almost unnoticeable. If you were determined to run in this mode you would have to adjust your detail level down. In the end,you would lose more than you gain. I tried 32 bit color on both my Matrox MGA G200 16 meg as well as an early STB V4400 (Riva TNT) with 16 meg.

Second, I've made a few discoveries with regard to the interface. The cockpit is clickable! Somehow I missed this the first time around, although I did note that you can right click on the screen to bring up a menu selection...

Map and Menu Selection; click for larger.

Similarly, hitting the ALT key brings up a menu bar along the top of the screen from which you can adjust virtually any simulation parameter you chooose.

I also discovered that I did NOT have terrain detail to the max, as I had assumed. I had every option maxed out EXCEPT object density. I was on one setting from the max, so I switch from DENSE to VERY DENSE while flying over London to see what the difference would be. The difference is significant! Here are two shots for you to compare:

Dense. Click for larger.

Very Dense. Click for larger.

Using the VERY DENSE setting affects frame rate about 30%, but only while you are very near to the objects. Once you have passed the densely populated area or have gained signficant altitude, your frame rate returns to normal.

I've also had a chance to play around with various aircraft and modify mission parameters to experiment with different approaches. For example, there is a single mission you can choose under the Luftwaffe banner where you fly to a British airshow during the war as an uninvited guest! With the 109 its a challenging mission on middle difficulty...

However, switch to a Spitfire MK IX and its another story! Its incredible to fly the Spitfire MK I and become accustomed to the limited firepower and horsepower, and then move to the later aircraft. The MK IX has six .50 cal guns and two 20mm cannon, compared to the eight .303 guns mounted on the MK I. The MK IX is capable of putting ten pounds of lead in the air every two seconds using all guns, tearing into enemy aircraft like a huge claw!

German Flak field. Click for larger and note the two balloons...

I've also had a chance to play around with various aircraft and modify mission parameters to experiment with different approaches. For example, there is a single mission you can choose under the Luftwaffe banner where you fly to a British airshow in London during the war as an uninvited guest! With the 109 its an impossible mission on middle difficulty...

However, switch to a Spitfire MK IX and its another story! Its incredible to fly the Spitfire MK I and become accustomed to the limited firepower and horsepower, and then move to the later aircraft. The MK IX has six .50 cal guns and two 20mm cannon, compared to the eight .303 guns mounted on the MK I. The MK IX is capable of putting ten pounds of lead in the air every two seconds using all guns, tearing into enemy aircraft like a huge claw!

I tried the Airshow mission three times in the MK I, then repeated it twice in the MK IX. I as greatly overmatched by the five Spit Is. I tried to come in low and fast, using the blindspot to my advantage. Even with the element of surprise the best I was able to do was take out two before they got me.

However, in my first attempt with the MK IX I took out two quickly and then took out another before I took a crucial hit and had to run for my life. In my second attempt I took out one in my first pass, critically damaging a second. Using boom n zoom tactics I took out the other three in the next ten minutes, only taking some minor hits in the process.

Using the cannon is quite an experience. I find it best to wait until the tracers from my 50 cal. guns have made contact or are just about to, and then hit the cannon button. In this way, if I am around 100 meters or less, I get a hit about 50% of the time depending on the angle AOT (off the tail). When you get a cannon hit on a fighter aircraft at this range you have about a 50% chance of putting the aircraft out of action. Many times you will actually take a wing or tail off.

Incidentally, as I've been familiarizing myself with more of the stories of WWII aces, both allied and axis, I've made a few observations about fighting style in sim vs in reality.

Sim pilots encounter enemies on every flight. In reality this wasn't that common. Even the very TOP German ace Erich Hartmann flew 1400 missions for a total of only (ONLY!) 800 aerial battles. In those 800 battles he took down 352 aircraft (as a reward he was imprisoned illegally for more than ten years following WWII, after being turned over to the Russians by the 90th US Infantry Division). Hartmann makes a comment about aerial combat that is useful for the beginner...

"When you begin flying combat and you are a hundred meters from the enemy machine, you get jittery because you are too close to him. That is what you feel in the beginning. By experience you come to know that when you are hundred meters from the other machine you are still too far away. The inexperience pilot breaks away for fear of mid-air collison. The experienced pilot brings his machine in much closer . . . and when he fires, the other machine goes down."

Note, however, that his modus operandi was not without risk. Eight of the sixteen times Hartmann was forced to land were a result of his flying into the debris of the Russian aircraft he had exploded at point-blank range! Interesting.. Hartmann was not only one of the rare fliers who was never wounded, he also never lost a wingman. He too pains with the education of young pilots coming to the front straight from the schools.

"It was my view that no kill was worth the life of a wingman, many of whom were young and inexperienced boys. Pilots in my units who had lost wingmen on this basis were prohibited from leading a Rotte. They were made to fly as wingmen themselves instead."

When I fly in sims I tend to overstay my welcome because I know that I can go down and then jump back in. In reality pilots had to know when to turn and run, especially when overmatched.

In the same way, I'm not as concerned when I get too close to an enemy aircraft. As a result, two things are happening: 1) I collide too often! 2) I am learning good techniques for staying on the enemies tail!

The training films and narrated training provided by Microsoft in the sim are quite helpful. You will learn to use yo-yo manouvers as well as other your throttle and flaps to assist you in managing both position and energy effectively. It is indeed challenging to come in fast and then stick llike glue to the tail of your target without over shooting or colliding!

Source: Fighter Aces of the Luftwaffe, by Col. Raymond F. Toliver (Ret.) and T.J. Constable