What do you think was the most sophisticated/technically impressive Amiga flight sim?

vroom6sri · 14 March 2019, 09:27

I've been pondering this for a while and I'm looking at this for a game engine visuals/environment point of view rather than the physics engine.

I like Gunship 2000 as the landscapes gave more dimensions such as the surface of the river being lower than the surrounding ground, being able to fly through valleys (and train tunnels), "mist" out at sea and the patch-work fields. Did F117a use the same engine?

I believe Tornado was quite detailed and benefited from an accelerated Amiga but I haven't tried that yet. I have ACA1230/56 so I will have to give it a go at some point.

Of course I suppose I have to consider TFX too even if it never officially saw the light of day.

Would you add any titles for consideration?

hitchhikr · 14 March 2019, 10:00

I'd add "Birds of Prey" (http://hol.abime.net/121)

Daedalus · 14 March 2019, 10:01

From a visuals point of view it's hard to look past TFX - it's the only one I know of that had fully shaded polygons and realistic colours.

Edit: Yep, Birds of Prey was my favourite sim from a flight model and freedom point of view, but probably not the most advanced engine visually.

d4rk3lf · 14 March 2019, 13:25

The Shadow of the Third Moon (1997) seems graphically most impressive to me, however I think it's very arcade gameplay, and not realistic at all.
It also require beast of Amiga to run properly:

[ Show youtube player ]

http://hol.abime.net/1894

onkelarie · 14 March 2019, 18:59

I always loved Falcon and some good old f18 interceptor thrown in every now and then. TFX is technically probably the most impressive, but never played it.

vroom6sri · 14 March 2019, 19:42

SOTTM certainly looks good but it seems that you're at a semi-fixed altitude or rather that you don't seem to be able go very high.

I always liked BOP and, whilst the game world is a bit sparse the shading effects are nice as are the darkening sky as you climb (and stars?).

I don't have a lot of memories of what the game world was like in Falcon but wasn't it fairly flat like most flight sims of that time?

arcanist · 14 March 2019, 20:39

I really liked Tornado back in the day. It had an impressive manual and lots of variety in the missions.

I think it's the only flight sim I've played that had "loft bombing", where you could pull up before releasing a bomb to give it more distance through momentum. This could be done from behind a hill to avoid overflying the target.

Photon · 14 March 2019, 21:25

The most sophisticated one should be the one that takes the longest from title menu to lifting off runway. (I'm serious, as in surrounding story/character/briefing/depth of missions, plane selection, armaments, switches to flip in cockpit. Also camera views and camera tracking.) If one even has a checklist to complete before take-off, it'd be similar to realistic flight sims today.

I liked F/A-18 and Bomber the most, F/A-18 should still be the most technically impressive (if you mean performance) on A500.

Galahad/FLT · 14 March 2019, 23:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by vroom6sri

I've been pondering this for a while and I'm looking at this for a game engine visuals/environment point of view rather than the physics engine.

I like Gunship 2000 as the landscapes gave more dimensions such as the surface of the river being lower than the surrounding ground, being able to fly through valleys (and train tunnels), "mist" out at sea and the patch-work fields. Did F117a use the same engine?

I believe Tornado was quite detailed and benefited from an accelerated Amiga but I haven't tried that yet. I have ACA1230/56 so I will have to give it a go at some point.

Of course I suppose I have to consider TFX too even if it never officially saw the light of day.

Would you add any titles for consideration?

F-29 Retaliator was pretty good back in the day, decently fast engine, but I had more fun with the older F/A 18 Interceptor.

eXeler0 · 14 March 2019, 23:50

TFX is surely the most advanced ... attempt.. was never 100% finished, so optimizations were probably not done.. so yea it doesn't run well on most Amigas..

My personal fav was Gunship 2000 (on an accelerated A1200 with fast mem, too choppy on vanilla 1200)

Steve · 14 March 2019, 23:52

Well if it's from a technical viewpoint then TFX has to be the clear winner as it's the only Amiga flight-sim which featured state-of-the-art (at the time) gouraud shading.

Seiya · 15 March 2019, 00:11

Tornado is very sophisticated flight sim very accurate in detail. Also i like so much Combat Air Patrol

005AGIMA · 15 March 2019, 01:28

I'd have to go for the one I spent the most time playing.

And that prize, and I had many of them, goes to F16 Combat Pilot

Sure the hills are all pyramids but the mission depth, immersion, and difficulty level were all great.

I also enjoyed Microprose Stealth Fighter (the version with the F117 and the fictional F19), which I think I'm correct in saying, was the first to boast that you could "navigate via the stars in the sky" as they were "mapped out to our real night sky" (I'd assume at a fixed point in time).

It also did "turbulence" at low altitude rather well....annoyingly.

vroom6sri · 15 March 2019, 17:09

I've just had a quick look at Combat Air Patrol on YouTube. It looks nice with some nice details such as the scattered clouds, the pseudo-night vision effect on the MFD and a sort of virtual cockpit where you seem to be able to look freely around 360 degrees. The landscape looks a little flat in the usual way for flight sims from that era but but the coastline looks a little more authentic with it not following a regular shape.

I think I'll have to try that one out.

Seiya · 16 March 2019, 21:16

Combat Air Patrol has also a good detail level that at maximum you see more detail on airplane and, i think, also on ground

Also A10 Tank Killer v1.5 at least it is nice flight sim and world is enough complex

van_dammesque · 17 March 2019, 19:23

F15 Strike Eagle II for me!

Leandro Jardim · 17 March 2019, 20:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by van_dammesque

f15 strike eagle ii for me!

+1

Foebane · 18 March 2019, 06:45

F29 Retaliator was the first 16-bit flight sim I experienced, it was fun and fast, and I liked how your pilot avatar in one of the briefing screenshots looked like Tom Selleck. I also thought the typeface for the menu was odd: I thought for a long time one of the options was "European Battlesround".

TFX looked impressive to me, and it was released commercially. What do you mean, it was never completed?

Daedalus · 18 March 2019, 09:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by Foebane

TFX looked impressive to me, and it was released commercially. What do you mean, it was never completed?

It was only released by CU Amiga Magazine after they managed to get the rights of it from DID. The original project was shelved by the publishers when it was almost complete because they couldn't get the required performance from a stock A1200, and unlike PC owners, Amiga owners were reluctant to upgrade their hardware for games, so there simply wasn't a userbase in the dwindling Amiga market.

Locutus · 18 March 2019, 10:33

If i want to run TFX now on a 4000/060, exactly which version/patches is recommended?

14 March 2019, 09:27	#1
vroom6sri Registered User Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Peterborough Age: 47 Posts: 841	What do you think was the most sophisticated/technically impressive Amiga flight sim? I've been pondering this for a while and I'm looking at this for a game engine visuals/environment point of view rather than the physics engine. I like Gunship 2000 as the landscapes gave more dimensions such as the surface of the river being lower than the surrounding ground, being able to fly through valleys (and train tunnels), "mist" out at sea and the patch-work fields. Did F117a use the same engine? I believe Tornado was quite detailed and benefited from an accelerated Amiga but I haven't tried that yet. I have ACA1230/56 so I will have to give it a go at some point. Of course I suppose I have to consider TFX too even if it never officially saw the light of day. Would you add any titles for consideration?

15 March 2019, 17:09	#14
vroom6sri Registered User Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Peterborough Age: 47 Posts: 841	I've just had a quick look at Combat Air Patrol on YouTube. It looks nice with some nice details such as the scattered clouds, the pseudo-night vision effect on the MFD and a sort of virtual cockpit where you seem to be able to look freely around 360 degrees. The landscape looks a little flat in the usual way for flight sims from that era but but the coastline looks a little more authentic with it not following a regular shape. I think I'll have to try that one out. Last edited by vroom6sri; 15 March 2019 at 17:19.

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14 March 2019, 10:00	#2
hitchhikr Registered User Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: somewhere else Posts: 510	I'd add "Birds of Prey" (http://hol.abime.net/121)

14 March 2019, 10:01	#3
Daedalus Registered User Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Dublin, then Glasgow Posts: 6,334	From a visuals point of view it's hard to look past TFX - it's the only one I know of that had fully shaded polygons and realistic colours. Edit: Yep, Birds of Prey was my favourite sim from a flight model and freedom point of view, but probably not the most advanced engine visually.

14 March 2019, 13:25	#4
d4rk3lf Registered User Join Date: Jul 2015 Location: Novi Sad, Serbia Posts: 1,645	The Shadow of the Third Moon (1997) seems graphically most impressive to me, however I think it's very arcade gameplay, and not realistic at all. It also require beast of Amiga to run properly: [ Show youtube player ] http://hol.abime.net/1894

14 March 2019, 18:59	#5
onkelarie Registered User Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Spijkenisse / the Netherlands Age: 54 Posts: 525	I always loved Falcon and some good old f18 interceptor thrown in every now and then. TFX is technically probably the most impressive, but never played it.

14 March 2019, 19:42	#6
vroom6sri Registered User Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Peterborough Age: 47 Posts: 841	SOTTM certainly looks good but it seems that you're at a semi-fixed altitude or rather that you don't seem to be able go very high. I always liked BOP and, whilst the game world is a bit sparse the shading effects are nice as are the darkening sky as you climb (and stars?). I don't have a lot of memories of what the game world was like in Falcon but wasn't it fairly flat like most flight sims of that time?

14 March 2019, 20:39	#7
arcanist Registered User Join Date: Dec 2017 Location: Austin, TX Age: 41 Posts: 405	I really liked Tornado back in the day. It had an impressive manual and lots of variety in the missions. I think it's the only flight sim I've played that had "loft bombing", where you could pull up before releasing a bomb to give it more distance through momentum. This could be done from behind a hill to avoid overflying the target.

14 March 2019, 21:25	#8
Photon Moderator Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Eksjö / Sweden Posts: 5,602	The most sophisticated one should be the one that takes the longest from title menu to lifting off runway. (I'm serious, as in surrounding story/character/briefing/depth of missions, plane selection, armaments, switches to flip in cockpit. Also camera views and camera tracking.) If one even has a checklist to complete before take-off, it'd be similar to realistic flight sims today. I liked F/A-18 and Bomber the most, F/A-18 should still be the most technically impressive (if you mean performance) on A500.

14 March 2019, 23:50	#10
eXeler0 Registered User Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: Sweden Age: 50 Posts: 2,946	TFX is surely the most advanced ... attempt.. was never 100% finished, so optimizations were probably not done.. so yea it doesn't run well on most Amigas.. My personal fav was Gunship 2000 (on an accelerated A1200 with fast mem, too choppy on vanilla 1200)

14 March 2019, 23:52	#11
Steve I Identify as an Ewok Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: North Lincolnshire Age: 45 Posts: 2,356	Well if it's from a technical viewpoint then TFX has to be the clear winner as it's the only Amiga flight-sim which featured state-of-the-art (at the time) gouraud shading.

15 March 2019, 00:11	#12
Seiya Registered User Join Date: Nov 2014 Location: Italy Posts: 2,340	Tornado is very sophisticated flight sim very accurate in detail. Also i like so much Combat Air Patrol

15 March 2019, 01:28	#13
005AGIMA Re-loading. Please wait. Join Date: Jan 2019 Location: Perth, Australia & England Age: 49 Posts: 472	I'd have to go for the one I spent the most time playing. And that prize, and I had many of them, goes to F16 Combat Pilot Sure the hills are all pyramids but the mission depth, immersion, and difficulty level were all great. I also enjoyed Microprose Stealth Fighter (the version with the F117 and the fictional F19), which I think I'm correct in saying, was the first to boast that you could "navigate via the stars in the sky" as they were "mapped out to our real night sky" (I'd assume at a fixed point in time). It also did "turbulence" at low altitude rather well....annoyingly.

16 March 2019, 21:16	#15
Seiya Registered User Join Date: Nov 2014 Location: Italy Posts: 2,340	Combat Air Patrol has also a good detail level that at maximum you see more detail on airplane and, i think, also on ground Also A10 Tank Killer v1.5 at least it is nice flight sim and world is enough complex

17 March 2019, 19:23	#16
van_dammesque Registered User Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: England Posts: 228	F15 Strike Eagle II for me!

18 March 2019, 06:45	#18
Foebane Banned Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Cardiff, UK Age: 51 Posts: 2,871	F29 Retaliator was the first 16-bit flight sim I experienced, it was fun and fast, and I liked how your pilot avatar in one of the briefing screenshots looked like Tom Selleck. I also thought the typeface for the menu was odd: I thought for a long time one of the options was "European Battlesround". TFX looked impressive to me, and it was released commercially. What do you mean, it was never completed?

18 March 2019, 10:33	#20
Locutus Registered User Join Date: Jul 2014 Location: Finland Posts: 1,175	If i want to run TFX now on a 4000/060, exactly which version/patches is recommended?

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