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Text File | 1995-04-26 | 12.2 KB | 203 lines

******************************************************************************* * STatus Disk Magazine * * Issue 1, Volume 1 * * * * NOTE: This issue is to be copied freely by Atari ST users. We at STatus * * strictly prohibit anyone selling this issue as part of a Shareware or PD * * collection. * * * * STatus Disk Magazine * * Suite 299 * * 4431 Lehigh Road * * College Park, MD 20740 * * * * STatus Disk Magazine (c) 1989, is a COMMERCIAL effort. * ******************************************************************************* Falcon 1.1 and Operation: Counterstrike Mission Disk I knew when I saw the packaging, this was going to be a good game. A picture of a F-16 soaring through the sky, enjoying freedom you just cannot simulate on ANY computer (yet)... The question now is... How good? When you approach Falcon, whether the game is great, or just good. In this day and age, with a dearth of really good and truly addictive games coming out seemingly once or twice a year, ST gamers have really suffered. But enough ST prattling. Let's talk about Falcon 1.1 and the mission disk, called "Operation: Counterstrike". First of all, let's examine Falcon 1.1. There have been changes in this program to allow for added excitement. First of all, the most notable thing is, the enemy seems more persistent and less predictable in the sky. A good example is that, on Falcon 1.0, on Colonel level, Grand Slam with 3 enemy ace MiGs up in the sky, all you had to do to was fly west (heading 270) and wait. Enemies would just magically appear around you. Now, you really do have to do as the manual says and "fly around" until the enemy engages you. Also, Spectrum Holobyte has improved the flight controls a bit. On Falcon 1.1 for the Atari ST, if you flew around, you got somewhat of a jerky response, especially at higher speeds. Now, the control is much more fluid, and you feel much more natural, although if you are accustomed, as I am, to using that to your advantage when going up against the MiG-21 (yes, they still use the MiG- 21 in the Falcon 1.1 disk), you will have to relearn everything you know. Now, as if its not hard enough, Spectrum Holobyte has apparently changed the algorithm used by the enemy MiGs when they do finally engage your F-16 in combat. The MiG ace pilots, like any human pilot, seem more willing to fight in true 3d, and use their altitude as a means of evasion more frequently. This usually means that if you approach Falcon ST v1.1 with a cocky attitude, you will most likely wind up in flames the first time or two until you realize the game, indeed, has changed. And because the authors knew there are masochists like me who enjoy landing damaged planes, they tacked on that feature, which was sorely missed from Falcon 1.0, and made landing the plane much easier. And for good measure, enemy MiGs will no longer engage you in combat when you're trying to land. There is nothing worse than finding a missile in your afterburner while your gear are down and you are "floating" in with flaps and wheelbrakes, delicately maintaining an airspeed around 200 knots. Now, your airstrip gets the proper respect, and you no longer feel like MiGs can violate your airspace with an utter lack of respect for you (and belive me, it does belittle you to have three MiG-21s chase you past your own airstrip off the map!). Falcon 1.1 also excels in the realism of the "timing" of events. When you destroy a bridge, a SAM site, or any enemy installation, it stays destroyed for however many missions the enemy will need to repair it. Now you can mow down a few SAM sites, and know that later on, you won't have to face a SAM site on the way to Dragon's Jaw, for example. As for the mission disk, Operation: Counterstrike, all I can say is that, as good as Falcon 1.1 is, this somehow manages to be even better. In this scenario, you have to destroy the enemy's resource network to prevent not only the eventual destruction your own airstrip and defense installations (which are actually shown! You actually see a SAM site that is "friendly!), but also to send a very simple message to your antagonists that retribution for any attacks would not only be swift, but incredibly destructive, and would offset anything they could gain thru further attacks. The first thing you notice when you prepare to take off is that there is a lot of activity around your plane and the ground is GREEN, not the desert brown from Falcon 1.1. So the mood is set from the start for a good, solid sequel to Falcon. This world is a LOT different from the first one, and its not just because you are fighting in a lush, yet somewhat, "swamp-like" atmosphere (when you bomb a target, the the old craters seem to be filled with water!), but you also see signs of battle to your east as enemy tanks begin their land assault on your side of a very large lake. When the game starts out, on your first mission, three Soviet T-80 tanks have just been released from enemy AAVs (Amphibious Assault Vehicles). Your first concern is to destroy the tanks using your AGM-65 Maverick missiles (your 20mm cannon just won't do the job against the tanks' armor!). Thankfully, you can now get a full complement of Mavericks from "Sarge" with fewer problems than you'll encounter in Falcon 1.1. Now, each mission is set up to be a logical progression once you destroy the immediate threat of the tanks. There are twelve missions, but overall, your goal is to destroy four primary industrial assets in order to "get the message across" to the enemy. These are: - Oil Refinery (three huge octagon shaped storage tanks) - Nuclear Power Station (the tell-tale cooling towers are what you REALLY need to concentrate on...) - Armory (where the T-80 tanks are manufactured) - Factory (where they manufacture components of the enemy arsenal.) Each of these targets will remain destroyed for five missions. All must be destroyed simultaneously for a complete enemy industrial shutdown to occur, and for you to win. This is no easy task, but much easier than it seems at first. To also add to the continuity of events, there are also trucks that travel from the factory to the front to resupply the enemy forces, as well as a train that chugs along a huge rail line between many of the buildings, which also serves the same purpose. Destroying the truck convoy or the train, or, even better, destroying the bridges they cross can slow or eliminate enemy efforts to resupply their tank forces on the "front". This means that you may be able to take to the skies knowing in advance that you will only be concerned with completing a mission, and not having to play a defensive battle against the T- 80s. The manual helps incredibly, detailing the best methods to approach and destroy the enemy installations, and one secret of the game is, unless you really want all tweleve mission ribbons, try eliminating multiple targets in one mission. I find that after I destroy the Dragon's Jaw bridge, it is pretty easy, if you have left over armament, to destroy the Factory north of it. This also applies to attacks on other targets that are close together, which I will leave to the discretion of the player how to "mix and match" his strikes into enemy territory. I do suggest taking out the tank factory as soon as you can, or at least nailing both bridges before the enemy gets a chance to resupply. That way, after you fight the tanks for your first few missions, and destroy the AAVs also, you should be able to concentrate on an offensive battle. Now this is not a cakewalk. Enemy SAMs, especially at the Colonel level, are much more frequent. When you approach Serpent's Tail, it isn't uncommon to see a few SA-7s flying out of what seems to be the bridge itself waiting for you. This is among one of the many uncomfortable feelings I've had in this game. To add to the well thought out defensive posturing of the enemy, Operation: Counterstrike adds a new player into the fray: the MiG-29 Fulcrum. It looks a lot like the American F-15, with dual afterburners, and capabilities that seem to be near equal your own F-16, and to add to the fun, they can outrun you at most altitudes where afterburners are most effective, and they are not afraid to use them. They are harder than the MiG-21s to hit and the MiG-21s are no breeze. However, despite all this, once you're in the sky, and fully adjusted to the "feel" of fighting the Fulcrum, you will get used to any idiosyncracies of the enemy and correctly compensate. The graphics of the MiG-29 are superb, and the 3d model used is incredibly detailed, and I can only laud Spectrum Holobyte's art team for a solid effort in creating what has to be a very realistic enemy, and, trust me, the MiG-29s graphics are equaled by the detail of the trees, "pastures", and enemy installations that seem to be nearly infinite in diversity. Operation: Counterstrike, as of yet, overshadows all of the efforts made by other companies to defeat Spectrum Holobyte's firm claim of having the best combat simulator. F-16 Combat Pilot from Digital Integration isn't quite up to par with Falcon, but is a good alternative. However, with this mission disk, it is hard to not enjoy the Falcon experience. If you've been reading this to figure out if you really truly need the Falcon mission disk, here's my opinion: Get it. If you have Falcon already, it is completely inexcusable not to blow the additional $20-$25 for the Operation: Counterstrike disk. The game is simply too engrossing, and the playability is too good for it to be sitting on a dealer's shelf somewhere.