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- Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games
- Path: sparky!uunet!nic.unh.edu!kepler.unh.edu!blj
- From: blj@kepler.unh.edu (Brian L Johnson)
- Subject: Falcon 3.01 (OFT)
- Message-ID: <1992Sep4.143142.8564@newshost.unh.edu>
- Followup-To: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games
- Sender: news@newshost.unh.edu (USENET News System)
- Organization: University of New Hampshire - Durham, NH
- Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1992 14:31:42 GMT
- Lines: 54
-
- 1) ground/sky detail seems better (at least in Korea) at high setting (don't
- know about maximum), but frame rate seems to be correspondingly a bit slower.
- It was not really noticeable with version d (on a 386/33), but I am more
- aware of it now (it is not bad and doesn't detract from the enjoyment of
- the game, but it is noticeable except when things get exciting). Clouds
- appear more "fluffy" now. Ground targets seem easier to pick out too, but
- that may be due to the green ground coloration. Ground detail seems to go
- further towards the horizon.
-
- 2) night missions are much more interesting. I have read about pilots who
- have lost their orientation at night, and "climbed" right into the ground.
- Well it almost happened to me last night. I was busy evading a sam when
- suddenly I was getting the "caution, caution" (or is it warning, now I
- am typing this I don't remember the exact wording). A glance at the
- instruments showed I was flying upside down, so was actually in an inverted
- dive when I thought I was climbing. Missed the ground by about 100'
- (I'll never complain about that ground proximity warning again!). As an
- earlier poster stated, I would hate to lose instrumentation! You are
- fighting and flying strictly on instruments. I did note the "blackout makes
- things visible" feature someone else mentioned. Ground lights are rather
- nice, particularly the runway.
-
- 3) the caution/warning vocalization is a bit less anoyning - I think they
- turned down the volume on it a bit. As others have noted, most (all?) of the
- radio messages are now vocalized.
-
- 4) on standard difficulty setting, you can still get blasted on your runway.
- Second mission I flew, I was getting the Bandit message from my wingmen as
- I turned on my engine, and before my plane was moving one wingman had already
- been shot down. I got nailed on the runway before I even got up to 100kts.
-
- 5) I didn't get to see "nessie" on the opening scene as planes were too high.
-
- 6) After I had bailed out, a plane went past well below me (I was quite high,
- he was near the ground), but the image of the plane went over the parachute.
- It also seems that the detail in this view is a bit better, as is the "7"
- view.
-
- 7) the game seems to take longer to load and to switch screens. I also now
- get flashes of color on the screen between major scene changes (when the
- screen blanks) which I didn't have with version d. I have had no problems
- once the new scene is displayed, however.
-
- 8) on a CAS mission, I got shot down just as we reached the CAS waypoint.
- My wingmen immediately headed for home without firing shot (there were
- little brown dots all over the place too)! I also noted on another CAS
- mission where I was on autopilot (I was talking to my son and hadn't been
- paying attention to how close I was), as soon as the waypoint was reached,
- the plane simply headed for home (the next waypoint), again not a shot
- fired. Maybe this also happens in the other versions, and I had just never
- encountered the same situation before.
-
- Brian Johnson
- blj@mithrandir.cs.unh.edu
-