Air Force News :: Recreation

The mission is in your hands as a pilot in Strike Fighters: Project One.

How to win

The Gamesman has a PS2 copy of Hitman 2: Silent Assassin and the PC release of Strike Fighters: Project One to give away.
Entries should be e-mailed to ADFgamesmen@telstra.com with the name of the game you would like to win in the subject line. Please only one entry per person, subsequent entries will be discarded.
Please include your full name and mailing address in the e-mail or your entry won't be accepted.

One of the Phantom strike fighters that will put you in the hotseat during Strike Fighters: Project One, the latest in flight simulation games.

Simulating the simulators

Strike Fighters: Project One
http://www.auran.com/games/StrikeFighters/default.htm
Auran http://www.auran.com/default.htm

The flight simulation community must rate as one of the most demanding and often, least appreciative group of gamers that use their computers for more than work.

Sims by their very nature are extremely technical, complicated, and so sophisticated they push the boundaries of current PC gaming technology.

Their long development times also mean game-starved fans of the genre can work themselves into a rabid frenzy as release day approaches — and heaven help any developer or publisher that gets in their way.

Strike Fighters: Project One could be a case study in this phenomenon. Firstly, the sim development team was led by TK (Tsuyoshi Kawahito), the creator of arguably some of the finest sims to grace our monitors such as European Air War, and Jane’s Longbow series.

Added to that was the realisation the Strike Fighters would be the first game to truly recreate the time when air-to-air missile technology was in its infancy, a gun’s kill was the mark of a true fighter pilot and airplanes were large, loud and horribly thirsty. This was also the time of the Vietnam War, an era that has been surprisingly absent from the simulation genre.

With fan expectations running at fever-pitch, Strike Fighters: Project One went all screwy. Firstly (admittedly this was revealed early on) the game, despite its timeframe, would not be set in Vietnam but instead players would fly in a fictional desert campaign. Fans accepted the decision (but were understandably perturbed by the decision) but what followed was the craziest tale of game publishing yet seen.

An early code release somehow found its way onto WalMart shelves as a retail product and unsuspecting fans were lumped with a buggy, unplayable and totally unfinished product. After suitable apologies the so-called release version hit the shelves a few months later and even taking into account the sim community’s normally rabid response, the game was absolutely trashed by players and reviewers alike.

Auran took quite a chance on the game, becoming the Aussie distributor and packaging it for sale before the release of the inevitable first patch. That patch has now been released and although not complete by any means, the game is now far more playable (before the patch surface-to-air weapons failed to engage among other things).

While it doesn’t excuse amazingly poor publishing, a small group of fans with the continual support of TK have taken Strike Fighters: Project One as their own and have been steadily recreating the game they all wanted. TK promises more patches and in conjunction with a talented community is set to create the true sibling to European Air War.

As a sim, Strike Fighters: Project One rates up there in technical difficulty. The flight models, while still requiring some tweaking, are useable and there is a noticeable difference between the airframes — jumping in the A4 on a ground attack mission is definitely the exhilarating ride it should be, while blasting into the sky on the stubby-winged F104 and cranking into a hard turn is a heart-attack-inducing move.

The era of the planes means missiles require a degree of dog fighting skill before a remote chance of kill — yes the Vietnam-era Sparrow is as unpredictable in this game as it was in real life.

What is even better though is the user-made mods that are slowly converting Strike Fighters: Project One into the Vietnam War flight sim everyone wanted. The desert terrain can be changed for a jungle setting (or a European one if required), planes can now sport some amazingly detailed paintjobs from the era and more planes are being created each week including the precursor to today’s A-10 Thunderbolt, the A-1H “Sandy” Skyraider.

Strike Fighters: Project One rates as one of the most tumultuous releases seen (although the infamous BattleCruiser and its interesting developer Derek Smart may beat it for the title) and for all of the bad blood it has caused it should by rights be sitting in the bottom of the bargain bins. However, enough people have seen fit to assist TK in creating his vision that the game is now a truly viable proposition and with the community growing daily it can only get better.

If you are a sim nut you will already have it, but a lot of others may be holding off. My advice is to watch sites like SimHQ’s Strike Fighters: Project One forum or http://www.mudmovers.com/Sims/SFP/essentialfiles.htm and grab it when it reaches a stage you would be comfortable with your purchase.

Auran recommends a Pentium III-650, 256 MB of RAM, 3D graphics accelerator card with at least 64 MB of video memory and a joystick, throttle and rudder to enjoy Strike Fighters: Project One.

Watch out for the Hitman

Console Corner: PS2

Hitman 2: Silent Assassin
Eidos Interactive http://www.eidosinteractive.com/

Hitman: Codename 47 was one of the great hits of PC gaming in the past couple of years. Like most games it had its problems but those who stuck it out were rewarded with a rich gaming experience.

That was on PC and while the sequel Hitman 2: Silent Assassin has been released in the original format, this time round the developers have also taken the opportunity to harness the power of modern consoles with a PS2, XBox and shortly a Nintendo 64 release.

The sequel follows from the first game with the player’s character, a cloned assassin (appropriately enough called 47) forced back into his bloody trade through treason. The game puts the player in the disturbing role of a gun-for-hire using stealth, cunning and guile as well as a bit of strength and outright carnage to end a virtual life.

Moral issues aside, Hitman 2: Silent Assassin is a great example of learning from experience and the team has offered up a nearly faultless game.

While I still prefer the PC game, the console version plays very well after the normal adjusting period and is not hampered at all by the lack of a keyboard or mouse. The developers have made sure the controlling 47 with a game pad is as intuitive as possible.

A great single-player experience that will make the most of your PS2’s memory chip.