Janes F/A-18 1.01F Review - By Ryan "Kosmo" Cowley Page 1 of 2
Jane's Combat Simulations
is no stranger to producing high quality, crowd pleasing flight simulators.
In a market where producers are seemingly moving away from the flight
sim genre to easier and cheaper console titles, and first person shooters,
Jane's has continued to release title after title of all type's of combat
simulation. Until this, their latest release, Jane's has lingered in
the shadows, away from the attention of the self-proclaimed, newsgroup
reading, webpage surfing, family neglecting, hardcore enthusiast (of
which I'm guilty on all accounts). The devout would argue that many of
Jane's releases' are borderline arcadic, representing flimsy flight models,
cheap and easy avionics, with simplified weaponry. That being true, Jane's
has definitely raised the bar with the release of their latest title
simply called 'F/A-18'.
With all the recent events in the flight simulation community, namely
Microprose disbanding the Falcon 4.0 team, and releasing what many are
calling and incomplete and unfinished Gunship title, it is refreshing
to see that Jane's is consistent in releasing a complete and functional
product, and following it up with first class support. Three months after
the release of a very complete and enjoyable title, Jane's has taken
the initiative, and gone the extra mile to refine a patch, and release
it to the public.
The theater of operations is Northern Scandinavia specifically the upper
Kola peninsula. Aboard the USS Ronald Reagan, you command the Navy's
newest operational aircraft, the F/A-18E. Bigger, faster, and more powerful,
then the F/A-18C, you are tasked with repulsing Russian rebel forces,
that are taking advantage of the economic crisis, and political divides.
Provided with the options to fly training missions, single missions,
an all out semi-dynamic campaign, and the most comprehensive mission
builder to date, you'll stay busy flying new and different missions regularly,
extending the playability infinitely.
The F/A-18 is an impressive aircraft with an all glass cockpit. The only
analog gauges are the back up instruments. The cockpit consists of 4
TV like screens, one being full color. The cockpit is a full time 3D
rendering, which mean it is less vividly detailed, yet very functional,
because at anytime you can move your head around, and the instrumentation
remains readable, and usable. However, one known side effect of such
an arrangement has been concluded. Because the cockpit is a full time
3D, movable, and readable rendering, it draws a tremendous amount of
CPU cycles, and those with weak video cards, slow processors, and all
the graphic bells and whistles maxed out, will be the red carpet, VIP
guest, at the exclusive premier showing of the most expensive slide show
to date produced by Jane's and Electronic Arts. Jane's has provided numerous
in game utilities to turn on and off graphic features as suites you,
or rather your computer. Many people had hoped that somehow this patch
would address the issue. CJ Martin, lead designer of the title has explained
in many different forums, that it just isn't possible without a complete
rebuild of the cockpit structure and coding, which isn't likely.
The mission briefing is adequate, yet I find it a little weak, and difficult
to use. You're presented with a map, and your flight plan as well as
your package, and carrier group. You can zoom in and out, and move the
map around, and control what is presented on the map, with a series of
filters. You are also provided with a brief paragraph regarding the situation,
and mission purpose. Be sure to jot down all this information before
committing to the mission, because another short coming of the simulation,
is once in flight, navigation details such as what your doing, where
your doing it, and when to get there, and how high to be when you get
there aren't available. There is no kneeboard. Yet another thing that
disappoints me within the briefing, with regards to multi player, is
the inability for both the host and the clients to simultaneously be
in the mission briefing screen. This severely limits your ability to
discuss the game plan, and strategies with each other, if you can only
look at the map one at a time.
Multi player support is included, and I must say, the most stable and
bug free on the market. Jane's advertises up to 8 players at a time,
and I've flown with 8 several times, trouble free. One extraordinary
feature in multi player that works absolutely error free is the ability
to laser designate a target for your partner to strike. In effect one
player sneaks in and with the ATFLIR pod, locks onto, and laser designates
a target, and holds it, while the other player comes in hot and fast,
and without having to search for the target and lock it up, can quickly
locate, deploy your weapon, and get out.
As with most of us armchair pilots, I can't attest to the actual flight
model of the F/A-18, and whether or not it is realistic, but I can say
without hesitation that it flies very believably. The F/A-18 is a pig,
a flying buss! This is no nimble and quick dog fighter, in fact it is
rather slow. It cruises at about 350 kts fully armed at 90% throttle,
and only capable of pulling 7.5 G's. You're better to dispatch air threats
long before coming to the point of getting into a dog fight with them.
The F/A-18 is heavy and slow, and when you start hamfisting the controls,
yanking and banking, you'll quickly depart controlled flight, and find
your self in a deep, stalled, spin fighting to get out. If your low,
because it does take time to recover, you'll find your self riding the
silk elevator down to earth.
However the flight model is not perfect. I feel that the roll rate is
quite high. If you jerk the stick full port (that's swabby talk) you'll
find your self right back where you started. Smooth deliberate movements
are key to maintaining control, and coercing the plane into doing what
you want. The effects of a fully armed plane, are also not modeled well
if at all, when you put the plane under conditions of high G. Armament
does in deed affect the drag of the plane while in straight and level
flight, but when you start to maneuver with a fully loaded plane, it
seems to fly just the same as if it were empty. The high roll rates are
still present, as well as the fact that you can pull 7.5 G's with or
with out full wings of ordinance. The effects of unbalanced loads are
also not modeled well. Falcon 4.0 modeled this very well. If you had
one wing full of bombs, and the other empty, you would really notice
the weight of that wing when applying G loads to the plane. It would
roll in favor of that wing, because in fact that wing under G would weight
significantly more. In F/A-18 I loaded a full ordinance of fuel and bombs
on one wing, and left the other empty. I flew a series of maneuvers,
and under no condition could I feel the effects. Along this same line,
I was unable to feel the effects of asymmetric thrust. For example, if
I turned off one engine, the plane should yaw in favor of the dead engine.
No effect was observed. Now many would argue these few points, as being
compensated for by the Flight Control Computer, and while they are to
an extent, I have on good word from a source in naval aviation that the
effects of such are still quite noticeable. These are minute details
however, and will not detract from game play.
