Whilst Rowan is probably not a name that would instantly spring to mind when thinking of top sim
developers, you may be surprised to know that they are not exactly newcomers
to this genre. Over the last 10 years they have been responsible for some
damn fine sims including such notable titles as the Amiga and Atari ST
versions of the original Falcon and Flight of the Intruder (Spectrum Holobyte).
They are probably best known for the flying corps series, but they have
also done work for the Military including a navigator training aid for
the RAF and an 8 station simulator for experimental work at Farnborough.
So they have an impressive pedigree.
Let's take a look at Mig
Alley the sim. Every thing that Ken KC23 Cook said about Mig Alley in
the preview still holds true in the released version of the game. So rather
than focusing on the areas that Ken has already discussed in his excellent
preview I will look at the area's that weren't covered in detail. The
first question you may be asking is where does Mig Alley sit in terms
of hard core / sim lite. This is not an easy question to answer directly
because it doesn't fall fully into either. I would be inclined to call
it hard core with a sim lite wrapper.
The flight model is most definitely hard core. In fact I'd say that Mig
Alley has one of the best flight models in any sim. Accelerated stalls,
spins, slipstreaming and flameouts are all included and feel just right
(but then how would I know being an armchair pilot :-). Pull hard G's
and your bird gets buffeted quite hard and you can even hear her creaking
under the strain (you will also suffer a well modelled black out :). Pull
too many and you will literally rip the wings right off. Each of the available
planes handles differently and in just the way you would expect them to.
Be warned though, unlike today's fly-by-wire jets these babies very easily
depart into a spin. Guess you could call it fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants
:)
Damage modelling is excellent too, I've had a wing shot out sending me
into an unrecoverable spin. It's even possible to damage your engines
by pushing the throttle up too fast thus leaving unburnt fuel in the engine.
It's really satisfying to see bullet holes appearing along your enemy's
fuselage. And there is noting like watching him try to fly his Mig after
you blew the tail or a wing off. The settings are completely scalable
so you can turn off flameouts, spins etc thus leaving yourself a game
that would compete well with the best that Novalogic has to offer.
The graphics, on the whole, are outstanding but you may have to experiment
with the preferences to get the best out of them. There are a few areas
that are a little rough like flying craters and stuff. But the overall
effect is real good. Rowan are using their new terrain engine to very
good effect in this title. The terrain looks real nice from both high
and low altitude. There are plenty of special effects too with true light
sourcing (which looks pretty damned impressive), lens flare, smoke trails
and weather effects including rain and fog etc. This too is all scaleable
allowing you to tailor the graphics to your system in order to achieve
a perfect compromise between looks and performance.
Of course if you don't want to spend ages tweaking options to get things
just right, Rowan have thoughtfully included a min frame rate option.
You set the minimum frame rate that is acceptable to you and Mig Alley
will automatically raise and lower the detail levels on the fly. I gave
this option a try and to be quite honest I was unaware of the scaling
effect. It must have been working though because when I disabled the auto
frame rate the game became choppy in places.
Mig Alley has a plethora of padlock views including nearest enemy, friendly
or ground target. It also has the option to padlock to next waypoint and
also padlock to subject of last message (this one is great for when your
wingman or other friendly calls for help). It also has all the usual out
of cockpit views. The cockpits themselves are all 3D. You can switch between
panning and fixed views. There is also a selection of snap views that
last only while you hold the key down. These are useful for checking six
without losing your padlocked target. The cockpit reflections in the padlock
views are excellent and really help with SA. There is however no look
down view inside the cockpit. This is a bit of an oversight, but you can
use the panning view to look down at your instruments so it's no big disaster.
The sounds are very good on the whole. The internal engine sounds are
a bit weak but the external sounds are excellent. When a jet zooms right
by you, you really feel it. This brings me to one of my pet hates in this
game. The radio chatter in places is awful. It really annoys me when I'm
just concentrating on lining up for the shot and my wingman chimes in
with "Hit him lead, pound him". Blows my concentration every time, this
is part of the sim lite wrapper I spoke of earlier. It's not all bad though
and some of the radio chatter adds to the immersion.
While I am on the subject of pet hates I will share my other pet hate
(better to get it off my chest here than to end the review on a sour note).
The manual is one of the worst I've ever seen in a sim box. It really
is practically useless. The layout is terrible, it can be really hard
to find the information that you need. This is partly because there is
little information in there. This really is manual lite. It's a shame
because presentation in all other areas is great. There is a good Mig
15 Vs Sabre comparison booklet included which is interesting. The online
help covers many areas that the manual doesn't but who reads online help
(my experience on tech support tells me it's not many).
The AI is excellent, your wingmen behave really well. Watching them peel
off for a ground attack is a real joy. Again watching them break off to
engage air targets is pretty cool. The enemy pilots are pretty impressive
overall they will use their jets capabilities to their advantage most
of the time. They will also act as bait while their wingman sneaks onto
your tail. I get the impression that there are differing skill levels
of AI pilot. I have been chasing a Mig in a climbing 5-6 G turn. As I
gained a good guns solution he rolled the jet and it departed. It was
so cool to see an AI pilot push his jet too far and lose it. I watched
him fight with the jet as he span towards the ground. He was able to recover
before hitting the deck but unfortunately for him he had only delayed
the inevitable :)
Ken spoke about the campaign in detail so in this review I will concentrate
on the other jewel in Mig Alleys crown - Hotshot. The Hotshot mode is
Mig Alleys instant action mode. It certainly delivers this in spades.
Loading time is real short so it is not too long before you are in the
thick of the action. This is one huge furball with up to 50 jets in the
air at once. It is really cool to see so many other aircraft flying and
fighting all around you. Here is where the biggest problem lies. I doubt
they will fix this problem in any patch either. The problem is it's just
too damn addictive. This review should have been finished weeks ago, but
every time I loaded up Mig Alley in order to work on the review I'd just
end up playing Hotshot all night. I'd be like "Just one more then I'll
start work". Problem is it is always just one more :)
A VCR style replay mode is included which isn't bad. It's certainly not
a patch on Falcon 4's ACMI but it can be entertaining. It's biggest problems
are that the VCR style controls take up lot of monitor real estate and
I can't find a way to move or hide them. The other main problem is the
lack of an enemy view. One nice feature though is that you can set it
to monochrome which does seem to add that newsreel feel to your replays.
Conclusion
Whist not perfect Mig Alley is an excellent sim that should satisfy both
the hard core simmer and the sim lite crowd alike. It has both strategy
and resource management in the campaigns and adrenaline filled action
in the Hotshot mode. It's scalability in both graphics and flight model
means that it will appeal to a wide range of skill levels and perform
well on most systems. The poor manual will make it less accessible, and
as a result some won't persevere enough to discover Mig Alleys beauty.
I recommend Mig Alley wholeheartedly but be prepared for some frustration
trying to get to grips with the campaign, remember the online help is
your friend :-)
random irc quote: <Saghn1212> lawn is such a m0m0 for missing 9 hours of trance <fish2002> he hass enough trance already <Saghn1212> nobody has enough trance
