Introduction There have been many attempts in the history of combat flight simulations
to narrow the gap between two distant banks – so called survey (arcade) and
realistic ones. Almost all have failed, not because compromises were necessary
– it was due to their nature. People who are keen of arcade titles, don’t
like to tangle with complicated avionics, tactics and a ten-page booklet
describing all the commands available on the keyboard. On the other hand,
you have a hard-core crowd, which goes nuts just at the word itself – arcade
simulation. They tend to forget, that even their precious hard-core-fans-only-you-need-3040-page-manual
combat flight simulator – is also just a game. A very complex one, but still
a game. They used to look down upon arcade players, forgetting how they have
started their virtual combat pilot career. The only titles so far, managing
to please both sides were both published by Empire – Enemy Engaged: Apache
vs. Havoc and Comanche vs. Hokum.
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| So, what is in this sim? Although many simmers, especially combat simmers, regard the visual aspects of a sim as non important “eye candy” the overwhelming first impression we had was stunning visual renditions of everything – terrain, water, weather, cockpits, aircraft, ground vehicles, and ships. If a good part of this commentary has to do with those aspects it’s because it really hits you in the face! Because the whole idea of a simulation is to mirror the real world as closely as possible – and our primary sensory perception of the real world is visual – we think visuals are an important and vital aspect of any sim. They help the “suspension of disbelief” so necessary to immersion in a sim. Based on what we’ve seen in this beta release we predict LOMAC will set new standards in this area. Check the screenshots to see if you agree. The overall sim interface menus are clean, uncluttered and the navigation is pretty easy and intuitive. It looks like the Mission Editor is a powerful tool but is going to take some study to use. The Help feature in this area was not implemented in the beta and so we really weren’t able to get too far into it. We're sure the release version will have the necessary documentation and help features to get the most out of this tool. The Fast Battle Planner, which is basically an instant action generator, was easy and quick to setup and get into the thick of combat.
There are many countries represented in LOMAC for setting up a good NATO vs Russia encounters. The list includes Turkey, Canada, Russia, USA, Ukraine, France, Germany, Spain, The Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Denmark, Georgia and Israel (not part of NATO) and the UK. LOMAC offers 6 aircraft to fly, the F-15C Eagle, the A-10A Warthog, the Su-25 Frogfoot, the Mig-29 A and S Fulcrums, and the SU-27 and 33 (the latter being the naval version). So there are plenty of aircraft to tickles ones fancy. Flight models in LOMAC are not yet finalized, but already at present state they will not let down hard-core pilots – especially those, who were waiting for Hog simulation for a long time.
There is also a host, a buffet if you will of AI aircraft, helicopters, transports, bombers, tankers, it is all in there. See gallery at the end of this preview for many of the Ai aircrafts included.
All of the aircraft in LOMAC, both player flyable and AI, are extraordinarily detailed both in terms of the exterior visuals and the interior cockpits. Take a look at some of the incredible screenshots below to see what we mean. The crisp, sharp instrument displays were our favorites. One thing we noted, however, is that the cockpits are not mouse enabled so looks like it’s going to be keyboard commands or programmed joystick buttons to flip switches and such.
Since the simulated area has been enlarged, and now covers not only Crimea but a part of Caucasus (mountains) as well, there will be plenty of opportunities for buzzing through the valleys, under the power-lines, between the houses and of course under bridges. Here's a couple of examples.
Although LOMAC is an air combat sim ground objects and events are just as detailed as the aircraft. Armored and other ground vehicles and ships maneuver, fire weapons, and take damage in very lifelike fashion. Speaking of damage, the damage effects are very well done. Smoke and flame is especially realistically depicted. There are many other things, helping in creating a believable environment – starting from very realistic representation of Crimean peninsula and Caucasus mountains, weather, live cities and ports (the buses are moving, as well as cranes and ships) and voices of air traffic controllers, AWACS operators and wingmen.
Combat is what this game is all about, and it offers great satisfaction in this respect. Taking any of the fighters into the sky, requires good knowledge of its capabilities and limitations as well as good understanding of all the systems. Selecting lower capabilities of missiles and choosing less advanced adversaries and keeping the difficult flight model is good way for newbie to become an ace in aerial fight. Namely – making the environment less hostile will help everybody in gaining experience, which will be needed when fighting against more advanced AI, because already now on medium settings they use many tricks in avoiding your missiles and gunfire and trying to get you in range of their weapons at the same time. Weather phenomena has been vastly improved over Flanker 2 (LOMAC is based on its greatly enhanced code), fog, clouds, rain, snow, lightning...everything is very life-like now. Landing in thick fog in early morning can finish with catastrophe if one is not careful enough and follows the ILS needles with great precision.
We have put together a full picture gallery, showing more details of LOMAC, check it out here. Conclusion: LOMAC is in final stages of development, and is already causing a lot of ravishment among the combat flight simulation crowd. Release date has been pushed several times, but bear in mind, that development of such game is highly demanding and we can only thank UBI for not rushing it out of the doors unfinished. |
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