Introduction I have been flying the original Falcon 4 since its original release, not to mention the original titles from Spectrum Holobyte. You remember the ones? My personal favorite was Tornado, but we all remember Falcon 3.0, Mig 29, and FA 18 all by the same company. I remember spending hours studying the extensive manuals, all the while trying to make myself a good combat simulator pilot. And then along came Falcon 4.0 and changed the way many of us viewed the original Falcon series, fancy graphics, new and more realistic flight models and frankly one of the most complex combat environments available that brought the desktop F16 driver into a whole new world. It has been some years since that release and we have seen very few, if any that can compare to the original Falcon 4.0. There have been a wide array of public add-ons that have helped improve the Falcon program over time; but now Graphsim has raised the bar and revamped Falcon 4.0 all over again. Once again a must have combat flight simulator for any desktop pilot with their title ALLIED FORCE. Now, if only I could remember how to evade those danged missiles, I could get right back into the pilots seat! Installation and Documentation Installation is relatively a breeze, simply insert the disk and follow the onscreen prompts. The program does come with a 108 page printed manual; however it is not the ones we remember from the original Falcon release. But it is adequate and there is a more complex manual provided in PDF format once the installation is complete. If you are one of the lucky ones that saved their original manual from the Spectrum Holobyte release, it will make for a good quick reference manual. Make sure that you go to the Allied Force website and download the latest patches. The last patch incorporates some really nice enhancements graphically and fixes some of the earlier problems that the first release was prone to.
Another nice feature with AF is that you do not need to keep the CD in your drive, the only time you need it is when you are updating the sim. Kick the tires, and light the fires..... I remember the original Falcon, the one that came out on the Apple II. You know the one, it had wonderful pre-CGA graphics, but for its time it was a pretty spectacular simulation. When we think of the Falcon series we think of the depth and detail that is usually included with each and every edition that is released. I remember like it was yesterday, the day I went and bought Falcon 3, I think I paid around $70.00- $80.00 bucks for it through a local software dealer and it was one of those that I had to have the first day it was released; then came Falcon 4 and I was again at my local software dealer plunking down a pretty good chunk of change, sometimes this stuff is too addicting. Allied Force (AF) is not for the amateur simmer, this program requires heavy learning and a deep desire to learn what makes the F-16 tick. This is the ultimate combat simulation and is in many cases untouched by any other simulation packages out there.
AF is in all essence Falcon 4, with some major graphic enhancements and other tweaks. My first impression when I booted up AF, was they didn’t even change the menu system, the music was the same and that little guy with the parachute was still there for your mouse icon, but there is a fantastic opening sequence of real F-16’s in flight. I decided that I would jump right into the instant mission section, just to see what it looked like. Well, the F-16 was beautiful! But, I found that the enemy drones I was shooting down were the exact same ones that I found in the original Falcon 4, and they all had really bad paint jobs! My next course of action was a mistake, I turned it off and said a few choice words about how I should have just left the old falcon 4 on and played that one instead as nothing had really been changed. I came to some conclusions that were seriously wrong. Several days later I found myself back at the startup screen for AF, and after glancing through the manual, I found that there were some pretty significant enhancements. So I set out to find them. Instead of flying the dreaded instant combat option, I set out to do a training mission, it was a simple one; takeoff! What I found was pretty incredible; the folks at Graphsim had really cleaned up the original, the screen resolution is was better and the terrain was pretty decent looking.
Flying the F-16 for me was always a treat, but under combat conditions I always found myself getting knocked out of the sky as I oogled the aircraft and all its eye candy. So, thinking I had spent enough time with the original and had spent quite a bit of time with "Lock On", I thought I was ready to go and get me some bandits. I was feeling a little on the arrogant side, so I set up a dog fight mission between 2 F15’s and me; big mistake! As the mission started, the two F-15s were already locked onto me and I could hear my IR warning system chirping away. As I maneuvered the plane to get away, I started dropping chaff and flares, but I was quickly outgunned and my plane was on fire. Time to bail! I repeated this mission three times, and for the life of me could not out maneuver those missiles, so I inevitably ended up engaging the no pain mode, you know the one!
My next few flights were geared towards trying to avoid missiles, and getting the best of my opponents. I came to the quick conclusion that the F16 is truly at home flying knap of the earth, and that is the quickest and easiest way to avoid getting shot down, as the enemy pilots tend to forget how hard the ground actually is and fly right into it. After some time, I found that I was finally able to out maneuver those missiles and get around the sim more efficiently. Knowing the enemy aircraft you are fighting is the key to a successful flight, as you really have to expose their weaknesses. The next big mission I tried was a strike mission on a power plant, it is important that you know to pick the correct mission from the mission selection screen as the other missions of other aircraft are shown on the same screen, and if you haven’t selected the correct one, you will find yourself trying to fly the wrong plane. Fortunately the sim won’t allow you to proceed beyond this screen until you have selected the correct one.
Once on the runway you will need to be cleared for takeoff, as the sim also incorporates a nicely done ATC system. Once in the air I found myself quickly exploring the cockpit and I managed to find the autopilot. Knowing how the navigation system works is pertinent to a successful flight. If you are not sure, just change the order of your flight so you don’t have to fly lead and the autopilot will follow the lead plane. Once at the target, my wingman immediately went into action and struck the target, I couldn’t remember how to drop ordnance and was quickly engaged by a MIG 29 and shot down. The F16 and its Avionics Climbing into the cockpit of the F-16 is a visual treat, not only is every known system modeled in this sim, the eye candy is simply incredible. Every switch is clickable and the onboard MFD’s list all of your navigation, loadouts and target data. Depending on your preference, the MFD’s can be modified to show what information you want shown and on which display. Currently I use my left MFD to display target information and the right is my navigational display. For every combat aircraft there is one gauge that is literally the heart of the aircraft, and that is the RWR display and it is located in the upper left corner of the cockpit. This is the gauge that you watch when you are in the middle of combat and you hear that dreaded chirping noise that indicates a missile launch, you have only seconds to react as the enemy missiles travel pretty fast, so don't ignore that chirping noise. The sound in the F-16 is really pretty good, as every audible system is modeled in the AF cockpit. It’s just a matter of training yourself to learn what each sound means. The exterior and interior engine sound are also nicely done and have been tweaked since the original release. As for the weapon systems, the new version of Falcon retains the two different difficulty levels that the original had in the radar systems and avionics setup. For those of you that are unfamiliar with the F-16, I recommend that you use the simpler radar mode until you can get better acquainted with the aircraft's radar system. Whether you are flying a CAP mission or an air to ground mission, there is a missile or bomb for every occasion and you will find that with the latest patch release the weapon effects are much better and more up to date. When you look at the outside of the aircraft you will be pleasantly surprised that all functional surfaces have been modeled and all of the secondary aircraft in this sim have also been redone and no longer have the generic look the original Falcon had. This, of course, does not include the drones; they still have the same ugly paint scheme. Theatres of Operation AF comes packed with two theaters of operation, one being the original Korean theater and the other being a totally enhanced area of operations for Bosnia and its surrounding countries. The maps are well done, but still have that old Falcon 4 look. Luckily for us there is a new add-on designed specifically for AF that will give you a much more realistic look with new photographic scenery for these regions.
Each theater includes 3 different campaigns and configurations, from past, present and future conflicts. In the future conflicts, the countries involved are considerably more advanced then that of the present or past campaigns, thus making the campaigns considerably harder and more complex as the enemy forces become more advanced. Mission Building One of the major features of this sim, is that it includes a comprehensive mission builder along with detailed mission scripting. You have to remember that even though you are flying in a virtual environment, you are a very small part in the overall campaign. Your job might be to escort a flight of F-15s on a bombing run or you might be assigned to a CAP mission. No matter what mission you decided to take, these other missions are complete with AI aircraft, so there is always something going on. With that in mind you have the ability to change just about every aspect of the battlefield with AF. Whether it be the cruising altitude of a formation of F-15's or the direction of travel of a tank column you have total control. The user can also build his or her missions from scratch, thus allowing the user to fly just about any type of mission he or she would like. This is the same mission builder that was available with the original Falcon 4 and is the same comprehensive in-depth planner/ designer that we all know and love. As with the original release the mission planner does require some studying and I reccomend that you start with a current mission, load it up and see what makes it tick and what is required for a succesfull in-flight mission. Multiplayer The original multiplayer in Falcon was buggy at best. I remember trying to set up LAN parties and spending more time trying to get each copy of Falcon to work together. With the advent of Windows XP and the newly enhanced AF, we are ready to go again and this time everything seems to run well together. ACMI Mission Recorder As with Falcon 4 and now Allied Force, you have the ability to watch your flight via the ACMI mission recorder. It makes for an easy way to critique ones flying skills when in the midst of a fire fight. This isn’t a simple replay, as it has the ability to show you different aspects of your flight and is pretty close to the actual flight recorders installed in combat aircraft. Track IR and AF Allied Force is fully compatible with the Track IR system from Natural Point and anyone that owns the Track IR should have this sim, as dog fighting from the virtual cockpit mode is simply awesome. It adds a whole new realism to this sim and really creates a lifelike experience. HITILES AF HITILES has released a wonderful add-on for Allied Force and it is a complete replacement of the original scenery and a total replacement for the Bosnian theater. This package costs $12.00 and is well worth it as it will literally transform the entire sim into a more realistic environment. Replacing the original scenery with photo real scenery from both regions that you campaign in. The hills and valleys will look more realistic as you drop to the hard deck. Take special note of the new city textures as well, as the buildings now blend in better with the surrounding terrain.
Surprisingly there is no night time lighting. Flying over farm communities can be pretty dark if you are not using the implemented night vision option. Performance tends to be an issue when using this scenery at higher resolutions. One thing I did to improve performance, is to turn of the AA on your video card, at higher resolutions you won’t miss the lack of AA as the graphics remain clear and crisp. If you run the scenery at 1024 x 768, the sim will remain pretty fluid even with the AA on and I do recommend that you learn your options menu in Falcon 4 AF, as you will visit it quite a bit before you get it just right.
I was really impressed with the level of detail this scenery offers but it does require about 2 GB of hard drive space if you install all of the seasons. In the advent that you need to save space, you can limit yourself to one season at a time, but if you have a large hard drive, install it all at once since installing one season at a time requires uninstalling and reinstalling each season.
Conclusion This is the most up to date version of Falcon 4 available and is a pretty good bargain at or around $30.00 on most websites. With the above add-ons you will still have invested less then that of the original Falcon 4. If
you have ever wanted to see what it is like to be an F16 driver, then
this sim is for you. You will literally feel the need
for speed as you push this aircraft through its limits and make
the journey that is known as Allied Force! |
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