F 16 Aggressor
The real shame of it is there is a fine, fine flight simulator at the
core of Aggressor. Sometimes when I’m cleaning my ears I push the Q-tip
just a little too far in, and it hits something that hurts like hell. It
kind of hums for a while and then settles into a dull ache. The thing
is, I can experience this sensation all I want for about a quarter cent
per tip, whereas Bethesda would have me pay upwards of $40 for
relatively the same sensation. That throbbing in the brain, that jabbing
pain in the head: That’s about what I took away from Bethesda’s first
attempt at a flight simulation, F-16 Aggressor.
F-16 Aggressor has puzzling aspirations. The designers actually set out
to re-create Strike Commander. Remember Strike Commander? It was going
to be Origin’s flight sim version of the Wing Commander format, a
narrative-driven mercenary flight simulation. Unfortunately, it didn’t
turn out quite right. It was incredibly late, pretty buggy, and just not
all that impressive. So of course it makes perfect sense to emulate it.
And then, to really nail the lid down, GSI emulates it badly.
The real shame of it is there is a fine, fine flight simulator at the
core of Aggressor. GSI has modeled the F-16′s flight properties with
commendable detail. The funky handling of the rudders at certain speeds,
tough landings, speed bleeding, and other things related to flight are
all smack on. It’s a flight model worthy of the best F-16 sims, poised
to offer the hard-core crowd everything it could demand… until you get
to the systems modeling. These are more on par with a Novalogic game.
The complex instrument modeling of Falcon 4.0 and other true hard-core
sims is only hinted at in Aggressor. Graphically, while F-16 is quite good, if at times mind-blowing, it’s
true that there are better-looking, better-performing sims out there.
The terrain is a bit patchy, but object modeling is good. Cockpits look
very good and have effective dynamic animations for throttle and stick.
HUD overlays and quick-view keys provide excellent perspectives on the
instruments. In another stunning lapse, however, GSI has failed to
include a padlock view. This makes situational awareness well nigh
impossible and deals another serious blow to the sim.
System= Pentium III CPU 733 MHz
RAM= 128 MB
Size= 67 MB
Video Memory= 32 MB
OS= Windows 98, 2000, XP, Vista, 7 and Also Windows 8
