Monday, May 16, 2016

Lock on: Modern air combat. (ISO)


Thankfully, Ubisoft and gle Dynamics give the community more credit than some other developers have. The crtors of the Flanker series have managed to crte a sim that combines the brdth of Jane's USAF with the intense accuracy of Falcon and that's a rare accomplishment in the re. The game has stepped away from the purely dynamic mission eration that was initially promised, but the alternatives as presented in the final version are still quite compelling.

The conflict at the hrt of Lock On takes place above and around the Black S. Based on precise satellite data, the maps here are fantastically detailed and offer a rsonable variety of geography. The fictional conflict allows
players to take to the skies in eight separate planes. You can fly fast and low in the A-10s and SU-25s, lp off the deck in your SU-33, or try your ass in the of the sleek F-15 or SU-27. There are also three separate versions of the MiG 29 to play with.

A range of play options are available right at the start, from the instant action missions to the massively comprehensive mission editor. When you get in the air, you'll find that the challenge level is quite high. (You can scale the difficulty by enabling unlimited ammo, fuel and limiting crashes.) Even with the aids on, you'll find that the enemy offers a serious challenge having a good understanding of energy management and radar profiles.

As you might guess by now, this is not an arcade style simulation and you'll need to have a serious understanding of how the systems of ch aircraft perform in rl life if you're to have any hope of using them correctly in the game. And there's a broad range of systems to understand here -- from the A-10's close-in ground attack wpons to the long-distance dediions of the MiGs. The flight models in Lock On also revl a tremendous difference in performance based on the plane you choose. The A-10, certainly a plane that sim-hds have a grt affection for, feels much more straightforward than the MiGs for instance.

Thankfully there are a of tutorials you can take on to lrn the ins and outs of the aircraft. ch plane has its own tutorial section that covers the specific abilities of that plane. In this sense, Lock On rlly rewards the time you invest in it more so than a lot of other sims. You'll also need to pay attention to the different cockpit layouts for ch of the planes. Those of you who are familiar with Russian acronyms will have an sier time rding the Russian labels on the displays. In keeping with the sterile presentation of the rest of the game shell, there are no voice overs in the cockpit and you'll be forced to rd ch tutorial tip as it apprs on the screen.

And there's a lot to lrn here. The radar model alone is quite comprehensive and will take some getting used to on the part of new pilots. (There is a dumbed-down version of the radar that simplifies many of the issues found in the rl-world equivalents.) Things like doppler effects and terrain masking are modeled in the game so you'll need to act smartly as well as quickly to take advantage of every fture of this system. The upside to all this rlism is that you'll feel a tremendous sense of accomplishment once you figure out what the hell you're doing. But it does take a while even for sim fans to wrap their brain around all the different planes here, particularly when moving from the ground-oriented planes to the air-to-air ones.


Screen Shots:

Download Link(s)
(Rapidshare)

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 |

Pass : On the download page

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