(C) Sergey Murashov, 1998.
"Those born to crawl cannot fly..."
Of course, flight simulators, they are also training
ry, did not appear in order to somehow
correct this blatant injustice. Sper-
va with the help of these bulky, monumental
and very expensive mechanical structures,
who had nothing in common with the computer, tortured
tried to slightly reduce aviation fuel consumption,
motor resource, as well as the aircraft themselves and their
pilots in the process of training them to fly
skills.
The advent of computers, and especially cheap ones
"personal computers" made a revolution in this matter,
the fruits of which even we can benefit from,
owners of Spectrum, not to mention IBM
PC. Having opened any catalog of computer games, we
we will find several dozen programs marked
comment "Simulator", also known as "simulator".
It would seem that you can fly and be happy, but “not all
that is gold that glitters": under quite "plane-
"name" instead of the promised simulator
a primitive "shooter" like
"kill them all." Of course, such games also have
the right to exist, especially for our
young readers, or just in the mood, but
Now we are not talking about them, but about imitators.
So, what is a simulator (of course,
program, and not the above-mentioned unit)? Schi-
It seems that this is a program that simulates
any device orprocess: airplane,
tank, car, motorcycle, bicycle, skate
board, bobsleigh (by the way, a very nice game)
or tennis, football, hockey, etc. But we have
We are talking only about flight simulators, that is
this means either an airplane or a helicopter,
or a spaceship. And most importantly: I personally
I consider a program to be a simulator only if
if on my screen - view through the windshield
glass, that is, the player is “inside”
aircraft. Everything else - "fly-
ki" and "shooting games". In short, let's sort the games
according to the principle “flies separately, cutlets separately”,
that is, “flying shooters” separately, imitation
ry - separately; at the same time for your freedom
I have no choice between cutlets and flies
I do not intend to encroach on this image.
I'll start, perhaps, with anti-advertising: "P-47" - called
"aircraft" brand, actually this is a brand of destruction
fighter "Thunderbolt", but with him the same name
the game has nothing in common except the drawing on
screensaver: in the place of the "airplane" shooting down
dozens of enemy vehicles per minute and catching in
air "prizes" would be more appropriate in the abstract
dark flying saucer. Likewise, programs
"Combat Lynx" or "Cobra force" contain
imagine a helicopter sprite, but no more: to the helicopter
the flights of WG-13 and AH-1 have these “shooting” relationships
don't have. In general, almost identical "shooting"
lok", distinguishable only by their beautiful names, in
they baked their timea lot, but we won't
deviate from the topic.
Now about real simulators: "FLIGHT SIMU-
LATOR" is translated as "flight simulator".
You are in the cockpit of a light training aircraft, you can
take off and land, you cannot shoot or bomb
beat, but you can do radio navigation in
during the flight, fortunately all the devices on the screen work -
they eat, as they should. That is, imitation of gender
no, except for one “but”: the joystick is on
"Spectrum", unlike the "mouse" on IBM, is not
able to completely imitate the control knob
travel by plane, but there’s nothing you can do about it.
A description of how to use this program will take no more than
one page and is not included in our plans, because
relatively complete and reliable descriptions
almost all imitators are available in publications
yah like “Best games...”, “500 games...”, etc.,
my task now is different: don’t confuse
"Flight Simulator" with "Arcade Flight Simula-
tor", because, despite the consonance of the names,
the latter is a primitive "flying aircraft"
Lyalka", which is also replete with "glitches". Ta-
Therefore, "Arcade..." is not worth purchasing,
even if you are a passionate fan of "flies": launch-
I still manage to tweak it, make it work, how
must - never.
For those who are bored of just flying from place to place
in place, most aviation simulators
They offer an imitation of a combat aircraft. The most
a perfect aircraft simulator on the Spectrum
certainly is"F-16 Combat Pilot".
"Combat pilot of an F-16 aircraft": here and smooth
moving the picture, and choosing weapons and routes
that flight, and the training mode in which
enemies do not shoot, and the instrument landing system
frames, and much more. But don't rush to buy
floppy disk, in the list of games in which you saw
the cherished "F-16", because Cruelty may befall you
some disappointment: this game also has its own
the same name “stuck”, just “F-16”, alternately
this super-primitive "fly-shooter" with a view
from behind on a certain two-fin airplane (for the F-16 -
one keel), and therefore an enterprising person
renamed this work “MiG-29”, co-
honoring at the same time this action with the “Russification” of the game.
So make no mistake, for God forbid you see
make the screensaver of this "F-16/MiG-29": from the image
the chimera plane married there, composed of
pieces of several different airplanes, an expert
aviation can make you sick...
As you know, pilots are divided into pilots,
helicopter pilots and astronauts. To the first we are still
We'll be back, but the second one on the Spectrum was lucky:
two magnificent imitators at once, both imitating
there is an AH-64 Apache combat helicopter, that's just
they are called somehow strange: one of them is
"Tomahawk", in reality this was the name
or a P-40 fighter aircraft from the Second era
World War, or modern cruise
rocket, but helicoptersthere haven't been any like this yet.
The second one is called "Gunship", which is closer to
topic, since that’s what they call it in the USA
anti-guerrilla heavily armed trans-
tailor plane or helicopter, such as a UH-1
"Iroquois", CH-47 "Chinook", Mi-8 or even Mi-24,
but certainly not a specialized combat
"Apache" or, say, "Cobra", Ka-50 or Mi-28.
And vice versa, games with traditionally “helicopter”
names "cobra" or "Lynx"... however, not
we will repeat ourselves, but return to our “Gansha-
memory", because again under one name you can
meet two different programs. Full name
The second of them is "Operation Gunship", this is
not an imitator, but a solid action movie in which,
By the way, the helicopter fully corresponds
definition of a "gunship": it both shoots and
takes a lot of people on board... Perhaps
hovering on the Spectrum and another helicopter
simulator - IBM's "LHX", how did it appear
"Stealth Fighter", "Prince of Persia" and "UFO"
but this is a little more complicated than attaching
luxurious "intros" to some primitive
children's "adventure game", passing off the result as "but-
Vinku."
Programs simulating real space co-
spacecraft such as Soyuz, Apollo or Shuttle
I somehow didn’t come across it, but that’s no reason
close this topic completely, because we are talking about
flight simulators, and not a specific aircraft
new device. Of course, the best program
everyonetimes and peoples in the category "space
flight" was and remains "Elite". It is possible, of course
but to criticize her for some stinginess
fics, the absence of the slightest hints of the possibility
joystick control if available
possibilities in any version of the game, for strange ones
for airless trajectory space at
maneuver of your ship, but it’s better to just half-
Have fun flying, shooting and trading
non-repetitive situations in virtual reality
sty "Elite". For I was not the first to say: “Eli-
ta" - this is not a game, this is life. Of course, Eli
"ta" is not a pure imitator, she just
closely within any classification. More correct
in all, probably, it will be said that this is a different
new action movie based on a simulator, with elements
strategic game. There are several
modifications of the program, for example "Elite-2" or
"Elite-3", but there is also a false Elite: so, one day
under the guise of "Elite-2" they sold me "Enterprise" -
a game close in concept to “Elite”, but, apparently,
mo, at one time suffered from the actions of non-
clever hacker, and then reveal himself to
us in all its glory to this collection of kilobytes
no longer given...
The next great space simulator,
"Academy" unfortunately goes beyond
our review: strictly speaking, sliding over
surface of the planet - this is not a flight yet, but
excellent graphics and dynamics of the game do not allow
tell me about her and herpredecessor, "Tau Ceti",
keep silent.
So, we met the best imitators
flight, namely: "Flight Simulator", "F-16
Combat Pilot", "Gunship", "Tomahawk", "Elite".
Why are all the others worse? First a little
theories. What a person runs a simulation for
lator can be divided into three parts:
firstly, this is actually aerobatics and navigation,
that is, simply put, convulsive attempts to le-
no rolls, no pecks, no airplane touches
protruding parts of the planet, etc., and besides
and also in the right direction. There, in this very
"right side" and are "secondly" and
"thirdly". So, secondly: the amount taken
tov should be equal to the number of landings, and
landing approach is one of the most difficult
exciting, emotional, interesting and captivating
specific stages of your virtual flight. A
thirdly, use the "Fire" button
Your joystick for its intended purpose, i.e.
air combat and shooting at ground targets. B
the above-described simulators for all three positions
You can safely give the highest score. But high
a high-quality flight simulator requires high-quality
professional pilot, but in life, gripping the joystick
there are entirely amateurs and self-taught people, and here the “five-
rka" on the first point can repel for a long time
Most of them are interested in this type of game
"accounts". Give them a plane, as stable as
an iron that does not lose height on a bend, does notspeaking
already about going into a tailspin, and generally behaving,
like a Mercedes on the highway. And on such a plane,
you look, and it will come to the “third point”, but
returning from battle with victory, you will understand
where do the emotions in “point two” come from, that is
on boarding, when you have something to lose... Of course
Well, it’s best to start your “flight career”
on simplified flight simulators, on the other hand
side the line beyond which this “simplified”
the simulator becomes a banal "shooter"
like “hit everything that moves”, this line
blurred and vague, here “everyone decides for himself”
and we can only talk about a creeping trend
one or another imitator to this edge.
Such a long retreat was made for the sake of
recently appeared "Spectrum" version of the popular
New IBM game "F-19 Stealth Fighter"
("F-19 stealth fighter", does not exist-
in nature, unlike the real F-117), in
in turn came to IBM with the Commodore 64.
Of course, when transferring the game from IBM to
"Spectrum" can hardly expect any improvement in quality
software product, nevertheless, "F-19" became
one of the best Spectrum flight simulators
ditch, adjusted for some simplification
piloting procedures, which, by the way, was characteristic
same as the IBM original. Of course
Spectrum's capabilities are not enough for
more or less detail floating under
Your landscape plane. Pleasantexcept
is the already mentioned "Tomahawk" (what
lower, the better) and... our "F-19": at least none
objects on the ground, except for targets, of course, here
not at all, but from a high flight altitude
the coastline below you suddenly begins
resemble a geographical map. A
abundance of difficulty levels, military theaters
actions, types of missions and weapon options
allows you to gradually increase your level
flying skills in this endless game.
It so happened historically that the first
flight simulator that I met
most of the Spectrum owners are experienced,
was "Fighter Pilot". Not-
despite his venerable age, program and
is now firmly in the middle of our
"hit parade". Contrary to the F-15 "Eagle" drawing on
screensaver, this program simulates hard work
a heavy jet cannon aircraft
interceptor from the 50s type F-89 "Scor-
pion" or Yak-25: targeting using instruments
and no homing missiles. By the way, about
targets... Basically, on the Spectrum the enemy
an airplane, as well as ground targets, can be
depicted in two ways: either it is three-dimensional
ny "wire" frame, which is transparent,
but it is visible from the right angle; or this
sprite, and, as a rule, a “back view”, in
at best, changing in size when applied
getting closer to him and alreadynot allowing in any way
determine the exact direction of movement of the target,
say, for shooting with lead (but about it -
later). So, while you shoot down enemies
air-to-air missiles, the difference was
the enemy is a "frame" or a "sprite", for you no-
Coy: at such a range any aircraft has
appearance of a dark dot on the screen. And only after getting together
"hand-to-hand", when firing from an onboard cannon,
you can “feel the difference.” By the way, all
The beauty of shooting at maneuvering aircraft
the goal is to choose the right lead
when shooting "offhand" when the plane is against
insight is not only not at the center of your
sight, but sometimes has not yet entered the field at all
vision, i.e. to the screen. Unfortunately, it is possible
Spectrum's technology, unlike IBM's, is insufficient
but to track the trajectory of each projectile
or bullets fired, say, on a bend,
fan, and therefore realistic display
of this procedure in all Spectrum im-
tatorakh, to put it mildly, is far from perfect.
This also applies to "Fighter Pilot", in which,
By the way, this is the first time an enemy plane has visited our
the review appears as a sprite, and not a “frame”.
But the landing procedure in this game is simulated
much better than air combat, so
I would recommend playing this game in
takeoff-landing mode, and it’s better to fight on
other imitators.
It has a lot in common with the game described above.imitate
torus called "Spitfire 40". "Spitfire" -
this is the brand of an excellent English aircraft -ist-
World War II fighter, hero
"Battles over England" in 1940 - from here,
By the way, the number “40” is in the title. There is a game
"Spitfire" even without this number, but this is no longer
imitator, although a cute Spitfi silhouette
ra" tumbles in it very funny. From
features of the "Spitfire 40" should be noted
boron panel in full screen, i.e. you can watch
rely either only on instrument readings, or
only through the windshield of the cockpit.
Another very popular simulator is called
"Fighter-Bomber", that is, "fighter-
bomber." Its bells and whistles are impressive
pre-flight stage of the game: choosing the type of attack aircraft
from a series of beautiful color pictures, not bad
formalized procedure for issuing a flight mission
etc. But the tasks themselves, as follows from
the name of the game is basically ground attacks
objects, which in itself is less interesting,
than an air battle, but that’s not even the point:
to get to the last task, you need
Before doing this, without turning off the computer, run
all previous flights, because intermediate
shipments of your achievements are not provided.
The problem is not even the complexity of the missions, but their
duration: where to get these few
hours, so that for the hundredth time bombing the disgusted
terrorist bases, get toanything
"fresh". And one more problem - there is no way out
on one of the joysticks, the authors of the game admit
only a keyboard, which does not add realism
"flight" on this simulator. Don't be these "me-
loches", making this very unplayable
a good flight simulator, its place, bez-
Surely it would have been in the first part of our review.
It's interesting that earlier, before the present
"F-19", the "Fighter-bomber" program is often
was also sold under this brand. Justice
for the sake of it I must say that such shortcomings as
no shipment status or exit to
a joystick is no problem for a good programmer
Ma, and I know the versions of the game, both from the shipping
Coy, and with joystick control.
Read the ending.
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