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Advanced Tactical Fighters
from Electronic Arts
First off, ATF is identical to U.S. Navy Fighters as far as the interface and keyboard commands go. The flight engine has the same feel to it, but it seems to be slightly improved. I've never had so many planes suffer a lift failure while trying to pull out of a steep dive. Nothing like hitting the afterburners in a dive, yanking back on the stick, and having nothing at all happen. Fortunately this occurs most often in planes with vectored thrust, so it's a simple matter of redirecting your thrust to bail you out of a bad situation. You could even score an easy kill in network play if your opponent tries to match maneuvers with you.
Besides network play, you can also choose from single missions, quick missions, and campaign play. Quick missions and single missions are great for when you just want to leap into the air and smoke some bandits. But campaign play will get you into the game for the long haul. Unfortunately, this is where ATF, and many modern flight sims, fall apart in my opinion. I really liked the way you could play a campaign in Aces or the Pacific. You started out in a low end plane, and if you did well enough, and survived long enough, you had the opportunity to get promoted into a better unit with better aircraft. In ATF you are simply bounced from plane to plane, flying a variety of missions that seem to bear little impact on the outcome of the battle.
I personally hate bombing missions, so I just aborted all of the B2 and F-117 missions after the first one. Oddly enough, this seemed to have little effect on the outcome of the campaign. With over 5 failed missions I still managed to finish the campaign, but this probably affected my promotion schedule just a bit. I would really like to see someone put in a campaign, even a short one, where you stick with one aircraft all the way through it. I just get used to the way the F-22 flies, and I get thrown into an X-31.
Another small complaint that I have about ATF is the lack of speed. While the texture mapped ground is generally well done, only four or five buildings in each city actually rise above the surface of the ground. The problem comes when screwing around in the sky. You can take an X plane up to 900 knots, drop to under 100 feet, yes they will go that fast that low, and scorch through town. The problem is you still feel like you are moving in slow motion. The terrain should be a blur underneath you, and high rises should look like picket fences, instead you feel like you are on a helicopter tour of New York, low and slow. The only time you get a sense of speed is when you try to make a tight turn at 600 plus knots, the planes simply won't turn, which is to be expected.
Other than that, and the fact you can release weapons, missiles, bombs, whatever, while inverted, ATF is a very well done flight sim. The graphics are superb. When you first install the game you are given the opportunity to select the resolution you will be flying in. Anything from 320x200 to 1024x768 is available to you, but you better have a buffed up machine to play in 1024x768 with all the textures turned on.
There are also a lot of little details that make ATF stand out. While flying the F-14, you can start yanking the plane up an down trying to induce oscillation. After a minute or so, your Rio asks you to ease up on the stick, if you don't level out soon, he actually Ralphs in the plane. Fortunately you don't get that annoying splatter all over the canopy. If you drop a bomb onto a group of soldiers, you are treated with a view of a crater with 2D bodies laying all over the place. And if you try taxiing up to them with guns lit, they scatter and run. It's little details like this that set ATF apart from the crowd.
There is also a way to fly all of the aircraft in quick mission play. If you hold down the right (alt) (ctrl) and (shift) keys and click on the quick mission button, you get to choose from all of the aircraft available, instead of just a handful for your country.
Overall ATF is an excellent flight sim. I'd really like to see someone come up with a decent campaign to play, but the network play makes up for this. ATF is one of the top flight sims available right now. If you are into modern military planes, and you haven't tried ATF yet, get it!
--- Steve Gerencser
--- krell@psyber.com
