I'm going to review them all individually starting with IL-2
which is one of my all-time favorite combat flightsims. eDimensional has started
releasing VB2 Editions for other games as well. According to eDimensional
executive Michael Epstein, "Fact is, you'll soon see a VB2 Edition for every hot
game on the market. eDimensional is dedicated to bringing gamers in all genres
the very best add-ons to enhance their PC gaming thrills. That's why we are
creating Voice Buddy 2 Editions for all the hot games. There will be scores of
game editions in every genre including simulation, first-person shooters,
role playing, strategy, sports, massive multiplayer online games and even puzzle
games. Gamers have told us that once they play with voice control, they never
want to go back to the old way."
You get all IL-2 versions in a single Voice Buddy Edition
One of the reasons I like eDimensional as a flightsim vendor
company is that they are very generous. For example, when I read in Cap's review
that they were providing the VB2 upgrade for free to existing VB users, I
thought that was extremely generous. My faith was rewarded with this IL-2
Edition. eDimensional included all the IL-2 versions in a single edition at one
low price. I even have it on good authority that they will offer the Pacific
Fighters upgrade to any IL-2 users who get the current Edition.
Core Engine or game Edition? The choice is simple.
Voice Buddy 2 comes in two parts: core edition and game
edition. You need the core edition to run the game edition add-ons for each game
where you want voice control. Once again, in this reviewer's opinion,
eDimensional has gone one step beyond and provided very affordable pricing. The
core edition includes one game edition at USD $49.95 for the software only and
USD $79.95 for software and the Audio FX headset.
See Cap's review for the skinny on Audio FX. I thought that headset
alone was worth the price of admission. The audio force feedback effects are
incredible in combat flightsimming. Explosions and cannon fire never felt so
good!
Aerial
combat never felt better
Once you have the core edition installed, you can add game
editions for just $9.95 each. If all you play is IL-2, and you don't already
have Voice Buddy 2, then grab the core edition for IL-2 Sturmovik and you're
good-to-go. You'll need a good headset and one that is not a USB headset. If you
already have the hardware, just get the software. If you don't have a decent
headset, or yours is USB, then grab the combo version with the Audio FX. Since
top quality headsets can go for USD$50-80 alone, I think the combo package is a
pretty good deal.
If you already have the core edition of Voice Buddy 2 for
FS2004, CFS2, LOMAC or any other game; all you need is the add-on edition. At
less than ten bucks, the add-ons are so low-cost that I'm adding them to all the
other games I play such as Unreal Tournament 2004, Far Cry, Doom 3, Delta Force
Black Hawk Down, Ghost Recon, Medal of Honor, and more. OK, I'll admit it, I
play lots of different game genres.
Sturmoviks, Lavochkins and Zevnos,
oh my!
I switch off to IL-2 combat flightsimming from time-to-time when
I need to save the eastern half of Europe. Even with all of CFS3's cool aircraft
and missions (especially with the incredible Firepower add-on) I do get my fill
of CFS3 missions over western Europe.
The IL-2 family of combat flightsims let
me fly all sorts of relatively exotic Russian and Axis warbirds over new terrain
in the east. The IL-2 Sturmovik is a handful to fly on realistic settings. So
are the Lavochkins. And that huge, lumbering, open-cockpit Zevno heavy bomber is
like something from the Age of Dinosaurs.
Frankly, until Voice Buddy came along,
IL-2 was not my favorite combat flightsim. I love the airplanes, the graphics are stunning, the
missions challenging , the mission builder is fast and easy plus the IL-2 online community is top notch
for multiplayer action. But, the IL-2 keyboard controls were a pain in the six for me. Even
after assigning commands to my CH Products Fighterstick, Pro Throttle and Pro
Pedals, I still spend most of the flight typing like a maniac instead of flying
the airplanes!
The reason is simply that IL-2's developer, Oleg Maddox, in his
infinite wisdom -- left more than half of IL-2's controls for the user to assign
to keys. There are over 280 commands in IL-2. 51% of them are "User
Defined." That's a lot of tedious, unentertaining work for IL-2 users to go
through. It's a chore that was never high on my Must-do List. If you are an IL-2
flightsimmer, you know what I'm talking about here. Indulge me a moment to
complain about how truly shortsighted that move was. Oleg, tovarich, we want to
fly and blow stuff up, not program your commands into user defined keys for a
couple of hours just to get the full effect of your wonderful combat flightsim.
What were you thinking? OK, rant over.
Instant voice and keyboard control of every single IL-2 command
in all game versions
On the other hand, Oleg's omission made me appreciate even more
the fact that Voice Buddy for IL-2 instantly assigns all the IL-2 commands to
both voice and key board assignments. So, tovarich Oleg, all is forgiven because
Voice Buddy 2 has made the whole issue simply disappear. The minute I installed it,
I had every single IL-2 control at my voice command. What's more, Voice Buddy 2
installed a new pilot with a customized profile (Lily "Voice Buddy" Litvak) who
had all commands assigned to keys (yes, every single unassigned command, too).
The new pilot profile even set up my CH Products flight gear with default
settings and clean button assignments. Who needs buttons when I have voice
control? Voice control made IL-2 a real blast (pun intended) to fly for the very
first time.
New
advanced VBSK technology automatically recognizes all your pilot profiles
The IL-2 Edition is special. I took one look at the voice
command code using the built-in Command Manager in Voice Buddy 2 and saw a
completely different code syntax from all other Editions. When I asked about
it, Michael Epstein told me, "We've introduced a new and highly
sophisticated technology in the IL-2 Edition that we call Voice Buddy
SmartKeys (VBSK). VBSK instantly learns all your customized pilot profiles.
No matter how you have custom configured your key assignments, the IL-2
edition learns them all the second you select any pilot profile. If the
command key assignment worked in your profile, it will work the same way
under voice control. What's unique about VBSK is that you only need to learn
one voice command for each function, regardless of what key you assign that
function to."
I was glad to hear that because I certainly did not want to
do any work reconfiguring my existing pilot profiles to voice commands. When
I tested VBSK, I discovered that Michael was not kidding. No matter what key
I assigned the flaps down function to for example, when I said, "Flaps
down." The flaps extended. This is a huge timesaver. Since I now only need
to get used to issuing voice commands and can forget about all those arcane
keyboard combos.
Same voice commands across different games
I also noticed that eDimensional has maintained similar
syntax across different sims which makes learning the lingo of voice
commands a lot faster and easier. When I want to turn on the autopilot in
all the Flightsim 7 VB2 Editions, I simply say, "Autopilot masterswitch on."
This works in all seven sims despite the fact that each sim has a different
keyboard assignment to turn the autopilot on and off. If you fly different
sims or play lots of different game types, this common language for voice
control is a real benefit. Now, I can switch from sim-to-sim, game-to-game,
and take control of the action very quickly, without having to learn a new
command set or reprogram hundreds of key combos. Hey, with VBSK, PC gaming
could actually become fun again.
Not all games are VBSK friendly
I discovered that VBSK is contingent upon what the
individual sim or game does to handle key assignments. For example, in IL-2,
the transition is seamless. That's why the IL-2 code syntax is different. In
CFS3, the VB2 Edition uses standard Voice Buddy code syntax and CFS3's
customized profiles also are instantly learned by Voice Buddy. "Kudos to the
developers at Ubisoft and Microsoft for creating very smart technology for
handling keyboard assignment," Michael said. "Those titles work very well
with VBSK. I only wish all sims were as well designed.," he elaborated.
Other sims such as LOMAC and FS2004, use a more pedestrian
technology for handling key assignments. If you customized your profiles in
those flightsims, you have two choices:
1. Set up a new profile
and restore all the default controls. Voice Buddy is based on default
controls and will work perfectly.
2. Customize Voice
Buddy to match your custom key configurations. This is fast and easy with
the built-in Command Manager.
Flying IL-2 under voice control
I like flying
combat missions as realistically as possible. No arcade game follies for ol'
Mad Max. Although I do fly
without the panel when dogfighting in multiplayer missions, for bombing runs
and close air support missions I will stay in the cockpit. One of the things
that always bugged me is using the point-of-view hat in IL-2 to look around.
Snap mode never quite worked as well as it does in CFS2 and panning with the
POV hat was never my favorite thing to do. I often got flamed just looking
around because I was fumbling with the POV.
Better
point-of-view control
I solved most of
that dilemma by adding the TrackIR3 POV controller. I put the tracking dot on
the Voice Buddy Audio FX microphone boom and it works great. But, for those of
you who want a $10 POV solution instead of a $100 solution, get the VB2 IL-2
edition. One of the first things I noticed is how easy it is to pan around the
cockpit just by saying the words: "Pan left, right, up, down, ahead" an so
forth. You can also set the field of view instantly with voice commands.
Easier engine and
control surface management
Looking around is only a small part of the
challenge to fly Sturmoviks, Lavochkins, Yaks, Zevnos and the Axis armada. To
really feel what it was like flying and fighting in the warbirds, you need to go
for realistic settings and use actual flight and engine controls. I never
bothered doing that before in IL-2 because it was such a chore to set up all
those user defined commands. When I wanted to fly for real, I climbed back into
a CFS2 or FS2004 cockpit. Voice control gave me a whole new perspective on IL-2
flying since I could finally control fuel mixture, prop pitch, control surfaces, trim,
radios and more -- all with voice commands. In fact, I could better trim the
aircraft by voice than I could by hand using the thumbwheels on my CH Products
Fighterstick.
I like to begin with a cold start, fire up the
engines manually rather than using auto-start, taxi to the runway, set flaps and
trim and then takeoff. OK, sometimes I'm in a rush, I'll cut corners on all
that. But, I think I'm like most flightsimmers and enjoy actually flying the
airplane. Otherwise, I'd be runnin-n-gunnin on XBox! All those procedures were
not much fun using the keyboard. Now that I have voice control, firing up the
Sturmovik fighter-bomber and flying that beast off the ground without crashing
on take-off was much easier and a lot more fun. The voice sequence goes
something like this:
"Switch to
external."
For my pre-flight walk-around.
"Flaps down." I'll repeat this, if required, to set
flaps to take-off position. I know this should be done after engine start but I
just like to watch the flaps come down under voice control. Call me quirky that
way.
"Switch to cockpit."
"Cockpit lights
on."
Depending on lighting conditions and time of
day.
"Pan down left."
So I could see the throttle and mixture controls.
"Throttle idle."
I use the voice command or alternately move the Pro Throttle to crack the
throttle. Frankly, I just think it's cool to say the command and watch the
hardware move on its own. If I'm flying a multi engine aircraft I can select
individual engines by voice even though my Pro Throttle does not have
separate engine control levers.
"Mixture zero."
To set the mixture to idle cutoff
"Mixture auto
rich."
To enrich the mixture for engine start.
"Prop pitch ten."
To set full prop pitch.
And so on. as I go though an IL-2 modified
start-up.
Then it's,
"Landing lights on. Nav Lights on,"
and I'm
ready to taxi to the active and start my take-off roll.
Once airborne, I can switch views, manage the
aircraft systems, communicate and do all the rest of my flight routine with
voice commands while I keep my hands on the stick and throttle with my feet on
the rudder pedals. Switching from autopilot to manual flying was a simple matter
of, "Autopilot on,"
or "off."
Flying the airplane stopped being a chore and became the relaxing
entertainment it was meant to be.
Gives you
individual control over multi-engine aircraft
One cool bonus feature I discovered is that Voice Buddy extended
my throttle control for twin-engine aircraft. As you can see from the screen shot
on the left, engine Number One is throttled back to 50% while the red
throttle lever on Number Two is at full throttle (lower left corner of the
image).
If you have the new CH Products USB Throttle Quadrant or the
GoFlight USB
Throttle Quadrant, you have individual engine control by hand
manipulating your throttles. I don't have either one of those beauties. I use
the Ch Product Pro Throttle which is a single engine control designed like the
throttle on a F-16 Fighting Falcon. Most other flightsticks, throttles and HOTAS
systems do not have individual throttle levers to enable you to
control the left and right engines separately on multi-engine
aircraft. Voice Buddy extends individual throttle control even if
your flight controllers do not support it. In IL-2, I discovered that
I can select engine one through number eight by voice and then
start it individually. Voice Buddy also works with the multi-engine
throttle quadrants but I think 10 bucks is a very affordable way to
provide individual control of multiple engines for
those of us who don't have the money or the room for a quadrant.
Using voice commands, you will now be able to control left and right
engine throttles, prop pitch and mixtures individually.
Instant access to
weapons
In the heat of battle, I never want to flub my weapons arming,
much less deployment. OK, I'll admit to being a fumble fingers with the keyboard
and blowing attacks due to typos. That all disappeared with voice control.
Selecting and arming ordinance and weapons systems was both easy and
instantaneous. I just said, "Arm weapon one," through four and fired away.
Keep hands and
feet on the controls instead of the keyboard and mouse
HOTAS means Hands On Throttle and Stick. It does
not mean, "typing furiously on the keyboard, moving the mouse and wishing you
had an
extra pair of hands so you could keep Hands On Throttle and Stick."
Improve your screenies
One of the better features of voice control is to
simplify taking screen shots. I can fly the mission profile exactly as I want
and then instantly "Switch to external." Then use voice commands to
"Look left
right, up, down"
get the right angle on the image and finally
grab the screenie in the blink of an eye by just saying,
"Screenshot."
Done. No POV fumbling required. The creative possibilities are endless. The
commands to create the P-38 panel shot above were:
"Panning on. Pan down left. FOV 60
(to get in tighter from my usual FOV of 90).
Screenshot."
VBIT is like always flying with a Topgun instructor in the
right-hand seat.
VBIT is the Voice Buddy Interactive Trainer. It's a series of
dialogs that you have with the computer. These training sessions walk you through challenging
maneuvers and even, "Teach me about Lily."
I think of VBIT as having an angel
on my shoulder and a virtual Topgun instructor always flying the right-hand
seat. OK, I know that there is no "right-hand" seat in a single seat fighter.
That's why I called him "virtual."
As much as I fly
combat flightsims, there are still lots of ACM tactics that I'm a little rusty
on, or completely ignorant of. I didn't know this until I flew with VBIT and
said, "Teach me a Lumcevak." Now I can fly "the ultimate hotdog maneuver..."
with the best of them.
The VBIT for IL-2 and CFS3/2
are relevant to the capabilities of World War Two era warbirds. You won't
find heat-seeking missile or smart bomb training VBIT in these Editions
since warbirds didn't have missiles and only use unguided rockets and dumb
bombs. The advanced weaponry VBIT is in LOMAC's VB2 Edition and I'll cover
all that in a future review.
I flew all of the VBIT dialogs
interactively. It was very cool to have Voice Buddy walk me through the
finer points of Circle Fighting, Rolling Scissors, Going Vertical, how to
Rope-a-Dope and convert from being defensive to offensive. There are scores
more dialogs that cover everything from the basics of loops and breaks to
the truly advanced stuff of Yo-Yos, carrier operations, close range gunnery,
when to use the three types of pursuit and much more. It's like having a
built-in, interactive Topgun school anytime you want it. I discovered what
was wrong with how I was setting up my guns solutions. I got much better at
dive bombing and strafing. I learned how to convert a circle fight to my
advantage and when to bug out to live and fight another day. All I can say
is you guys in multiplayer better watch out for "Mad Max" Merlin because
"King Kong ain't got nuthin' on me." I've become the "terror of the skies."
Seriously now, I was just a so-so combat pilot. I owe all the
improvements to a little practice with my VBIT training sessions. This is
something that you simply have to experience for yourself. It's quite
amazing.
Asynchronous Command & Control Response (ACCR)
Voice Buddy can multitask. It listens, acts and responds,
all at the same time. This is called Asynchronous Command Control Response
(ACCR). ACCR is a real thrill to use. I quickly discovered that it gave me
an edge in combat. When the action got intense, I could quickly issue a
string of voice commands and have them all executed consecutively in the
blink of an eye. It was much faster than pushing buttons on the Fighterstick
or typing on the keyboard. I kept hands on the flight controls while I
flamed a couple of bandits by issuing voice commands at lighting speed . The
best part is that I lived to fight another day. Another thing that is very
handy is the fact that VB2 listens even if you speak rapidly and softly. No
need to shout or change your normal rate of speech.
Voice Buddy IL-2 Edition is fully compatible with most VOIP
clients
Cap covered this unique feature in his review in full detail. But,
it's worth mentioning again here. Most of the thrill of combat flightsimming
is flying missions on the Internet. Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP),
clients such as Ventrilo, Roger Wilco, Team Speak, Game Voice and Advanced
Voice Client enable you to talk to other people while flying multiplayer
combat missions. If you or your combat squadron uses one of the VOIP
applications to talk to other pilots, you can use Voice Buddy and the VOIP
client either simultaneously -- with both applications running under voice
control -- or by controlling either one, or both, using Push-To-Talk (PTT)
and Push-To-Mute (PTM) buttons. You can also control Voice Buddy with just
voice commands while the VOIP client is in voice activated mode.
Customizing it
As with all Voice Buddy Editions, you get a complete
built-in software developer's kit and easy access to customizing all the
voice commands, keyboard commands and voice responses.
Getting help
The eDimensional team has done an exceptional job with the
built-in help system. Printing the voice command reference chart was a snap.
I also used the print feature in the Command Manger to sort and print the
chart a variety of ways to make everything a lot easier to learn and use.
Available three ways
The only way to get Voice Buddy is to buy it directly from
eDimensional. It's available in three different configurations:
Voice Buddy 2 IL-2 Sturmovik Core edition, Software only:
USD $49.95. You can download small 65 MB file or get it sent to you on CD.
Voice Buddy 2 IL-2 Sturmovik Core edition, Software and Audio FX
headset: USD $79.95
Voice Buddy 2 IL-2 Sturmovik Add-on Edition (requires Voice
Buddy 2 Core Engine): USD $9.95. This, too, is available as either a
download or on CD.
For those of you in the Great Britain, eDimensional has a
distribution center in the United Kingdom and ships directly from there.
The last word
Voice Buddy makes
combat flightsimming fun again! I love the fact
that it automatically assigns every single IL-2 function to keys and then gives
me voice control over them all. No more keyboard confusion for me.
No more wasting time assigning keys to User Defined slots. I love it when
Voice Buddy does all the work while I fly the airplane. Plus,
with the new VBIT system, my ACM has never been better.
And, my kill count is rising to prove it.
In the spirit of the IL-2 family of combat flightsims, the folks
at eDimensional did something very touching and rather cool. Since
IL-2 simulates the exploits of Russian aviators in their valiant
fight against the Nazi invaders, this edition is dedicated
to Russia's top female fighter ace, Lilya Litvak, The White Rose of
Stalingrad. Her story of amazing airmanship and courage under fire
is worth a sidebar on its own.
My esteemed colleague, Cap Mason, got first dibs on Voice Buddy
when he reviewed the Voice Buddy 2 Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004/2002 Edition
is his article entitled:
The State-Of-The-Art In Voice Control For Flightsimming Takes Another Giant Leap
Forward: Voice Buddy 2 Upgrade From eDimensional. I have been
panting over Voice Buddy ever since. Cap covered the basics of Voice Buddy in
exquisite detail in his review, so I'm not going to duplicate that effort here.
If this is your first encounter with Voice Buddy and you want to know the
whole story about Voice Buddy 2 and the new Audio FX force feedback headset, I invite you to read Cap's article. 
