Which one; DCS Black Shark, or Apache Longbow Assault?

[grabacr 31770]

Yes, I know, a very strange comparison. Old versus new, arcade(ish) versus simulator.

I went to Kemble Air Day a few days ago, and got to try this new game, Apache Longbow Assault. I thought it was awesome, decent graphics, cool flight dynamics, very fun to play. The dynamics did strike me as maybe a bit arcady, but it was great fun. The reviews don't like it though, usually giving around 7/10 for lack of content.

And then there's DCS:BS. Super awesome graphics, mega detailed AI, even more detailed Kamov Ka-50, fully clickable and working cockpit, and awesome features like a mission editor.

It's a no brainer, then?

Well. DCS may be very very cool, but it comes at a cost (not literally). To get the most enjoyment out of the game- hell, even to get the helicopter in the air- requires a lot of hard hours spent reading. Also, it requires alot of processing power, and while not having the worst PC out there, it isn't the best. Whereas Apache Longbow Assault is quite old, so my PC would probably get very good FPS out of it.

I want to know whether the fun of DCS:BS is worth the time spent learning, or the pickup-and-playability and the much better framerate of Apache Longbow Assault makes up for the more arcady style gameplay, which may end up more fun.

So which one?

[BrettVisionSLR]

For me DCS:BLackShark is so enjoyable because of the level of detail. . .I'd go that route myself, but that's just me. . .but my computer will run BlackShark well, if yours will not then that's a big factor.

[SpeedJet]

I have DCS:black shark and yes it does take a lot to get in the air.. first time without reading it took me about 10 min to figure out the switches and got the engines going but still could not take off.. after reading I found out what was wrong.. it's really serious stuff.

[Zorg_DK]

DCS:BS also has a arcade mode for more relaxed gaming. Can't say I've ever tried it though :)

For me the framerate is outstanding (using E6600@3,4 / 8800 GTS 512MB).

It's THE helicopter sim to get..

[jeh]

I have a very similar system to Zorg, however I cant seem to run it on Windows 7 at the moment, and also It (Black shark that is) only uses one processor core, unless its been updated recently, I havn't used it in 3 or 4 months. But aside from that Black shark is very good, excellent fun and a lot to learn! I don't have a Track IR device but thing that it would be an excellent investment if you did get black shark.

[Zorg_DK]

They have release a patch (1.1c), which is very good. It enables all cores, and the fps improvement is big! They also made a new trimmer system and now you can land on moving trains :D Fantastic fun, though hard!

I think DCS:BS is the sim where you get the greatest benifit from Trackir! Everything is much easier - And cooler :)