I have been reading this thread over the last couple of days at work, along with some other threads about the new beta patch and thinking to myself, it seems like it might be time to have another crack at this (after having shelved it for a couple months).
Tonight I got to have a crack at the new beta patch for the first time and while I can agree there is considerable improvement in over all graphics and sound I still couldn't find the hook I was hoping for (maybe too much forum hype, who knows). 109 sounds although, pretty much hit the bull's-eye! Nice work fellas!
smink1701's original post sums it up for me almost perfectly as I see it. The AI with CoD has always seemed absolutely mad to me and one of the great put offs, I mean absolutely spastic manoeuvres that make a chase an absolute joke. 109's with a roll rate that would shame the best 190 pilot, not only in passive flight, but also in steep dives to the point that I thought they were going in without hope only to find them pull up at the last minute and return to the fight LMFAO!!
I also read that some forum members believe that development focus does/should favour online play, well, from what I have read over the years to date, statistically off line play makes up the greater number of paying punters. I'm a 100% offline player as is everyone else I know that plays PC games. AI performance is not a trivial issue with gaming development, just ask the developers how important it is.
This is certainly a very significant patch for CoD, but after all it was either that or shut the doors and call in the cleaners right?
Well, for me it's off the shelf and now sitting on the desktop waiting for the next patch.
I have faith now at least it will get there eventually.
Cheers, CrazySchmidt.