Any chance of a dispassionate review?

[Khamsin]

OK, specs first

i7 920 at stock speeds (2.6Ghz)
6 Gig 1600Mhz DDR3
ATI 6970 1 gig graphics
Saitek X65F stick, with Saitek Pedals and Track IR5
Motherboard sound
Windows 7 64 bit Ultimate

For me, its been perfectly flyable since it was installed from disc. The patches over the past three weeks have only made a very good game even better.

The slightest of stuttering when flying low over the ground, as the ground textures load ... but in the air its a delight.

Game settings 1920*1080*32bit .... high textures for everything, unlimited buildings.

Noticeable bugs?

Well, there's a problem with high alt flight when in full real mode (CEM + Engine temps) .... a lot of bucketing of the airframe and engine coughing when over about 15000 feet.

Landings seem too easy.

Have just noticed that landing gear drag may not be modelled correctly ... was just flying with another 109 who still had his gear down from my POV and yet there was no apparent speed difference between our birds.

Still some graphic anomolies ...... what looks a little like kilometre long semi transparent structures sticking far out into the channel. Hard to describe, but anyone who's seen them will know what I'm talking about.

Convergence settings on aircraft seem to be screwy ... but of course, that could just be me.


Overall, I'm liking it a LOT. I've flown MMOG flight sims since Air Warrior back in the early 90's. Was there on beta launch of Warbirds .... flew the first betas of Aces High and have been a beta tester for WW2OL since forever.

Nothing comes close to CoD in my opinion ..... the flight models seem a lot more 'real' than the games listed, the feeling of aircraft inertia in CoD leaves the others in the shade. Everyone else will talk about the graphics (which are excellent), or the options and difficulty ...... but the thing you get from reading through the manual ... poking through the game controls options etc is a feeling that this game, if it survives a rocky launch, will be something else in a couple of years.

It looks from the controls pages as though the 'hooks' are there to include vehicle combat at some time. Add in a few ships, transports and submarines, reconfigure the game as an MMOG and you're just missing infantry combat to make a damn fine WW2 simulation.

This game is going to grow .... no doubt about it. Yup, its had a rough start, but I don't think you're going to regret it if you jump in now. In 10 years time you'll be glad you did.