Lock On: Modern Air Combat
As with its parent game, Russian-built Flanker 2.5, LOMAC is a complex “survey sim” modeling six of the most feared jet warplanes in military service today. The twist this time is that the Soviet-built MiG-29, Su-27, and Su-33 aircraft from Flanker 2.5 are now complemented by a pair of NATO heavyweights — the F-15C Eagle and A-10A Warthog — plus the Russian Su-25. All six aircraft (eight, counting model variants) have been so accurately modeled from cockpit to rudder that you’ll swear you’re watching an Air Force documentary.
Factor in the detail of the cockpit layouts, and LOMAC could easily be mistaken for a single-plane “study sim” like Falcon 4.0. The game’s exceptionally authentic flight, avionics, and damage modeling are that remarkable.
This rivet-by-rivet detail comes at a cost, however. Even cutting-edge PCs will cough up sizeable hairballs as they struggle to animate these amazing visuals. Vexed by some ongoing lock-ups and single-digit framerates from my modest Athlon 1600XP, I even took the unprecedented step of upgrading my computer in mid-review — with surprisingly little effect. My new P4 2.8GHz/RADEON 9700 PRO rig can barely eke out 20 frames per second when flying through the busier segments of LOMAC’s scripted campaigns, and that’s with the in-game graphics options turned down to Medium. This game may boast the most gob-smacking pyrotechnics and visuals since IL-2 Sturmovik, but at their current level of optimization, they’re more of a tease than a realistic play setting.
LOMAC’s front-end menu sports an impressive selection of options, including Instant Action, Single Mission, Fast Battle Planner, Replay, Encyclopedia, Pilot Log Book, Tutorial, Network, and Mission Editor. The one that fails to deliver on its potential is the disappointing Campaign mode. LOMAC offers four plane-specific campaigns, but each of these scripted six- or seven-mission affairs is little more than a pre-set distribution of allied and enemy assets with some built-in win/lose triggers. Damage tracking does occur between missions, and the campaigns’ target-rich environments are quite intense, but they come at the expense of smooth framerates and overall playability.
Its uninspired campaigns and choppy framerates aside, LOMAC still packs enough firepower to earn itself a hitch on the hard drive of any serious sim buff. The enemy and wingman AI is solid, the multiplay is stable, and the 28 tutorials are extremely well-scripted. That said, skimpy documentation and a precipitous learning curve (even at the lowest difficulty levels) will almost certainly restrict its appeal to veteran simmers.
When the inevitable patches and mods do start shipping, Lock On is likely to transform from a stunning but gawky debutante into the Grand Dame of modern flight sims. Until then, we’ll all just have to live with some occasional hissy fits.