Diamond in the rough!
I bought Rise Of Flight (ROF) a while ago, and I'm ready to make my review of it.
First of all, I would like to say that I am NOT a pilot, but I have flown tens of thousands of hours in many different flight sims of varying quality. I also have a strong interest for flight and have read many books on the subject. None of this makes me an expert, but I am no beginner to flight sims at least.
My first impression with the game was fairly good. The configuration menu for setting up controls, graphics and so on is outside the game (before it starts). Mostly, this is ok, but it was a bit of a hassle to set up the game the way I wanted it because I had to stop and start it many times while tweaking the settings. Not a real negative, but it detracts somewhat from the oh-so-important first impression... Luckily, I never decide anything based on first impressions.
I've seen a lot of complaint about the difficulties with registering the game (to make it start), but I think it was quite easy. I bought the download-version from Aerosoft and while it was downloading I watched a video tutorial on Rise of Flight's homepage on how to install and register. When it was downloaded, I followed the instructions and it worked fine on my first try. (I was in the air within a few minutes after installing).
I did not buy the game immediately after it was released, so I was spared some of the technical problems that people reported with the original game. There have been several patches already.
When my game was installed, I could choose between these four planes:
* Albatros D.Va
* Fokker D.VII
* Spad 13.C1
* Nieuport 28.C1
A nice selection, but I always want more, so I bought the rest available aircraft as well. This game downloads its patches automatically when you start it up, and if the developer makes a new plane, it is downloaded and will be included as an "AI only" plane. If you want to fly the added plane, you have to pay a small sum ($7.62) to get the AI planes flyable. When bought, they are automatically "activated" in the game without any further downloads required. It is a nice system. Now I have bought the rest of the currently available planes as well:
* Pfalz D.IIIa
* Nieuport 17.C1
* S.E.5a
I think it's quite ok to pay for extra planes, and these are very cheap compared to good addon airplanes for Flight Simulator X for instance (maybe $30 or more per plane).
I am eagerly awaiting more planes (specifically I miss the Sopwith Camel and the Fokker DR.1 and hope they will appear later)
Another "issue" with the game is that you have to be online to play it, even single player. Every time you start it up, you have to log in. This is for a couple of reasons. First of all, it serves as an effective copy protection. Secondly, it is part of the automatic updating of the game. This is what makes buying planes so terribly easy, because you log in with the same user account on the Rise of flight webpage if you want to buy stuff.
A lot of people complain about having to be online and saying that they want to experience the flight sim "alone" or whatever. However, even if you log in, nobody else can "see you". You are alone and free to do what you want in the game without anyone laughing at your attempted landings ;-) I understand the complaint from people who have dialup connections, but fortunately, most gamers have a permanent internet connection these days.
Alright, enough about the technical non-game-stuff already!
** Flight dynamics: **
Flying these ancient machines is very interesting and the reason I bought the sim. They are unstable, shaky, weak and very light... And that's exactly what I love about them. This is the early days of flight and the planes usually had an empty weight of around 500kg (1000lbs). This is VERY little and make them act more like motorized kites than airplanes. A small gust of wind can tip the wings over just enough that you damage something on takeoff or landing... And all of this is included in the game.
I agree with people that the controls are a bit too twitchy (mostly in pitch and partly in yaw). It is difficult to aim... But it was difficult in real life, and this is a sim and not an arcade game.
I play with a Saitek X45 joystick and with separate rudder pedals on the floor. I also use TrackIR head tracker to look around. It is quite impossible (in my opinion) to fly this game using a mouse, gamepad or (shiver...) a keyboard. Let's face it: if planes could be flown with keystrokes, they wouldn't have a large bulky control stick and pedals, would they?
Flight dynamics are very impressive. The planes really feel like they are flying for the right reasons (air flowing over wings). When you stall or spin, you can feel this airflow fail. This is similar to the feeling I get in the IL-2 series of sims. You sort of "feel" the air.
Microsoft Flight Simulator X, however, always have some of that "preprogrammed" feeling (at least in the stock aircraft). When flying, it feels like stall and spin has been hardcoded in the game and always happen the same way in the same circumstances. It is maybe a bit harsh, and I'd like to mention that I really like FSX, but it is more a simulation of flight operations than actual flight. FSX has an enormous scenery where you can fly anywhere in the world, and there are literally thousands of addons (both freeware and payware). FSX's greatest strenghts are obvious, but flight dynamics is not one of them.
In ROF, aerodynamic forces can be heard by the rush of wind when going fast. A lot of the planes don't have airspeed gauges, so you just have to estimate by the wind noise and general feel of the aircraft. If you dive too fast or pull up too hard, something *will* break. You might get lucky and just bend something, but quite often one or more wings will snap... effectively ending your mission quite abruptly.
Unlike any other flight sim I've ever seen, the propeller actually moves the air. When throttling up, you feel the plane shake and twist and the rudder and elevators suddenly have an effect even if the plane is standing still. Also, if you throttle up with another plane behind you, you can see the other plane reacting to the wind from the propeller. If you blow at it from the side, it starts rolling slightly to the other side. That is very impressive, and I haven't seen it in ANY other sim.
** The War: **
Flying over the battlefields of World War I is very exciting and difficult. In my first engagement (Spad vs. Albatros) I lost control of the airplane and crashed into a forest. You have to practice a lot with the airplanes before trying to fight a war with them. In the beginning, I was still learning to fly and couldn't concentrate on tactics, maneuvers or shooting. After a lot of practice, I feel much more confident. I even tried a 20 Spad vs. 20 Fokker engagement (made by a third party quick mission generator) and managed to shoot down 3 before running out of ammo. It was very exciting, and I didn't lose control once.
Dogfight AI is quite good, but not perfect. They will occasionally do scissors, split-S, loops and breaks. The weakness seems to appear when getting on their six. Then they simply start turning a long turn to the left or right. Usually they do many complete circles before trying something new. When the AI does this, they are quite easy to shoot down.
All in all, dogfighting is exciting and rewarding, but also quite difficult. My advice: Practice a lot with you aircraft of choice before trying to take on enemies. Do breaks, turns, loops, rolls, split-s, stalls, spins, takeoffs and landings before going to war, and you should be fine.
** Conclusion: **
I can't write about every aspect of this game. For instance, I haven't tried multiplayer because it doesn't appeal to me very much at the moment.
However, I can say this:
Rise of Flight is a technically impressive game. Flight dynamics makes you feel like you're flying and the graphics and sound support this feeling. Dogfighting in the dawn of powered flight is difficult and exciting.
The learning curve is steep. If you've never played a flight simulator before, it will take quite some time to even learn how to take off and land, let alone maneuver. My advice is to start with the Albatros... even if you are a seasoned flight sim veteran.
The good:
* Feeling of flight
* SOUND is amazing.
* Graphics are beautiful
* Biplanes are fun.
* Powerful mission builder.
* Easy to assign control axes.
* Automatic patching.
* Supports multi-core processors.
The bad:
* Clunky interface at times (shows its Russian heritage every now and then (-: )
* No quick mission builder (like IL-2)
* Over-responsive pitch control
* No trim control in aircraft that historically had trim (S.E.5a for instance)
* Does not support SLI
The ugly:
* No anti-aliasing with post-processing effects enabled (My tip: turn of post-processing effects)
* Too short view distance