Casual fliers beware!

I got this game for ten bucks at Target. I had never even heard about its release, and here it was ultra-cheap. My game radar went off, signaling that this could potentially be a dud. After all, this clearly wasn't designed as a bargain game...if it was cheap, it was because nobody bought it. I enjoyed Falcon A.T. many years ago, and a friend of mine beta tested Falcon 3.0...I figured ten bucks was worth the risk.

I have to say that the game delivered on what it was supposed to. It is realistic. VERY realistic. The physics of the flight model was wonderful, and I thought the graphics were pretty good. The ground detail gets pretty wonky if you're flying low, but it looks good from higher altitude.

Now, as with any flight sim you'll probably need a tutorial. Well, you're in luck if you judge the quality of the tutorial by how many pounds the instruction manual weighs. The book that comes with this game is spiral-bound and massive. I've had calculus textbooks that were less intimidating. The ingame tutorial simply refers you to the manual at key moments, so you find yourself flying with this big book on your lap, flipping through pages and cursing.

You know how radar operatres in fighter sims? There's a beeping noise and a little diamond chases the enemy plane? There's a "beeeeep" noise, and you fire your missile. Tallyho!

In Falcon, there are several tutorials that are solely dedicated to learning how to use the plane's radar. It is lovingly detailed and faithful to the real thing. So faithful, that my limited attention span shut down long before I actually gave up on figuring it out. There are so many different modes and types of radar that I was completely lost before I even learned how to launch a missile.

Now, I'm not a grognard when it comes to flight sims. I love them, but I usually turn off some of the more mind-numbingly realistic bits. Unfortunately, there isn't much else to Falcon 4.0. This game is designed to the simulator purist (ie, the guy who builds a mock cockpit around his computer complete with control stick, throttle, rudder pedals, and cup holders) and it will probably thrill them to death. I found it...infuriating.

The premise of the campaigns is that you are a pilot stationed in Korea during a contemporary conflict. The missions you fly supposedly affect the outcome of this campaign. I never got to test this, but I've heard from many reviewers that the system doesn't work.

I did fly some single missions, and even managed to shoot somebody down. Unfortunately, it takes a loooonnnng time for the mission to load after you start.

There were a lot of bugs in my version, and the game would often crash when loading missions. This isn't particularly good when the company spent so much time on the flight model. What good is a decent flight model when the game crashes and freezes up?

Okay, the bottom line is that a purist will probably love this title. They will be able to look past the bugs and glitches and enjoy the fifty-million radar submodes. However, this is not the kind of sim for the casual flier like myself. That's why I'm sticking to WWII sims and space sims from now on. These satisfy my arcade instincts, without forcing me to fool with complicated radar modes. It's also easier to land.