Click here to access the Helosim website
SUBSIM Radio Room Forums

BUYING GAMES, BOOKS, ELECTRONICS, and STUFF
THROUGH THIS LINK SUPPORTS SUBSIM, THANKS!

The Web's #1 BBS for all submarine and naval simulations!

Go Back   SUBSIM Radio Room Forums > General > Helosim.com and Flight Sims

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 12-15-13, 12:38 AM   #1
CCIP
Navy Seal
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Waterloo, Canada
Posts: 8,700
Downloads: 29
Uploads: 2


Default Wings Over Flanders Fields released

So the latest incarnation of OFF, the almost-stand-alone release of WOFF, just happened. It's $60 and still needs a CFS3 disk to install, but otherwise is a completely separate game. It promises many improvements, including a brand new campaign system, AI, and lots of new graphics.

http://www.overflandersfields.com/index.html

Having never played any of the previous OFF versions, I decided to jump right in, and my first impressions are pretty awesome! The visuals are great, especially for running on such old technology, and you can see the amount of care and detail that went into making the look of the game "feel" right. Cloudscapes in the game look amazing, and the terrain is very nicely coloured and detailed - and looks especially great at low altitudes (below 1000ft) where little touches like livestock in the fields and excellent high-detail textures really stand out. The performance has been rock solid and stable, and although my machine only matches the "low" configuration on their website, it's been running great and with no slow-downs at medium-high settings.

Haven't got a complete feel for gameplay yet as I'm still learning obviously, but so far so good - the aircraft perform as you might expect them, the "dead is dead" campaign system is unforgiving, the option to pass training before heading to the front is pretty cool although does drag on if you do it more than once. In general, few compromises have been for "fun" in this one - if you start an early 1915 campaign, you'll find flight distances long and slow, missions almost exclusively as reconnaissance, air to air armament largely ineffective, and enemies that have no interest in actually engaging you. That does change eventually, though, but it's still not even remotely an action game - but a simulator where survival in a world of instant death is the main prize. Although I haven't experienced much of it yet, the AI is touted as very survival-minded as well (i.e. not like IL-2's suicidal gung-ho planes).

I'll share more impressions later, but as far as single player goes, this is really darn good! I haven't even scratched the surface of the dynamic campaign yet, but it could easily be the best career mode in any WWI game to date.

I'll share more impressions soon! Only had it for a couple of days so far.

Meanwhile, some screenies from training in southern England and a first sortie over France:















__________________

There are only forty people in the world and five of them are hamburgers.
-Don Van Vliet
(aka Captain Beefheart)
CCIP is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-15-13, 12:54 AM   #2
Oberon
Lucky Jack
 
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 25,976
Downloads: 61
Uploads: 20


Default

I last played OFF back in phase 2, but I've had one eye on it ever since, it was a lovely addon even back then, and I'm glad that it's gone from strength to strength. Of course (or OFF course? No? Ok....) there are going to be comparisons with Rise of Flight, but I think OFFs biggest ace is the campaign, I've heard nothing but good things about it, and it presents a battlefield that is much more alive than the beautiful but somewhat sterile RoF.
$60 is $60 though, so it's not likely I'll be able to get this in the near future, but I'll always remember Phase 2 with fondness for introducing me to my favourite WWI aircraft, the Sopwith Pup, and the tense low level slip sliding dogfights I had with her, probably not quite as airframe accurate as RoF (but this was early days for OFF) but damn was it enjoyable.
Oberon is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-15-13, 02:22 AM   #3
Red October1984
Airplane Nerd
 
Red October1984's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Texas
Posts: 6,241
Downloads: 115
Uploads: 0


Default

I thought about it...

Like I told CCIP yesterday, CFS3 modding was always more complicated than it needed to be IMHO. I tried and tried and tried and never got the PTO conversions to work properly.

OFF looked somewhat cool...but I never had the money or enough interest for it. IL-2 has DBW 1916 which is fun for a bit and very unforgiving....but the lack of a good campaign is a problem.

I'll keep an eye on this one.
__________________
Red October1984 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-15-13, 02:36 PM   #4
Kptlt. Neuerburg
Admiral
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Florida
Posts: 2,241
Downloads: 54
Uploads: 0
Default

Now that is something that I would buy if it wasn't sixty dollars. But on the other hand you don't need to have something close to a super computer to run it, the level of detail looks amazing considering the age of the base game and it seems that in terms of aircraft it beats RoF hands down! There where even some planes that I saw in the gallery on their website that will take ages for them to be added to Rise of Flight ( still waiting on the Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter, 777.) I played OFF in phases 1 and 2 and was quite impressed with it so at some point I'll probably get this too (runs to dig out CFS3 disks out of the crates.)
__________________
"When you're born into this world, you're given a ticket to the freak show. If you're born in America you get a front row seat." - George Carlin
Kptlt. Neuerburg is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-17-13, 05:22 PM   #5
NefariousKoel
Ace of the Deep
 
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: No-good Missouri scum
Posts: 1,223
Downloads: 43
Uploads: 0
Default

I'm having a blast with WOFF. The campaign environment is excellent and the AI pilots are not only capable but they tend to run for it if they can get out of a bad spot. It feels more alive than nearly every other flight sim I've played.

The first time I flew over no man's land, with artillery and machinegun fire below and flak above, was superb. Then I got mauled by a flight of Albatros D.IIIs who weren't joking around. It was never so fun getting blow'd the f up.
__________________
"When Gary told me he had found Jesus, I thought, Yahoo! We're rich! But it turned out to be something different." - Jack Handey
NefariousKoel is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-17-13, 05:30 PM   #6
NefariousKoel
Ace of the Deep
 
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: No-good Missouri scum
Posts: 1,223
Downloads: 43
Uploads: 0
Default

A couple of my latest screenshots from my 70 Sqdn campaign, flying a Sopwith Camel in Aug '17. Watching a Roland 2-seater going down after a good gunning:






__________________
"When Gary told me he had found Jesus, I thought, Yahoo! We're rich! But it turned out to be something different." - Jack Handey
NefariousKoel is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-18-13, 05:33 PM   #7
iambecomelife
Silent Hunter
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 4,569
Downloads: 297
Uploads: 0


Default

Love these screenshots. I was a big fan of OFF-Between Heaven and Hell, which I think was the first post-Red Baron 3d production to supersede that title. But these graphics are perceptibly better than the old OFF, and the AI improvements listed on the website sound very promising. When I get done modding maybe I'll give it a go...nothing like plunging to Earth in a burning Sopwith Camel!
iambecomelife is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 07:37 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright © 1995- 2024 Subsim®
"Subsim" is a registered trademark, all rights reserved.