MS FS2004 or Combat FS3 or Age of Empires II
 

I've received a gift certificate for software from an online vendor -- a vendor from whom I have only ever purchased hardware. They don't sell much software, and my certificate allows me to purchase one of the following games:

a) MS Combat Flight Simulator 3

b) MS Flight Simulator 2004 - A Century of Flight

c) Microsoft Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings

I trust folks on these forums a lot for the skinny on games. Might I ask for some recommendations or preferences on the above? Any comments appreciated. Thanks!

Well, we don´t know your preferences! None of the three games is bad, check some online reviews, then you will know which game is best for you.

Well, I already checked out the online reviews, of course. I am more interested in people's personal opinions.

Which is your favourite of the three?

a). Didn't like it and fell in love with Il2 Forgotten Battles which I enjoy infinately more. Might pay to hold off on this purchase as I think that Ubisoft will sell a pack that combines Forgotten Battles, Aces Expansion Pack, and Pacific Fighters, plus a new patch/addon.

b). Never flown any civil flight sims so can't comment.

c). Haven't played this game for a good 3 years. In this genre I just play Rome Total War. I would have thought AOE II is a bit dated now IMO.

If you want some fantastic WW1 action, get Combat Flight Simulator 3 and you can download the Over Flanders Fields mod free online. You'll probably hate CFS3 standalone, but you'll love OFF. Graphic wise, IL2 graphics will pummel the graphics from OFF, but it's still pretty good. Here's the OFF teaser movie. You might like it: http://www.polovski.com/off/Movies/OFF-MOVIE1.wmv


Otherwise MS2004 might get boring if you're not one of "those" people. You know, flight-sim nut...


And Age of Empires II: AOK is really old. Avoid it at all costs.

Yes, it´s really old, but it was/is a good game!

Ok, Age of Empires II: AoK was good back in the day... But given your three choices, IMO it's the third best out of the crop.

AOK is so old that I would not bother. Indeed ROTW or even AOE 3 is a better choice.

I'd take the money if I could or equal gift cirtificate, but if not, than the flight simulator perhaps - the war one. But again, there are better games for that purpose, like LockOn, or IL2.

But the three games are all so different???? :-? It really comes down to your preference, on another fourm one guy was ranting about you know the SF thing and someone suggested another game that was great and didn't have SF. My answer was while I had no problems even if I did I would not play something on a subject of no interest to me because of SF. I know civvie FS simmers who would not touch CFS cause they hate combat and combat sim pilots who think civvie FS is boring.

Anyway, MSFS 2004 is great and has a huge world of addons, can't really go wrong. CFS3 meh, except this new addon already mentioned for WWI which I have heard raves about. Age of Empires never played it but loved Civilisation back in the day so if it is like that should be good.

Thanks to all. I think I will grab Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004, and check out all the mods for it.

A lot of posters above mentioned IL2, but I don't know what this is or how it fits into my ordering options.

Age of Kings, it's immortal. Grab it.

Being capricious ...
 

Being capricious, at least for today, if not by fundamental nature, I turned my gift certificate into a hardware credit and ordered the barebones kit listed at the link below, for $68.99 delivered:
http://webpages.charter.net/graffen/...05richtext.rtf

I'll now be shopping for a P4 CPU with 533FSB. If anyone has a favorite site from which to order CPUs, their opinion would receive much consideration by me. Thanks all.

Oh a WWII flight sim, started on the Eastern Front then with a couple of expansions into Western Theatres and the Pacific. Look here: http://www.pacific-fighters.com/en/home.php

However, FS2004 is an excellent choice. :up: You can fly old planes and warbirds too, look for the Real Air Spitfire addon. Or you can go for the modern GA or advanced airliners.

Never built my own computer can't help...happy with Dell.

FS 2004 is the one i have and also had the CFS but nothing but trouble