Liftoff: FPV Drone Racing
Liftoff is a Terrific Tool and Game! I became a Liftoff Fan in January 2017 when I puchased my first RealACC x-210 drone kit from Banggood. Liftoff taught me to fly, tune, and adjust my Taranis settings and develope throttle and axis curves. I did so through Liftoff. I was able to obtain a complete and functional understanding of RC Rates, Super Rates, Throttle and Axis Expo as well as PID tuning and I did so before I ever flew my first Quad, ( have since built five additional race quads) I was able to master the necessary control of my quad by using Liftoff. When I flew my first quad in March 2017…..which is, somewhat different from Liftoff (Liftoff was more foregiving) I was able to fly with only minor crashes that occurred until I mastered a real Quad landing.
– Real player with 2704.6 hrs in game
Read More: Best Simulation Realistic Games.
First, I do have some credentials to mention, perhaps to add some validity to the review. I served 6 years in the Air Force and while stationed in Italy in 1976, I joined a group of Italian hang glider pilots I found while driving in nearby mountains. I bought a hang glider, flew 5 times from a 2500 foot peak, and then crashed and broke my arm. The military took care of me, and I’m okay. Years later, I discovered flight simulators on an Apple II computer (SubLogic FS2). I’ve used simulators ever since then to an exhaustive degree. In 2004 I had the means to start flight lessons, and obtained a Private Pilot license in 2006. I put about 80 hours in command of rental planes (Cessna 150, 152, 170, 172M, 172P) and then got training in a Weight-Shift Control sport aircraft.(commonly called a trike) and then I bought one, N502PW. I flew 100 hours in the trike over the next 5 years, then sold the aircraft in 2014. I have a Phantom 3 Standard quadcopter, a Spedix 275 FPV racing drone, a Vortex 250 FPV racing drone, a Blade NanoQX FPV mini, a Blade InductrixFPV, and an FPV Tiny Whoop I made from an Inductrix. My FPV videos are on YouTube at patjoyce7323.
– Real player with 1605.0 hrs in game
Warplanes: WW1 Fighters
I’ll start by saying it’s a REALLY fun game. Lots of missions, lots of planes, lots of upgrades. Well worth the price. however, there are several really annoying things about it. This is all in the campaigns.
1. planes with gunners are DUMB. I’ll line up right behind an enemy plane for him to take out, and he’s shooting way off to the side at some dumb thing in the distance. Enemy bombers RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU about to take out your base and lose you the game? That’s not a priority for him, he’s wasting ammo at a plane way off to the side in the distance. Strafing run lined up with a clean shot for him at AA guns? doesn’t matter, he wants to shoot the damn balloons until the AA guns kill you both. I don’t know what criteria is used to decide what he shoots at, but it’s way off. There’s only one plane on the screen and he’ll find one off screen to shoot at. jeez, it’s aggravating. He also likes to overheat the gun failing to lead a plane, then when it’s lined up nicely, he’s got an overheated gun and just sits there missing the clean shot. His stats are absolutely maxed out too. This is the BEST he gets.
– Real player with 36.7 hrs in game
Read More: Best Simulation VR Games.
Updated Review:
If you’re coming to this expecting a faithful sim of wrestling one of these kites through bouncy air – well that’s not what this is. That game deserves to be made, but this is something else.
While there is HOTAS support, using the default VR controller to grab a virtual stick is unique and perfectly efficient. It’s actually a very well-done control system. And.. your other hand is free to grab a flare gun. OMG the flare guns. No they’re not for just taking out barrage balloons. Tired of eating lead from a bomber’s defensive guns? Blow him up with a flare from below. Enemy fighter suddenly zooming at you and you can’t get your nose around? Quick draw that flare gun and bust one in his ass as he’s going by. It’s actually hilarious fun.
– Real player with 18.2 hrs in game
X-Plane 11
It is just a brilliant game! I absolutely love it! It has glitches but they are fixable! Add a few mods to your game and know how to fly and learn vatsim you will have a brilliant time like me as an aviation geek!
– Real player with 1025.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Simulation Realistic Games.
good if you pay a lot of money
like a lot
the game isnt cheap
the addons are less cheap
pain
– Real player with 999.5 hrs in game
IL-2 Sturmovik: 1946
Written as of 25 August, 2016.
I grew up with this game, so I may be severely biased, just a warning. I remember getting the original IL-2 Sturmovik/Pacific Fighters pack way back in 2005 as a starry-eyed little kid. I was fascinated with aircraft from this era and it’s the main reason I know how much about them I do today. And then, suddenly, this new, vastly superior version appeared! I never begged my parents for something so badly in my life, but I NEEDED this as a child. And so I made the money to buy it. Best idea ever. It doesn’t show it, but the amount I have played this game in so many situations must easily be at least 4,000 hours before getting it on Steam alone. But enough of my life story, let’s get into the review of this.
– Real player with 590.7 hrs in game
IL-2 1946 Is a masterpiece in WW2 aircraft simulation and is a must have if you’re craving action in the pacific. To my knowledge, this is the only game that gets it right and makes you feel like you’re there fighting for small islands and atolls in the 1940’s. Whether you choose Japan or the United States, it does a great job at putting you in the pilot’s seat and give you the true feel of the war from the perspective of one squadron. If you choose the Japanese, you really feel the advantage of the Zero or the Val in the early war battles. The flight models of the aircraft in game make you work for it and learn how the real world planes fly, but once you put in the work you see the reward. But as the Japanese campaign goes on, everything gets harder. By the time you’re flying at Iwo Jima you’re in desperation to just survive you’re next mission. Alternatively, If you choose to fly for the US Navy, you start out from the battle of the Coral Sea and work your way to the mainland islands of Japan. For the US Navy you get to choose the Dauntless or the fighter campaign. The main fighters you get to fly as the war goes on are the Wildcat (and subsequent upgraded variants), Hellcat (f6f-3, f6f-5), and Corsair (with variants). In both campaigns you take off and land on WW2 carriers which by itself is boatloads of fun, but the missions are great as well.
– Real player with 388.2 hrs in game
Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Steam Edition
I got into flight simulation when I got FSX Standard for my birthday in 2009, and so far it has been my campanion since. Fast forward to 2017, my PC has a major crash that wipes my main drive, which my FSX was on. Kinda happy this happened, as I wanted to upgrade to FSX: Steam for a while, and after New Year’s I finally bought it and wow what a difference!
FSX is a great simulator to get into the hobby, ESPECIALLY FSX: Steam Edition. While on Amazon FSX: Gold Edition copies are running at $200 to $400, FSX: Steam Edition is only $24, and about $14 if you buy the boxed version from Amazon. That is a heck of a deal for a great flight sim that offers the whole world, +24,000 airports, 27 different aircraft, including G1000 Cessna 172, Beech Baron, and Mooney Bravo, new and easy Steam Multiplayer, fun different multiplayer modes, a whole variety of different missions, virtual flight lessons with Rod Machado, and a huge learning center where you can learn about different topics and can help you with FSX.
– Real player with 4275.1 hrs in game
This simulator is certainly a trip down memory lane for me. Before I had FSX:SE or just FSX Gold Edition, I flew on Flight Simulator 2004 which was my first experience being at the controls of a virtual aircraft. Of course, I was only five or six years old and I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, but it really helped ignite my passion for flying. Now, this simulator may be obsolete compared to others like X-Plane 11 and FS 2020 just around the corner, but I’ll always come back to this one for old time’s sake (and because of the communities on multiplayer).
– Real player with 2189.2 hrs in game
DCS World Steam Edition
I wish steam had a third recommendation option: “Kinda, but…”
This game, and it’s very much a game, is awesome. I’ve had over a thousand (and likely to grow) hours of fun, with some frustrations in-between. Thing is, at its core, DCS is a giant steaming piece of garbage. Nearly everything with the exception of the aircraft themselves is some flavour of “unfinished,” “half-baked,” and “broken.”
A note on the pricing: I’ve spend more money on DCS than on any other game. Though not as much as it might seem, if you do it smart you can get all important modules for 250 dollars. And it isn’t like you’ll be buying modules more than one at a time, you can get literally hundreds, even thousands of hours of gameplay from just one. I recommend you always buy on sales and choose your modules wisely. Do not buy flaming cliffs, or any of the flaming cliff aircraft, those are extremely outdated and “simplified” (though as you would quickly learn, the shortcut “shift+rctr+home” is much harder to remember than the location of the switch labelled “right engine start”, so “simplified” might not be the best word to use here).
– Real player with 1560.4 hrs in game
This game is fantastic, and I’m talking about the 100% free Su-25t simulator you get by downloading this program right here, DCS, for FREE.
The Su-25t isn’t just one plane to fly in a game like War Thunder, it’s a complete old-school single player simulator. You get ten or so training missions covering every important function of the aircraft.
You get another ten or so individual mission scenarios, + again that number of quick missions and on top of all this you get a full campaign.
Along with that full campaign you can also find additional campaigns online, really high quality player made campaigns.
– Real player with 1143.4 hrs in game
IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad
Where do I start?
I have always played the Il2 Sturmovik series - that is no exaggeration - I picked up my first installment at age 10, which means I have played for half my life.
To talk about the series as a whole would take up so much time that you’d probably die of old age by the time I finished, so I’ll keep it simple. It’s had it’s ups and downs.
This installment though? What a bloody masterpiece. If you’re here then I’m guessing you already have some Idea of what the IL2 series is, and that is a Combat flight simulator with a heavy emphasis on realism, through its flight and damage models. In all of these aspects Il2 Sturmovik Excels, aircraft are painstakingly researched and their flightmodels studied in order to bring them as close to life as possible.
– Real player with 382.9 hrs in game
Must fly in VR. My gunner bailed after our Stuka’s right tank was shot and began to leak over the Kuban. You didn’t trust me, bud? I landed safely at a friendly airfield. Hope the water showed him no mercy. 10/10 would recommend to every flight sim/WW2 enthusiast.
– Real player with 201.7 hrs in game
Air Missions: HIND
Being a massive Mi-24 fan this was a must for me despite being ‘arcade’. My biggest fear was that it would be like Heleborne but fortunately it’s not that arcady. The controls are simplified vs a real helicopter but they still feel enough like the real thing to make you feel like you’re flying.
The graphics are really nice and the maps well put together, though some of them could be bigger, and it would be nice if there was a map view so you could see your location and have some idea of when you’re going to hit the edge.
– Real player with 61.6 hrs in game
First Impressions - This is GREAT!
If you liked cockpit-view semi-simulation flight games like (going way back) Gunship 2000, Commanche, Battlefield 2, etc just buy this, it’s the Heli game you have been waiting for. Even in it’s current alpha state this game has all the base elements you want in a flight game: Great Physics & Graphics, lots of controller options, a variety of views including a fully rendered cockpit (my preferred view) and gunner seat, FLIR and several external views, great Co-Op, PvP and team PvP, Single Skirmish, Campaign Mode and Free Flight. Add to that chunky explosions, rag-doll infantry, custom loadouts, and just the right amount of simulation without being over-the-top realism.
– Real player with 44.9 hrs in game
Aerofly FS 2 Flight Simulator
Very Highly Recommended. As a retired real world pilot that spends most of the day with flight sims I have now found the best of the best. Sure, it is still growing and has a long ways to go but, for now, nothing else does what Aerofly FS 2 does for me.
I have two full hardware setups. My original triple monitor / Saitek hardware 6th gen rig that I have used for the last 12 months and a Volair Flight Sim cockpit with a brand new Alienware 8th gen Intel processor with a 1080 Ti card. This was purchased during the Christmas holidays along with a Oculus Rift VR.
– Real player with 8629.5 hrs in game
I have an embarrassing amount of time in flight simulators, dating all the way back to sublogic’s product in the early 80s. I am a real convert to Aerofly, and I bought my VR gear specifically to handle it - and it was absolutely worth the investment.
I’ve been using this sim now for months, and let me begin by saying what this is… and isn’t (at least yet).
For me, this sim has achieved what I’ve wanted all these years; the actual illusion of flight. I wanted the chance to feel the size and layout of the cockpit and to feel that pull in your guy when you dive through mountains, or make a daring landing. I love the fact that in the P-38 I have to look around the control column to see some of the gauges. I love the feel of the airplanes and how each has a unique character to flight. Of course, any of you using FSX,P4D, or Xplane have had these features for a long time. Aerofly and VR really recreates the feeling of flight. I’ve had a bunch of people try out my rig of course, and the reaction is always the same; incredible excitement, followed by the freedom that comes from flying anywhere you want. In short, it’s what I always wanted flight simming to be.
– Real player with 307.1 hrs in game
Microsoft Flight Simulator Game of the Year Edition
Do not buy this game unless you have an insanely fast internet connection and immense patience
Out of the 180.6 hours I currently have on this game, around 176 of those hours have been spent installing MSFS. To make matters worse, you can’t install the game using Steam- you have to enter an in-game installer that downloads incredibly slowly, if it even downloads at all.
When I first bought this game at release, my installer was bugged and I couldn’t actually complete the download (I always got an error message at random times throughout the download) . I had contacted both Steam and Microsoft support to fix that issue but they both didn’t help at all. A couple months after I’d given up I decided to try and install it again after I saw there was an update and for the first time it actually completed the download. This took several days and effectively commandeered my computer as you can’t close the MSFS launcher without losing all your download progress, and you can’t play other games as the download is very resource intensive. Additionally, despite having internet that’s usually about 20-50mbps down, the download speed for MSFS is more often than not around 3mbps, if not lower.
– Real player with 180.6 hrs in game
I do not recommend this game for two reasons. First, and main reason, is that this game is completely server dependent. Without good quality broadband internet connection, you will not be able to even open the game after a few days. Second, Microsoft and Asobo force what seem like work-in-progress and poorly tested upates/content onto their customers. The sim looks amazing under ideal circumstances, but my overall experience to date has been that of a beta release product. It just comes across as corporate greed, trying to save money by not hiring enough testers, instead getting their customers to do all the testing and bug feedback for them. All the while charging for the game as if it was a finished product. I have wasted countless hours trying to fix whatever bugs they’ve introduced each update cycle, just to have new bugs introduced the next time around, and its beyond frustrating at this point. I do not support this system of development and deployment. All I want is for Microsoft/Asobo to make all updates and additional content optional, even if opting out of updates would disable all online functionality of the game.
– Real player with 166.1 hrs in game