F-16 MRF from the Armed Forces Collection Pack. (novalogic)
It's an "old" game, but I think it's still a decent game with good graphics. I'm pretty sure it's older than Freelancer.
The F-16 is realistic; as is it's flight surfaces, cockpit electronics and equipment. It uses fuel too.
Joystick flyable.
You also get select "realistic" loadouts of missiles, bombs, 20mm ammo
and extra fuel tanks (at the cost of some loadout space) . You get to go
thought mission sets with this and the below mentioned games.

The 3 other games in the pack are :
Armored Fist 3 (with mission editor)
Delta Force 2 (with mission editor)
Commanche 4

Although I've never tried this part out yet since I didn't understand
what multiplayer was till a couple years later....
it has an integrated battle space where players can incorporate all four
modes together.

The soldiers in Delta Force 2 are somewhat realistic looking and die
horribly screaming at times. LOL
but lack the higher definition you see in games like Ghost Recon.
But, the weapons tend to be realistic and with a mission editor to boot...
you can turn out some interesting game content.

I'd recommend it.

it wasn't a bad game at all that Novalogic F-16, better than the MiG-29 game that accompanied it, which although the same engine and very similar missions, was just as dull as dishwater.

I don't think that you can really beat Il-2 Sturmovik and its expansions as a flight-sim, although Lock-On:Modern Air Combat is pretty dam' good for jets. It's all too stand-offy and missile based for me, i prefer it all a bit closer. I'm not a big fan of M$ CFS, althoughthe planes look god and are modelled well, it's not really a good combat simulator esp for jets; except for the Korean War add-on for CS2 - now that I really enjoyed!

oops - i forgot Falcon 4.0 - sorry! superbly detailed sim with excellent combat, and it's been modded to b*ggery - if you're a flight-sim and haven't yet checked out the vast array of incredible Falcon 4 mods, then you should. Last time I played it I was flying a MiG-21 shooting up Phantoms and Thuds over Haiphong.

Edited by - Tawakalna on 11/5/2007 4:38:18 PM

Ya, I picked up a copy of Falcon 4.0: Allied Force, which is a 2005 update of the original Falcon 4.0. Haven't had the time to install it yet, but I've been reading the new manual while it's slow at work, which clocks in at a whopping 716 pages in PDF. I never really took the time out with the original due to it's complexities and getting frustrated at trying to fly full blown missions without properly learning the weapon systems and pretty well much everything else except basic flight and landing.

I used to fly online a lot in Red Baron 3D, that and EAW we're the best pre-jet games money could buy IMO. Just a shame that no-one has done a WWI flight sim since. Never really played IL-2, I checked out the Demo but it didn't really do it for me so I never bothered. CFS3 was sh*te, good models but the game engine was clunky for what it did and the flight models (apart from the spitfire) we're horrible, esp the P-51, absolute shocker.

Edited by - mustang on 11/5/2007 5:17:57 PM

I was told that Armored Fist (Novalogic) was rubbish and not a patch on M1-Tank Platoon (Microprose)

never any decent naval sims are there, apart from Silent Hunter (which Muskrat hates iirc) and that destroyer game I can never find? I'd love a good battleship or battle fleet sim. Just imagine being able to recreate Jutland or Cape Matapan.

which reminds me of the time I played the CFS Falklands War expansion - I was flying a Super Etendard with my Exocet lined right up on a Type 42, and I just couldn't fire - even in a sim. So I turned around and shot some Argies down, then started the game back up and played on the proper side. 25 years ago this year you know, the Falklands War. Hell's bells, where does the time go to? I was 18 then.

Edited by - Tawakalna on 11/10/2007 3:20:47 PM

yar i was just a gleam in a bottle of whiskey back then the hunt for reb october (DOS) is the only naval sim i play there was a very promising looking surface sim for x360 but the interface was totally messed up and the demo had no instructions (whoopsies!) - now i can't seem to remember its name *shrug*

Edited by - Cold_Void on 11/10/2007 2:10:27 PM

Battlestations Midway by any chance? the kid tried it and said it wasn't very good overall, and he does generally have good judgement when it comes to games.

I never played Hunt for Red October, but everyone who has says that it was rather spiffing indeed. I must get my hands on a torrent erm COPY!

Interesting. I've got Silent Hunter..but just haven't played it.
I just may break it out and give it a whirl.
I think short from the realism of the smell of metal and the "cartooninish"
appearance of Armored Fist..that "cockpit" view was pretty realistic.
What I found disapointing was it's vulnerability to other tank fire.
If I stayed inside the tank, I'd say it had an element of scary realism.

Silent Hunter III is a lot better than Silent Hunter II. unf there's a dirty big scratch on my copy from when Mrs Taw used it as a coaster

Edited by - Tawakalna on 11/11/2007 3:35:36 PM

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Silent Hunter (which Muskrat hates iirc)

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Must be remembering somone else. I never played Silent Hunter, but I did play SH3 which I thought was brilliant.

nope, you told me that you thought SH was a s dull as dishwater, until I persuaded you otherwise by my wonderful verbal "skillz."

you can get red october at 'the underdogs' google it / look under DOS games - you'll need a dos emulator like dosshell interface + dosbox emulator. it's pretty primitive but well rounded with features and there are some satisfying little tricks to outwit the AI you'll need like circling around your noise makers (these act repellently, unlike swim out decoys), firing all torpedo tubes at slow speed to maintain manual control by wire + then surfacing to periscope depth and firing tomahawk or harpoon missiles for surface targets and using the torpedos to clean up (they're much slower)

the only bad thing about it is you're fighting WWIII in the atlantic /baltic alone - lol. it's campaign mode and a single defeat can set you back pretty far so make frequent saves

you should be able to find a keylist - i did - just google that too, or scream here and i'll post a link

i really wish someone would remake this game in flash already

Edited by - Cold_Void on 11/12/2007 12:10:51 AM