Video & Audio enhancements bring new levels of realism to gameplay
A PC Buyer's Guide Special Report
Microsoft, flushed with the success of its immensely popular Monster Truck Madness 2 (developed by Terminal Reality), has a number of other simulations coming to market. Combat Flight Simulator 2 is the follow-up to the 1.0 title released in Nov., 1998. The new title carries a street price of about C$65. Unlike the original's focus on the European arena, Combat Flight Simulator 2 is based in the Pacific, presenting ample opportunities for tricky carrier landings, island flyovers and those inevitable dogfights with Japanese Zeroes. Like the original, the new release builds upon the technology developed for Microsoft's Flight Simulator titles, and emphasizes realism and strategy over arcade action. A demo movie is available at http://www.microsoft.com/games/combatfs/
For those who enjoy a more arcade-like flight sim, the company also offers Crimson Skies. A trial version is available for download at www.microsoft.com/games/. Also amusing is the Crimson Skies movie trailer (7.9MB), a spoof of a 1930s newsreel, with some very cool graphics that introduce the storyline.
Microsoft has also updated several other of its games. Midtown Madness 2 brings racing enthusiasts to the virtual streets of San Francisco and London, where you can careen down the streets in vehicles ranging from the latest Audi TT to a London Double-decker bus. We tested this game with Microsoft's updated Force Feedback Steering Wheel, now wityh a USB port for better response and easier connectivity.
Another new title we tested recently is MechWarrior 4, the most graphically sophisticated version of the "battletech" title yet. If you prefer your gaming in Vegas, there's a new Casino game, which provides realistic simulations of the slots and table action at famous hotels Treasure Island, The Mirage and the high-class Bellagio.
Also new is Links 2001, a golf game sporting a sophisticated course editor (reportedly used by Jack Nicklaus and his team for actual course planning.) This is the most realistic golf sim we've ever seen -- one wonders how much better this genre could possibly get. There are even birds flying around in the sky, as you control what appears to be an actual video of a golfer (we were playing with someone famous, although we can't remember exactly who) chip and putt his or her way across a photographically impeccable landscape based on an actual location. It includes several famous real-life courses, including the world-class greens at Whistler Mountain, BC (a favorite course of some of the Microsoft staff in Redmond.)
Indeed, a number of trial versions of Microsoft game titles (Including Monster Truck Madness 2 and Motocross Madness) are available at http://www.microsoft.com/games/download.htm. Enjoy!
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