cgw.gamespot.com
<<<
Meanwhile, there's bad news and good news on the Falcon 4.0
front. The bad news is that the release has been delayed
again--the development team didn't want to give specific dates,
but from their progress so far and some general comments I'd
guess that the July 1 date many software stores are quoting is
right on the money. The good news is that the sim is progressing
very nicely, and the extra time will go into incorporating many of
the suggestions from users who played the alpha demo version
released on the Internet and on CGW's March CG-ROM.
One area that has significantly improved since the demo is special
effects. The simple, canned explosions of the demo version have
been replaced by elaborate, particle-based explosions that send
debris flying and emit semi-transparent smoke. Missile trails look
much better, as do other lighting effects such as flares. Still on
the plate is frame-rate optimization; the team is confident it will be
able to speed up the sim's performance on lower-end systems
before it ships.
One area that has changed from the initial specs is the player limit
for multiplayer games--it's been bumped from 16 to 720 players,
with a 180-player-per-team limit replacing the old six-player cap.
Obviously it's going to take a hellishly fast server and network to
accommodate such large-scale games, but it's nice to see
MicroProse looking to the future.
Another change from the initial plan is that TEN will no longer be
the online host for multiplayer games. Experienced net players will
be able to set up their own TCP/IP games, and MicroProse is
currently evaluating the options as to which matchmaking service
it will use.
The last major piece that was still unimplemented when I wrote
the January preview--Tactical Engagement, the mission editor--is
now up and running. This is a very sophisticated mission editor
which will let users create very elaborate mission scenarios. In
addition to setting up the typical conditions--air and ground
forces, targets, and so on--you'll be able to create very detailed
objectices and victory conditions. And missions won't be
pass/fail--there are six ratings from Decisive Victory to Crushing
Defeat. And one of the biggest problems in "canned" missions
has been addressed--you don't have to give specific victory
conditions, such as "destroy all planes in this flight." Rather, you
can give broader objectives, along the lines of "gain air
superiority in this area," so that letting one plane get away
doesn't unrealistically cause you to fail your mission.
In addition, thought has been given to multiplayer play here. The
host can actually change victory conditions during a mission. For
instance, you might vector flights to take care of annoying mobile
SAM sites. The host can also put time limits on objectives, so
that a flight may gain victory by taking an objective within three
game hours and holding it until five have passed.
The one element that's still missing is the ability to randomize the
location or chance of appearance of a flight. But while conditions
will always be the same when a mission starts out, MicroProse's
Leon Rosenshein said that the AI will have different reactions
each time, so missions shouldn't play out exactly the same. Still,
the ability to randomize is a sad omission in an otherwise
groundbreaking mission editor. (And one that the competition,
Jane's F-15, does have.)
Falcon 4.0 is taking a long time to taxi onto the runway, but it's by
far the most elaborate sim anyone has attempted to produce.
Teething pains are to be expected, and every indication is that the
final result will be more than worth the wait. >>>
Coy |
