Customer Reviews

Flanker 2.5 (Jewel Case)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I am from India and IAF inducted a bunch of SU-30 MKIs in it's airforce. I wanted to get a feel for this fighter and bought the flanker 2.5 . I also own Microsoft CFS2 , CFS3 ( dont waste your money on this ) , IL2( money well spent ) , Ka-52 just to name a few.

Flanker 2.5 is not a game. It is a simulator. So there are no points flashing after you complete a mission successfully. I have been playing it for an year now and even now it keeps me intrested. There is a lot to learn. You need to learn about the plane , your enemy plane , Different missiles and their envelopes , radar range , when to track , when not to track, how to refuel, when to fire a missile and a whole lot more.

So , if you want a game that you can master in a couple of weeks , this is not the one. If you are looking fo some simulator that will teach you about different weapons systems, tactics and more importantly how hard it is to be a real fighter pilot , this is a keeper.

The graphics are excellent and very light on resources considering the vintage of the game.It is comparable to Microsoft CFS3 in the graphics quality but with 1/3 the resource usage.

Buy it if you are a serious aero or sim enthusiast...you will LOVE IT.

I have worked for two different companies that designed and implimented real flight simulators. One of these was the F-16 (Link) and the other was the

F/A-18 (Hughes) so I can say with some authority that this simulator has one of the very best flight-models that I've ever experianced, bar none. I

noticed a comment by one individual who stated that "the graphics are bad" (or something like that) and I have to agree...the graphics, especially on a

slower systems, with all the "options" set to either "medium" or "low" (for example) are not "LOMAC" quality to be sure. However, the folks who wrote the engine for this simulator were not setting out to make a "pretty" game at all, but rather they set-out to design a true flight simulator based on the aircraft of their country of origin - the SU-27 (and its variants) designed and built on the former USSR: they excelled in this department.

Having been "up" in both Falcon's and Hornet's, I can honestly say I do know a good flight model when I run across one. However, the SU series of fighters and thier flight-envelope are much different than that of our (the United States) birds and, in many ways are much better. Not having flown a MiG or and SU does not qualify me to judge the accuracy of this FM but, after going through some recent flight data on the SU/MKI series (a plane that even the United States should consider purchasing because it is THAT good IMHO!!) and then flying a similar airframe in Flanker 2.5, I can say that its flight envelope acts very much like the "real McCoy" i.e, when you reach Corner Speed and start to time it, you should wind-up at a certain degree away from your original position within a given time-frame - and that is one of the things you get with this sim: realism of the aircraft.

There is an obvious tradeoff between the graphics here, and the realism of the aircraft and SSI chose the later and focused on it instead of the "eye candy". So, if you want both excellent graphics (i.e. buildings, landscape, VERY cool clouds, etc.) then I would purchase Lock On: Modern Air Combat over this sim any day of the week. With "LOMAC" you have one of the finest military sims in the world AND you can fly both American as well as Soviet designs - but there is one caveat that you need to heed: your system, no matter HOW "smokin" you THINK it is, is TOO SLOW for LOMAC, period!!

I digress for a moment. I'm NOT sure about the very latest "Dual-Core" Athlon 64 series and their associated motherboards (i.e. Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe with a Dual-Core, AMD64 4000+ w/ dual 7800 SLI cards, for example) because these are so new that, at least I will assume, even LOMAC won't bring them to their knees...one would hope :(. So with that said: if you have a very new, very FAST system - purchase Lock On: Modern Air Combat. If your system is rather old (6-months is "old" these days I'm afraid :(!!!!), then purchase Flanker 2.5 (their is, also, a "patch" available to bring 2.5 to 2.51 as well) AND, when doing so, IF your REALLY looking into doing the "whole flight-sim thing" then it would be wise to purchase a good HOTAS setup as well (Saitek's X-52, for example) because, this way you can program all of your distracting key-strokes into the HOTAS and never take your eyes off the enemy or the ground!

YET ANOTHER good choice that is somewhere in-between Flanker and LOMAC would be "Falcon 4.0" and there are a TON of free add-ons for this sim as well!!! Graphics are good and the flight model (after updates) is second to none AND it don't require as much "horsepower" to run it either!!

I just got this game (March 2003).. It's a little old, but WOW!! I usually don't even like flight simulators. I just decided to try this one out for kicks ... ,and now I'm hooked!... I just upgraded to the v2.51 patch from v2.5 -- they did a lot of bug fixes in 2.51! The only problem with 2.51 is that the training missions don't work. So learn to play v2.5 with the training missions and then upgrade to 2.51. Anyway, this is a SUPERB flight sim! I am running it on an Athlon 1ghz w/ 768megs of ram, a Voodoo5, and a Logitech Wingman f/fback joystick. The graphics are wonderful, the flight model is the best I have experienced, and it is the most fun flight simulator I have played! There's a lot of keys and functions to learn because it is so realistic, but they have good training missions and an excellent 300+ page manual! (manual is installed with the game in .PDF format) The only three problems with the game are that manual landings are next to impossible, the only jets you can fly are the SU-27 and SU-33, and they don't have enough missions!! However, they do include a mission editor with the game so you can make your own or download ones that other people have made! I haven't tried the multiplayer support yet, but I hear that the v2.51 patch has fixed all kinds of problems with it. I work a full time job, and still have managed to learn most of the features in the game in a couple weeks time, though I still have a ways to go before I master it!! BUY THIS GAME!... It will be the best [money] you have ever spent! Months and months of enjoyment!...

I am still trying to land the plane manually, quite a tough thing to do. This is no Jane's simulator whatsoever, no similarity to IAF , USAF etc... The closest brother to this sim as of today would be Falcon 4.0 from Microprose.
The flight model is very realistic and the graphics are very good considering the time the game was released. You can fly the SU-27 or the aircraft carrier version the SU-33. Both are very good planes in real life as well.
The game has some issues since it first came out on V2.0. I run it without a problem at all, no crashes, no graphical glitches and no sound problems.
My specs are:
AMD K7 800Mhz
512 MB Ram (SD Ram 133)
Asus K7V-T mainboard
3D Prophet 64MB Geforce2
SBLive! Platinum.
...
Good luck and have a nice flight!!

I tried 2 different disks, would not run. I am well within the minimum required. Tech support is pathetic. Avoid if you cant return it.

I am a big fan of Russian military aircraft, both from a design and a performance perspective. The Su-27 is technologically superior to anything currently in the US arsenal. As for this sim, it is going to basically be re-released by Ubi with a new graphics engine as part of their upcoming new air combat sim, Lock-On: Modern Air Combat (LOMAC). LOMAC has already developed a wide following in the sim community and promises to do for modern combat sims what IL-2 Sturmovik did for WW2 era dogfighting sims. At this point I am just going to wait the few more months to get LOMAC.

This game looks great - it has a wide following of players with web sites and great tips and tricks. Unfortunately I can't get it to run on any of my three PC's! My primary PC is a Dell P4 with a GeForce 4 card - game runs intro and then pops back to Windows. Does the same on my secondary machine and my laptop. Go out to UBI's site, and guess what - they don't support this game anymore. Go out to a fan site... and find a list of many other gamers with the same problem, so it's a known bug that the developer just doesn't feel like fixing or supporting! So if you plan to get this game, good luck, MAYBE it will work for you. If not, don't expect support from the developer - they want you to buy the next version.

I have been playing with the su27 flanker for the past 15 years. I started with the demo version of su-27 flanker- dos based. Now I think I can fly the real thing if i can only withstand the G forces. This Simulation is so realistic and so much fun I can not describe it. I did not run out of things I can do differently to see what the enemy will do in the pat 15 years. it never stops amazing me. For example I am even able to Capture an F15 if I damage it only just enough using only guns(Mano e Mano guns only). And then he lands in my Airfield while I am following him closely with a lock on him. If I some how manage to lose his sight and lose the lock he quickly tries to escape and flies so low that I can not get a lock on him to change his mind and I can not even find him on my radar most of the time. Once I escort it all the way and if I approach him during taxi he stops and waits for me to pass him. Way too much intelligence built into this simulator! it is a treasure that i guard closely. I bought a couple of them and a bunch of Su-27 flanker the original dos versions. For me they are a collectors item. I saved all my victories- I make sure I have the enemies skill level set at Excellent and all other stuff to realist(landings, damages etc). Still I am able to beat the enemy 99% of time and land safely and do some target practice shooting at radars etc. I like the dogfights with F1 guns only. This way you get the max testing of your piloting skills. No missiles suddenly coming at you without warning and ruining your day. I also like the anti-radar missions because I realize the missile and I know I am being tracked by a couple of SAMS as soon as I am in the range. I do evasive flying and get great satisfaction when the missile passes you in plain site and explodes. You beat the SAM.
You can record your play and analyze in every possible angle. esp useful for learning to dog fight. It helps to know the padlock view. That tracks the enemy plane so you do not lose sight of it.(when you have a visual of the enemy press 5 to change mode to close air combat and the press Numpad ".". I do not know if this feature is available in the real flanker but it helps a lot in dogfights as you can not twist your head and keep track of the enemy crossing you. I am dreaming of head tracking and Video glasses to take the simulation to next level :)
I do not have to stress enough that this is not a GAME. It is only for the persistent people who will dedicate the time and energy to master the real deal and experience satisfaction in knowing that it is a real deal even if you do not finish the mission successfully.

I had 10x the system requirements but it loads as slow as a slug. My computer is a well-oiled machine. The FPS wasn't very impressive on a GeForce 4 Ti4200. Yet, the minimum is a Voodoo 2?? I was a bit disappointed. However, the simulation is quite good, and if you're a flight sim fan you will enjoy it. You just gotta have some sort of super-computer. If you don't, get Flanker 1.5 It's just as good if not better. Unless you need pretty graphics to be impressed by a flight sim.

Great game! One of the top games on GameSpy network. Good graphics and great gameplay (recomend joystick), but multiplayer is a little bit creapy (but ok). Overall game is really good.