Customer Reviews

Jane's Attack Squadron

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Jane's Attack Squadron gets one star from me only because I can't figure out how to give it zero stars. Putting the "Jane's" name on this turkey is like nailing a Porsche badge onto a half-built Excalibur kit car.

As far as I can tell, here is what happened. About five years ago, Jane's was associated with Electronic Arts. In one of the greatest marriages in flight simulation history, a company with possibly the planet's most talented game designers cooperated with the world's premier source of military equipment data, and produced what will go down in history as one of the greatest combat flight sims of all time, Jane's WWII Fighters.

At some point after the release of that peerless masterpiece, there was a falling out between the two partners. Perhaps somebody from the "Jane's" side spilled coffee into an EA designer's keyboard, or maybe EA started to get jealous of the acclaim Jane's was earning using EA's talent.

Whatever happened, the geniuses took a hike, and now the Jane's name is being tacked onto products (I won't call them "software") that have evidently been designed by hacks, wannabees, moronic nuts and monkeys. With all due respect for monkeys, the Jane's name alone isn't going to raise the prestige of this trash, and in fact junk like J.A.S. is eventually going to pull the Jane's name right down into the gutter.

My advice to Jane's, is if you want to be involved in the PC gaming business, buy some kneepads, suck up your pride, and crawl back to the people who designed WWII Fighters and beg them, bribe them, do whatever it takes, to get them back on board. I know for a fact that programmers and designers can be bribed with stacked boxes of hot Captain Tony's pizza and cold liter bottles of Shasta spiked with Cutty Sark or flat Bartle's & James coolers, which ever happens to be available. Lacking those, a fair and equitable compensation package reflecting the creative talent's true value to your company could be used as a backup plan.

In the meantime, for everyone who craves the feel of piston speed, the rush of wind past your canopy, and the sight of your orange tracers pouring into an FW-190, lighting it up in flame and sending it tumbling into the clouds below, buy, borrow, copy or steal the original Jane's WWII Fighters, load it into your super PC, crank all the sounds and details up to max, and prepare to be awed again and again. The bigger the dogfights, the more WWII Fighters stops looking like a game and the more it starts looking like a masterful aviation painting in motion.

Having said that, why can't I buy it anywhere? My original copy is now a cherished possession that I guard carefully, and if you can find it, it's definitely worth whatever you're willing to pay.

But don't buy JAS. Instead, demand a Pacific version of WWII fighters, designed by the original people or at least people who know code from toejam - we've been waiting more than 5 years for Corsairs and Zeros, COMON JANES, GET IT TOGETHER!

OK, if this was the only combat flight simulation I had ever seen I would think it was pretty cool. For a Jane's flight sim circa 2002 however, it's not too good. The sound, graphics, and gameplay are not only not up to the standards of recent combat flight sims such as IL2 Sturmovik, they are not even up to the standards of prior Jane's flight sims such as WWII Fighters. If you don't have that sim, or Microsoft CFS2, or Sturmovik, or even European Air War,..

Ok I'm serious, don't buy this game, graphics [stunk] (turrents get shot off the plane like lego's, and most of the time the game won't even work on your computer), this has got to be the worst Jane's game ever! probably has to do with this Xicat company that made it... ifs its not electronic arts dont buy it. Don't believe me? check out the official xicat website! cheap website, no patches, and check out the forums, under the main forum (since there is no attack squadron forum yet) u'll see people screaming about the game and how it [stinks]!

Its an okay game.The graphics are okay, and the selection of aircraft is neat. But there are huge screw-ups. Even though Ive got a new Windows 2000 Pro with practically unlimited RAM and hard disk space, I have an extremely big problem with jerkiness(I think that the other reviewers didnt have big systems like me)although this is slightly helped by keeping the volume low. And its impossible to save campaigns, theres no AI skill level, and if you get below 1000 feet you literally get sucked into the ground. Also, for the gunsigts there is no dot in the center. Get WW2 Fighters. Its easy,fun,good graphics, and only [money] bucks.

Its a fun game. The graphics can get better though. I got this game for 5 bucks. Its worth that kind of money. The campaigns can get boring. There is a quick mission. That is where you can pick ur plane and the one or ones u try to blow up. U can blow up ships or airfeilds too. The damage graphics are awesome. It shows every bullethole. The landing gear can get hit easy, then its almost impossible to land. You can also bail out to. All ur gas oil and hydraulic tanks can leak. Sometimes when ur fuel tanks is hit, it explodes and rips off one of ur wings. If u can find it under $15 buy it.

if you buy this game. ok.. I have got to say that for something from Janes.. it's beyond aweful... don't waste your money

I have played a large number of air combat sims out there including many on line air combat sims. 80% of them have rotten graphics and very poor flight characteristics with jerking motions making multiplayer games impossible regardless of the internet connection you have. Controls are usually flawed and do not approximate even an arcade level of control.

Janes attack squadron has paid close attention to the detials of running high resolution graphics in a lean manner. The game is very responsive and easy to learn. They have made the game either inherently obvious in key assignments or naturally intuitive. The graphics are VERY good despite what you may have seen in previous posts. The only game I have found that comes close to the look and feel of JAS was the former Fighter Ace from Ketsujin Studios. It was a sad day indeed when they closed in August but if you are looking for a very good replacement I would certainly reccoment JAS. I can only think that those who did not thoroughly enjoy this game were probably competitors with lousy products to sell. This game was worth far more than I paid for it and has provided many hours of enjoyment.

The play of the game is reasonably challenging and can be set for any level of difficulty you want. It is capable of on line gaming and does very well at that. It really is everything you would expect in an air combat sim.

I like this Sim. No trouble downloading it. The graphics could be better: I'd like to see the wheels actually roll when taking off! As far as graphics are concerned, tho' it does show battle damage to a high degree - better than most. But this is an old sim - you get what you pay for. I'll tell you one thing this sim has going for it: sound. The engines are a nice smooth growl; better than Il-2. Another example, when you're flying the B-24 and cycling thru the different gun stations. The sound of the gun is real - I know, I've fired 50 cals! Even the sound of the spent cartridges hitting the metal deck - Superb!. If I could merge the sounds of this game w/ the graphics of Il-2 - now THAT would be an awsome flight sim! To me a flight sim is the sum of all it's parts. If you can get by the graphics, then you have one good combat flight sim.

It`s not bad, not great ethier.
It could use better joy stick control..I have use my keyboard to increase thrust which is a distraction when
in hard dogfighting.
Graphics are just okay but could be better.
aiming is a real pain in this game too.
Overall I find it fun, I like running the AI pilot
in the ground when I can`t shake him..good trick use
when he is on your six, fly as low to ground as you can
and watch him buy it...be careful you don`t join him.
A steep dive frustrates AIs too..zoom climb and you can
get him also.

Hmm, where to begin. First, pretty box, but nothing inside. no manual. Second, after installing, every time you try to play the game and insert the CD, it tries to re-install itself. The graphics are a very poor attempt. In fact they dont even come close to Jane's WWII Fighters released 5 years ago... DONT BE FOOLED- ATTACK SQUADRON is nothing like the older Jane's games by EA. This one is from XICAT and it is total rubbish. There is not enough room here to fit all it's shortcomings and failures, but the point is, for 39.00 you can get several very good flight sims like Combat Flight Simulator (2) from Microsoft, IL-2 Sturmovik,
or if you are lucky you can find the old Janes WWII Fighters.
trust me, you'll be kicking yourself in the pants for buying this,
It's a moneymaker, not qt all a quality game. You'll be making a quick trip to EB to hock this thing once you try it....