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F/A-18 Korea is set, as you might expect, in the Korean peninsula, where North Korea is leading a massive invasion of the South. You play an F/A-18 pilot assigned to various strike and support missions during the conflict. The game allows for up to eight pilots, so you have at your disposal a whole squad to take on the North Koreans. It's a rich combat theater: missions range from ground strikes to air sorties; pilots can be based both at airstrips and on aircraft carriers; opponents range from the throwaway MiG-21 to the ultrasharp Su-27UB (which can carry nuclear weapons).
The flight and simulation engine is basically the same as that found in F/A-18 Hornet 3.0, which was set in the Persian Gulf during the Gulf War. Thanks to fast frame rates and a smooth simulation engine, flying the F/A-18 is a pleasure. But learning to fly is a complex undertaking, so there's plenty to sink your teeth into. The enemy artificial intelligence is sharp enough to take you out of the sky more often than not. And if the artificial intelligence isn't good enough, pilots can go head-to-head in networked games of kill everybody and bomb the flag. You must play network games, including those you play over the Internet, via an AppleTalk-based connection. You need to use something like IPRemote to mimic an AppleTalk connection over the Internet.
Even though its engine is the same as the one in Hornet 3.0, F/A-18 Korea would be worth the money if Graphic Simulations had offered only the new campaign. Instead, besides some bug fixes - the training VCR works properly now, thank you - the company added 3Dfx support for use with TechWorks' Power3D card. The resulting simulation is breathtaking. Also new is the mission editor. Those who don't get enough with the missions included can use the mission editor to create a virtually unlimited supply of new sorties. The editor is limited, however. Users can create only single missions, not campaigns. Also, the locations of key facilities (such as factories and railyards) is fixed. Finally, users must use the supplied terrain map of the Korean peninsula. Still, even with those limitations, the mission editor keeps the game lively long after you play the prepackaged conflicts.
If you like Hornet 3.0 (or any other realistic combat flight sim), you'll love F/A-18 Korea. Be warned, though: F/A-18 is tough for beginners. It takes some time to learn how to control the aircraft, and landing on an aircraft carrier at night is not for the squeamish. If you're willing to press on and learn an invaluable skill you can use next time you wake up on an aircraft carrier, consider F/A-18. It's a great flight. - David Reynolds
Good News: Great realism. Aircraft control is precise and challenging without being overwhelming. Lots of missions and an included mission editor.
Bad News: Tough. Unit placement in mission editor is limited.
Rating:4/4
©1999 MacAddict
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Still one of the best simulations around,
By A Customer
This review is from: Korea/hornet 3.0 Bundle Side-by-side (CD-ROM)
F/A-18, released in '97 is still in many ways, superior to current releases. The first thing I noticed was how crisp and beautiful the cockpit was. DI's upcoming Super Hornet and Jane's F/A-18 both feature fuzzy, poorly designed cockpit art. Since this is something I'm staring at most of the flight, I feel it's an important point.The scenery, although fairly generic, is also VERY crisp and unlike recent sims I've seen (Flanker 2 for example), the colors are actually quite beautiful and natural looking. Carrier ops are fabulous. Absolutely the best I've seen up til now. The feeling of landing a crippled Hornet on a carrer deck at night is just incredible. There are also other aircraft trapping at launching all the time which really add to the realism. The avionics, while far from unrealistic are missing several ECM modes which I believe will be available in Janes and DI's upcoming releases. The A-A modes are complete and very satisfying, but there are problems with the one of the A-G modes in properly rendering the terrain. This is probably due to the rather coarse poly mesh making up the terrain. It is also this large mesh that's responsible for the extremely fast and consistent frame rates even on mid-range machines under Glide (Korea does not support D3D). There is no dynamic campaign, but the game does include 28 scripted missions in Korea and there are hundreds more available for free download at GSC's Korea website. Some of them are quite good. You can design your own missions to some degree of complexity with the built-in mission editor. Korea provides a wonderful CD-Based training classroom, with dozens of topics. This is some of the best training material I've ever seen in a flightsim. It also comes with a beautiful manual written by a genuine Hornet driver. All in all Korea is a very solid product which you shouldn't pass up at this price. You even get a copy of the non-accelerated Hornet 3.0 which is REALLY FAST on systems without 3D hardware. Although are are many features in hte upcoming DI and Janes offerings, Korea will always posess a certain "feeling" of flight that other GSC sims have provided. Janes has never been able to capture that inertial feel in their games, and IMO, the graphics are just sharper and more refined than the screenshots I've seen of these new sims.
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