David Hingtgen

The Su-33 may not officially have uber-stats, but it still "breaks the law" when the CPU is flying---the Strigon ones can run away from you at Mach 10, and do Kulbits all day long. Same for the CFA-44---I have seen it do "anything it wants". F-16 is gimped, and it shouldn't be. Also, they made the F-2A way too good, weapon-wise. That's expected though, it's Japan's plane in a Japanese game. Doesn't handle as well as the regular F-16 IMHO. No idea how the real one compares. I think the Super Hornet and F-2 should have their weapons switched.

Don't do the tunnels, then. They're operation C I think. Do A and B, take out the fortress---mission over, tunnel-free. You only have to do the tunnels if you want the "All operations" achievement. Do it later, in free-flight. I think I went with a Rafale, simply because it's smaller than most other planes that can do that mission well. (I miss the Gripen in this game) Other things: SOD's are very good in this mission, also try rockets. So many enemies so close together. Spam allied attack help---it refills with each operation completed, and you can't save unused ones.

The best tracks in AC6 are early---mission 1, 2, and 3. After that---meh. Though I do kinda like the children's choir at the end, it's not as cool as the other choirs. PS--people seem to be confirming what I suspected----online, the points you get are based on what you're flying, and what you shot. Taking out a Mirage with an F-22? Few points. Taking down a F-22 with a Mirage? Lots of points. I'm going to try a new tactic next time online---fly the Tornado with ECM. Avoid being shot down, as opposed to trying to shoot down everybody else. If nothing else it'll really frustrate all the F-22 and Su-33 users. (The Super Hornet seems to be much worse agility-wise than it should be, don't know why---no AMRAAM or QAAM either---if it was better dogfighting I'd fight with that with ECM---but the Tornado's high defense is a huge benefit online)

Countach: The only car I've ever had a poster of in my room. And it was up there for years. I still have to get one of those 1:18 AutoArt or Kyosho models of it. (this should go in the car thread though) PS---Mike, I just picked up MM Advent tonight. PPS---I was a Target today and saw all 4 types of 360 out now--Elite, Pro, Arcade, Halo. Just to make sure---the HDMI equipped Pro says so right on the front of the box, on the list of features, right? Because I haven't seen one yet I think.

That means Hiro and Claire are like half-cousins or something.

Good, it's not just me--I didn't think I'd gotten THAT much worse from not having played PGR for a long time. (Overall, the Test Drive and NFS series have usually had my fave handling for cars (and car choices), but that's going WAY back----recent NFS is all ricey street racing, not my thing)

Same here--the Countach (especially say 85-87) is still the coolest-looking car ever. I still want one. I may have to wait 20 more years, and buy one that's 40 years old (hopefully some will be below 40 grand then) but I still plan to get one some day. I've always wondered--why do only expensive cars look cool? Is it some silent agreement among car manufacturers? I mean, does a Corvette actually cost more to LOOK how it does? Why can't someone make a sleek, cool-looking car in the 20-25K range? (Well, they did--the 4th-gen F-body---but why are others so rare?)

Just played the PGR4 demo after a AC6 session (got 2 more achievements) and I really, really sucked----far worse than I've ever done in any driving game. I thought PGR3 was OK, but 4 just seems to handle differently or something---I just couldn't make any turn at all. Weird, because any game with Lambos gets my attention (I'm sick of all the Ferraris everywhere, and I've always liked "the other Italian exotic car maker" better)

All right, forget the F-4's. We have hundreds of F-16A/B's, and F-15A/B's. Plenty of pilots/training for them. Just upgrade them to use the AMRAAM and they'll certainly be at least "decent".

You know, with the zillion F-4/14/15/16's in the boneyard--couldn't we win just about any aerial situation through sheer numbers of reactivated planes? It seems the F-22 etc are always needed for some "ultimate showdown with a large, advanced enemy"---but frankly nobody has the sheer numbers we have available. I'd gladly send a thousand old F-4's against the largest Flanker fleet in the world, and expect to win.

Or in short: Even a mediocre AC game is better than 90% of all games out there. We were just expecting something truly amazing. (because every previous AC topped the last one)

I've seen it said that if Hitler hadn't have forced the bomber version of the Me-262, and it had thus not been delayed--it alone could have won the war in Europe. It was that much better---just too few. That's the problem the F-22 may face---being so few that quality won't help. 20 F-22's won't make any difference anywhere. But 200 sure will. With Flankers becoming as common as the F-16, frankly a large number of superior planes are needed. Or a TON of equivalent planes. We don't really have anything between the F-15 and F-22, which is where the Flanker is. We're not going to build a bunch of new F-15C's...

Buy AC 5, it's cheaper and better. I *know* 4 is a greatest hits so should be cheap, but 5's worth the extra money if it's not a greatest hits. Zero's good too---I rate it below 4, most people think it's right behind 5.

I think we're still watching, the eps just aren't interesting enough to remark about. I think they have 6 eps of story, trying to fill out a season. As for the last 2 mins----I hope it's not ---too obvious, and having Peter try to ... PS--do NOT mess with HRG. I still think he steals the show whenever he appears.

I was just about to post that. Great news, means that's certainly the version I'll get. Funny how Sony has made a cooler, quieter PS3 (when it didn't really need to), yet the 360 still overheats and drowns out overhead jets.

If my PS2 could play imports, I'd so buy VO again. There's about a .5% chance of a US release.

I've never seen that windows command---will it work/help when you get the typical "DNS not found" error when sites move? Or do DNS errors caused by places moving around depend more on your ISP getting around to noticing/routing correctly?

Still there, and the silver on the back is all wrong. It's like they got the top and bottom of the plane confused.

Yeah, but I like Bioware's stuff so much, that I bought KOTOR and Jade Empire for the PC, even after having played them earlier on the Xbox. (Just wait a little while until they're cheap---I got KOTOR for 10 bucks and JE for 8--well worth it for the extras added in, and the mods possible)

Nice---but I'm probably 12-18 months away from a new PC. (I just upgraded this one to last till then). Probably something even better----or I'll snag 2 of those really cheap. My goal for my next PC is to play Mass Effect, if/when it comes out for PC.

Cannon ammo has varied with difficulty since AC4. "Normal" on AC is "easy" on any other game---since there's 3 levels beyond that. "Easy" on AC is "hard to lose" with other games. Can't crash, almost infinite ammo, 1 hit takes down badguys, can take a half-dozen missiles without dying, etc. Hard gives 800+ rounds. (I never ran out). Just beat hard, on to extreme. (hope I see some aces, I don't want to have to go through again just to start getting them) PS--it always amazes me how "unknown" the AC series is among game reviewers---yeesh, AC4 was a best-seller, but they always act surprised that "a plane can carry 50 missiles, unlike real ones". That's part of it. It's a game, not a sim. If you want a sim, you need a keyboard, and joystick, and throttle, and still don't have enough buttons...

Better at the end? Not really. Non-spoilers because it's like every other AC: 1. You take down the big enemy squadron "one last time" and capture the capital. (Yellow, Ofnir, Strigon) 2. Uber-plane shows up. (ADF-01, ADFX-02, CFA-44). You take down the ace piloting it. 3. There's some gigantic mega-complex that nobody knew about until now that's being used to attack you. Go fight the remnants of the enemy squadron, shoot out the power generators/cooling towers/thermal exhaust port then blow it up from the inside. IMHO 5 was the most interesting because it's the most "personal" because of what's going on, and it's the least predictable. My only real complaint is the Su-47---stop putting it in games! It's just another Flanker, and there was only ever one built. At least there were 2 YF-23's, and they're not knock-offs of another plane. (I'd love to see the F-5/20 back). Having the F-16 at the start is traditional, but they make it too weak---no matter how slow another plane is, if it shows up later in the game, it'll be better than the first plane---but there's NO way a Super Hornet should come close to a -16's speed, or an F-117 as agile as the F-16, etc. They need the F-4/F-5 in all games just to allow the F-16/18 to have more realistic stats in comparison. The F-16 should be a nice "2nd all-purpose" plane. Bought fairly early, but not right at the start. (AC5 did make you wait too long for your second plane though) PS---I finally found (and took out) some XB-70's. A lot easier than in earlier games---though luckily I had the F-14 and Phoenixes at the time, so that helped.

I'll have to say I fall in that category---mainly because frankly, I've never had anything to practice with. 1 hour in driver's ed really isn't enough, and few people will trust you with their car to learn. (perpetual source of shame for me, as my dad's truck has an 18-speed and he can double-clutch it)

Yup--I disliked 3 almost immediately. Plot was incomprehensible. AC 2 had very little plot, but it made sense and tied in with the missions. I didn't find out about the "real" AC 3 for years, long after I had sold it. Anyways---played online last night, hooked up with Apollo Leader. I had already been playing like 3 hours so couldn't go much longer. Suggestions for people online (particularly hosts): 1. 5 min games, maybe 10 mins. Anything else is so long nobody has a chance to join in with friends. 2. Limit planes to Level 3. That allows everything BUT the uber-plane, which is just insanely cheap. 3. 8 players is "the perfect number" IMHO. Others have so many there's no fun in trying to get "revenge" or ganging up on someone. Also takes forever to get 12+ people to join. There's one annoying thing with online though---you can't change stages. I got sick of "Team battle 3" after a while, but couldn't change it without kicking everyone out and starting a new session. They really should allow stage changes while keeping all the other settings the same--it's not like I wanted to change it to co-op or anything.

...I only found pics of one. (a CRJ) Anyways-- Official Grumman Iranian Tomcat promos!