From: jeremy@cheetah.inmos.co.uk (Jeremy Thorp)
Subject: Re: Falcon 3.0 vs WingCommander II
Organization: INMOS Limited, Bristol, UK
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 13:24:01 GMT

In article <1992Dec16.120313.12823@waikato.ac.nz>, mperry@waikato.ac.nz writes:
|> In article <Bz99pv.6G7@news.udel.edu>, caldwell@bach.udel.edu (David L Caldwell) writes:
|> > Hello Everyone,
|> > 
|> > I'm in the market for a good Jet fighter game.  The two most talked about
|> > games are Falcon 3.0 and WingCommander II.  What are the strengths and
|> > weaknesses of each?  I have a 386DX/25 with 8Mb (630k available to DOS),
|> > Thunderboard and Joystick, how well will they run on my system?  Do they
|> > use any goofy copy-protection schemes?  Any and all information and
|> > opinions are welcome.
|> > 
|> > Thanks in advance!!
|> > 

I don't own many games, but I do own both Falcon 3 (F3 for short) and Wing Commander II (WC2)
for short. I am not, however, an expert at either game.

My feeling is that which game you prefer depends to a large degree on what you like. Both
games are very good, but are very different. Personally I much prefer F3.

First an into. to the games. I have put this in because I am not quite sure what you mean by
a `Jet Fighter Game'; are you aware that WC2 is a space combat game?

WC2: A cinematic type game with great graphics and space dog-fights. Game is basically
linear, you get a cinematic/animation bit, then a fight, then an animation etc. 

F3: You fly an F16 jet fighter-bomber in various missions. There are training missions (you
can configure your own), and there are campaigns. You can have wingmen, and put in
way-points and tell that what they should do at each waypoint.

My hardware: 33Mhz 486DX, 8Mb Ram, 210Mb hard disk, Trident SVGA card (both games only use
VGA though), NO sound card (only the PC speaker), mouse, and analogue Gravis joystick.


Wing Commander 2
================

I bought WC2 on the strength of reviews when it came out at the end of last year, just after
I bought my PC.

I was stunned by the graphics (to say the least). WC2 uses a LOT of animated graphics
sequences, in particular when characters are talking to each other.

Requires 10 to 15Mb of disk space (+ more is you by the speach upgrade (you get a little
speach at the beginning without the upgrade)).

The documentation is tiny, a small booklet. There is no copy protection.

Playing WC2 is a bit like watching a Star Wars movie, with the controls being handed over to
you whenever there is some fighting to be done, and then going back to the movie.

I have not played WC2 on a 386. It works very well on my 486. I did once try it on a 12Mhz
286 - it was awful!!.

Falcon 3
========

I bought Falcon 3 a couple of months ago having seen somebody else copy. I also bought a copy
of the Operation Fighting Tiger (OFT for short) upgrade. (and added the patch to OFT). Note
that the early versions of F3 (apparently) had many bugs. F3 patch level D is now the retail
version.

With OFT, F3 takes about 12Mb of disk space.

Note that F3 is much more than a video game. It is a simulator of great depth (the manual is
large, and OFT has another manual too). There is no copy protection (a pirate without the
manual would have a hard time though).

F3 has some impressive animated sequences for when you take off and land/crash/eject/die.
These are digitised film, rather than the animated cartoon style of WC2.

OFT gives you more campaigns, more enemies, and more detail over the basic F3.

I love some of the little touches in F3. For example: you go to attack an enemy armoured
column. The vehicles are moving, and fighting against some of vehicles from your side. So you
hit some of the enemies (e.g. with cluster bombs), and you see little men running away from
the wreckage.

Summary:
========

These two games are state of the art games. The graphics of both are very good. Both have
digitised speach (you need a Soundblaster with WC2, F3 makes an effort though the PC speaker).

If you want a space-based shoot-em-up with fancy animated sequences between each battle go
for WC2.

If you want a very sophisticated jet simulator (which you can also play as a video game),
with lots of depth, go for F3.

Personally I hardly play WC2 these days, but I play F3 A LOT!!!!!

I have not gone into much detail, so if you have any more questions just ask.

-- 
Jeremy Thorp, INMOS Ltd, 	|	jeremy@inmos.com
1000 Aztec West, Almondsbury, 	|	jeremy@inmos.co.uk
Bristol, BS12 4SQ, UK.		|	
Tel.  +44 454 616616    Fax. +44 454 617910
The above is the personal opinion of the author,
and does not necessarily reflect INMOS policy.