Friday, April 06, 2007

Games I wish someone would do a new version of ... Knights of the Sky

Next on the GIWSWDANVO list is this fantastic flight sim by Microprose.

To me, flight sims are kind of boring. I point the blame more at the advances of modern aviation than at the developers, though. Autopilots mean that you can point and click at a destination and expect the plane to get you there without any nasty mountains getting in the way. Even when you want to fly yourself the plane still has enough brains to not let you do anything terribly stupid - after all, they cost a fortune, so it's in everyone's interests that you don't just nosedive into the floor. And things like heat seeking missiles that can pick out a target, shoot off, and destroy it, all long before your puny human eyes have worked out that there's a slightly darker bit in those clouds over there, take the fun out of dog fights.

Which is why historical flight sims should be great (let's forget about Blazing Angels for now, because it was bobbins). Fun dogfighting, planes that are glorified biscuit tins, held together by string, and (this is the most important part) masses of Biggles-style atmosphere.

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