sir-roosio

wilson

Scores are great. not just in arcady games though, I love super realistic games (see my review for energy airforce) then it gives you a score at the end, its great! I think games like Gran Turismo should have scores in them! I know it's not wuite the same as burnout 3, but it would be nice to have say, a par lap time for each track depending on the car you're in, subtract points for hitting walls, or losing control, and you can see if you need to improve or not, it's nearly there with the licence tests just needs to go a bit further (IMHO)!

@ Dragonhawk, any excuse to count squares! Think it comes from eating too many big cadbury's dairy milk bars as a kid!

http://www.ea-web.com/en2/img/head01.jpg Berfore I review this game, a quick autobiographical entry. . . When I was about 10 or 11 my brother purchased a second-hand Amiga 500 (upgraded to 1MB of RAM!) which came with tonnes of games. There were platform games, racing games, strategy games (my first introduction to turn based strategy with Laser Squad), but my favourites were the flight sims! And chief among the flight sims were Cinemaware's 'Wings' and Microporse's F19 Stealth Fighter. Both of these were immersive games, which dropped you into the role of a aircraft pilot flying in a conflict bigger than you and your aircraft. A few years later I was old enough to start earning some moneym and I soon treated myself to playstation, which came with G-Police again, a fantastically immersive game, but something was changing. Instead of the 4-8 missiles that you could carry in F19, the Cobra gunship was equipped with 60. By the Time I excitely rushed out and bought Ace Combat 3 the situation had quite frankly gotten ridiculous. With payloads numbering in the hundreds and missions starting over the combat area offering no sweaty handed perspiring brow moments where an enemy patrol threatens to jump you before you've even got close to the target zone! Fast forward to 2005 and I was idly flicking thorugh the usual websites reading reviews for Ace combat 5 (and lamenting the number of missiles you were still equipped with) when in the 'if you like this you may also like' box was an entry for 'Energy Airforce: aim strike' "steep learning curve" lamented the reviewer, "punishingly small payload" "incoming missilees almost impossible to evade" "half hour missions" "Difficult landings" I got no further through the review as I had to excuse myself a go to the toilet for a few deep breaths and a splash of cold water! Energy airforce is a realistic flight sim, on the PS2. or as I call it, mana from heaven. You play the role of a pilot in a non-descript airforce in a war against a military dictatorship of a non-descript country. After passing a couple of the flight training levels (not mandatory, but highly recommended) I started the first mission. You attend a briefing, then arm your aircraft, and your wingman (tactical choices later, such as arming yourself for ground attack, and your wingman to cover you in the air are possible) and on to the mission: Patrol for enemy aircraft, simple. take off, follow the waypoints, patrol the border for 5 minutes, then RTB for tea and crumpets, meat and two veg to a seasoned flight sim player like me! After twice crashing whilst taxying to the runway (once by overshooting the tarmac and destroying my landing gear, once by crashing into my wingman's arse because i didnt brake soon enough) I finally got my plane lined up, recieved permission from the tower, engaged afterburners and was away. Instantly it was obvious that this is meant to be experienced as much as played. The game makes great use of the dual shock's rumble feature, giving you a great feeling of speed as you accelerate and lift off the runweay, the vibration suddenly lessening as you leave the ground. Your allies and wingmen engage in both mission related communications, and idle bitching chit-chat as you head for the first waypoints (by the way, you WILL be too slow to get there, and you WILL be told of by the AWACS controller, not because its written in the game, but because you aint got the hang of it just yet!). The cockpits of the aircraft are highly detailed, and the game employs a virtual cockpit freeview system where you can look all around you (vitally important, as your radar has blind spots). The handling of the (officially licenced) aircraft feels right. Not over-sensitive, but at the same time responsive. you'll also suffer black-outs and red-outs if you start to manouver too sharply (holding your breath and grunting doesn't help) an element missing in so many console flight-sims right now. The ground detail isn't particualrly astounding at zero-zero, but it is created from real radar mapping, and meant to be viewed from high-altitude, where it looks just fine and dandy. The biggest plus for me of this game being on a console, is that the controls have to fit on a PS2 joypad. This has made sure Taito only keep the controls that are neccesary, and throw away anything that overcomplicates things. They've done a fantstic job of this, you can control everything that (I feel) a flight sim needs; landing gear (flaps are lowered at the same time) ,arrestor hook, target and weapon selection, wingman commands, and even countermeasures to avoid missiles, (though this takes A LOT of practise and mission restarts to do). As I mentioned before, you can only carry a realistic payload of missiles & bombs. However, whilst Ace combats myriad missiles have a 3km range, the Energy airforce missiles can be fired at realistic ranges of around 30km for amrams and 12-15km for sidewinders. Which leads me on to the combat. The first few times I attempted the first mission I was mercilessly slaughtered! Like taking down Lobstermen on TFTD, you need a bit of practice before you get the hang of combat. Flying in, locking on, ordering your wingman, firing, switching targets, and evading any incoming missiles in the space of 5 seconds takes a bit of juggling, and enemy AI is quite advanced. But when you get there. . ooooh it's so satisfying! and the first time you wipe out the final mig using nothing more than machine guns gives you a sense of achievment that is missing in most video games in general, let alone flight sims. Then after the mission there are replays, with multiple camera angles and the option to save them to memory card (though at half an hour each, you'll need a lot of space). Overall, it's hard work getting to grips with this game, but for me it was a labour of love. If you enjoy flight sims, buy it now! Interstingly, this is ine of only a few games released in the west that is compatible with the PUD J5A headset (pictured below) allowing you to look around the cockpit by moving you head. It's also a very space concious way of watching your DVDs on a huge screen. unfortunatley my budget won't stretch to importing one from Japan, but any donations kindly recieved! http://ascii24.com/news/i/hard/article/2002/09/10/images/images696479.jpg the games website is Here and features some great 'pigeon-engrish' Enjoy! p.s. I know it's 'quick' game reviews, it started off quick but I had to mention this, then that, then this then that, and suddenly it was long sorry

Stun grenade, Thankyou for posting. It's been a darn good series so far, and its nice to see the values of sportsmanship and gamesmanship that make cricket what it is being uphelp, even on this board!. hmmm, cricket hooligans. Hard to imagine chavs in replica england wooly tank-tops trashing the high-streets of britain, but it may happen. Spin-bowling half-bricks through shop windows & bowling yorkers at the riot police. Oh, and while we're on the subject - It's look-a-like time! http://specials.rediff.com/cricket/2005/apr/07cric15.jpg (above) 70s wierdo rocker Frank Zappa http://www2.memenet.or.jp/~ken/hello_g/zappa_big.jpg (above) Aussie bowler Jason Gillespie

And what caused this climate change? there was no specific 'cause' it was just a natural event. Green activists at the time probably said it was that fault of all those ships sailing off to the crusades using up all the wind and leaving none to cool the world down I believe there is no one answer to providing all our needs through renewable energy. It will be a group effort. Firstly, I think there should be a conceeted effort to erect a decent number of wind farms (see above) Small local power supply plants such as This one (apologies for the strap line!) near me should be set up. Other schemes could use tidal flow, wave power, geothermal (dont think this option is particularly viable in the UK) and other sources as the loacal surroundings provide. Every house should be encouraged to erect a few solar panels and PV cells, such as This Scheme which provides a third of all the energyu needed for 25 flats. Although not completely self sufficient Heat Pumps produce 3-4 times more enrgy in heat than they use in electricity, and can be used to heat your house, or your water. If new homes are fitted with this heating sytem when they're built then energy concumption would drop accordingly. although none of these will fulfill the role of providing all our energy, once you start to combine these factors you start getting near that figure. I'm with you, to a point. Nuclear power is a very efficient and safe form of energy production, when done properly. but the waste materials it does produce are highly dangerous, and remain so for a very long time. I dont really like the idea of burying it underground, under the sea, or anywhere else for that matter.

hmm, but on a global scale survival of the fittest seems to have changed to survival of the richest! So what can we do to change children's attitudes and make them respect teachers and other pupils?

OK fullauto. . .messages of sheer befuddlement at cricket are also cordially invited to attend! And I'm sure, being british, you've played the garden version 'french cricket' at least once in your life? surely?

You didn't really continue the analogy, cos originally you used 'toys' as a representation of nuclear weapons, then in the second instance you used 'toys' in a purely metaphorical sense to help describe a baby who has a strop on. . .but I see your point Nobody is willing to start disarmament untill their 'old enemies' commence disarmament, and they are, of course, waiting for their 'old enemies' to commence disarmament. They, of course, are waiting for. . . . "and so on ad infinitum" And then of course there's the 'enfants terrible' who have developed nuclear weapons and not signed up to the treaty, who would want disarm while they still have weapons??? But then the countries who see themselves as emerging super powers want to be big players on the world stage, so they, of course, will want to develop their own nuclear weapons. I hope a bigcomet comes along and the only way to stop it is to fire every nuclear weapon on the planet at it at once, and then everyone will HAVE to co-operate and then all the warheads will bne gone at once. . . .but that aint gonna happen!

I, Sir Roosio, would hereby like to declare my support for the England Cricket Team at the Third Npower Ashes Test at Old Trafford, Manchester. The series currently stands at 1 all. CUMMON ENGLAND! The aforementioned Sir Roosio would also like to invite anyone to leave their own messages of support for either England or Australia underneath. A live scorecard is currently available here . If you don't understand scorecard. . .tough, I really can't be bothered to explain it. Thankyou

the BGA (british go association) uses the japanese rules, when you count the territory at the end they count the number of empty intersections in your territory, while when i played we counted the number of squares. is this the difference?

Stun greade, theres some fairly good information and rules here. As a matter of interest, odes anyone know how chinese and japanese go rules differ?

Although I do agree that the human race is slowly screwing up the planet, I also think it's worth noting the fact that the earth has never had a stable climate! Firstly, is it any suprise that the world is gradually warming when we are technically still in an Ice Age? If the earth is in an ice age, then surely it will eventually come out of it? Temporary periods of climate change have been recorded, or discovered throughout history, take for examples Europes 17th centruy Mini ice age that contributed to the superior quality of stradavarious violins. It's possible that the current gradual warming of the Earth is purely a natural event, it's equally possible that it's a natural event that has been speeded up by human activity, or, as popular opinion suggests, it may be all our fault. However if the current wave of concern over how we can affect the planet has been bought to the fore by these events then at least thats a silver lining!. What REALLY annoys me, however, is old gits in my local region who campaign religiously against the introduction of wind farms. The three people interviewed on this link are typical examples. A bunch of middle-aged do-gooders spouting lyrical about the 'patchwork quilt' of the country side, who'll all be dead long before the oil runs out and the atmosphere turns black. I live in the remotest little back-end village you have ever seen, I have stunning views in every direction, and absolutely adore everything about the countryside. I also appreciate that if we don't do something pretty damn quick it will be too late. Windfarms may not be the ideal long-term solution, but they're a tried and tested form of renewable energy that can be erected in many suitable places thorughout rural britain. They may not be enough to supply our entire power requirments, but for every one thats up and running, it's a little bit of pressure taken of the non-remewable energy suppliers. And personally i think that this http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/04/uk_enl_1095764311/img/laun.jpg Looks a damn site better than these monstrosities that already littler the coutryside, yet no-one complained about cos they were all far to desperate to get a toaster! http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/exhibitions/energy/media/images/46pylon.jpg Still are my friend, Check them out!

I'm sorry. . .the Germans landed at Roswell in T34's when?????????? I love it when a thread goes major-league off-topic! hehehe

played it twice, and still cant get my head round the sheer size of that bloody board! Mind you,in saying that, i did watch my friends play a game, and once i was removed from the action I could start to see patterns and lines emerging, territiry nearly caught etc. etc. But i just get this awe-filled felling whenever i start to play cos I have no idea where to begin! In mentioning backgammon, thats a cracking game that needs to be more popular IMHO!

I assume ivory is referring to situations such as This , this, and this. More extreme are situations such as teachers being besieged in their homes, and one that i find particularly disturbing and scary is that of a teacher being sexually attacked by a 15 year old pupil. Although I've found very little on primary schools having problems, it's certainly a scary thing that secondary school staff being physically assaulted both in and out of school. Where has this shift in bad attitude come from? where did the traditional attitudes of respect and fear towards teachers become so eroded that now your educator is seen as just another person telling you what to do who can be pushed and punched out of the way? or, is it that this kind of behaivour has always happened but now teachers are more likely to report it, and that it's being picked up by the media. I have a friend who is now in his mid-thirties, who was accused of assaulting a teacher at school. However, he claims that the teacher threw a blackboard rubber at him from the opposite side of the tablem and as my friend got up to dodge it, his legs banged the table into the teachers knees and sent him sprawling on the ground. Although the cases mentioned above are more extreme than that, would the local press have picked up on that story if it happened toaday? Asa the in-depth strategy core survey proved, the gummi-bears are mainly to blame, but I can't help feeling that there may be something more at work here as well.

Thev hypocrisy started a long time ago when the Nuclear super powers (france, China, UK, America, Russia) signed the non-proliferation treaty, which basically said 'we have nuclear weapons, we will keep our nuclear weapons, no one else can buy our nuclear weapons, no one else can make they're own, but if you want ot enrich uranium for power stations, we wont stop you.' Pakistan didn't sign the non proliferation treaty, so they developed they're own weapons unhindered, however iran is currently signed up. They claim their porgram is for the purpose of creating electricity, no one else believes them.

Anyone read this? you hear that boys and girls? it's the sound of shields being banged on the horizon!

Rhyss Ifans is James Bond in 'Cut my hair another day!'

It's always good to see a politician who seems motivated by belief and passion, rather than keeping himself and his cronies in fresh ground coffee. Always reminded me of the mark and lard radio one show episode, where the Lard was selling 'Robin Cook action figures'. There was one of him sitting on a toadstool fishing, one of him pushing a wheelbarrow, one where he was digging with a spade. . . I heard he had been taken ill on the news last night, but I only found out he was dead when I logged on.

I always feel guilty when I click the edit button, its like trying to hide my stupidity from everyone! Sir-Roosio: Stupid and Proud!

Jesus man, hide that post quick, or Bush will be gathering the ivasion fleets again!!!!!!!!!!!!

well, he's been Scottish, Austrailian, English, English, and Irish. So, take your pick really!

. . . . . . . I will say no more! Nope, I've set a precedent in previous threads, it seems to be pretty much open season on the french here! Fire away! On another point, most upset that the navy will be switching to using the lockheed martin F35 JSF, after our success with the Harrier I'd like to see britain looking after itself on the aircraft front. On the other hand, it does mean I get to pretend I'm in the RNAS next time I play Energy Airforce. Thank god there is a realistic flight sim on the PS2!