I decided to give Cliffs of Dover a go. My initial thoughts:
1) Ooooh, pretty!
2) Aircraft seem incredibly bouncy, making them very unstable as gun platforms. Il-2 had the exact same problem, so it has something to do with the flight/environment modeling.
3) I was going crazy figuring out why my gunsight kept disappearing on me as I was maneuvering. Then I discovered, oops, I didn't turn on sight illumination.
4) Love, love, LOVE the ability to customize your ammo belts, and being able to mix ball, incendiaries and AP.
4a) In fact, the sheer amount of customization you can apply to your plane visually (tail number, S/N, etc) is just awesome.
5) I also love how you can set it to simulate the fact that you're flying planes that don't have HOTAS controls.
6) My Aces High TrackIR profile is REALLY sensitive in Cliffs of Dover.
7) Holy CRAP that's a lot of subsystem controls.
8) I give up on flying 1v1 quick mission duels. The AI pilots are just as bad about running away as P-51 and La-7 pilots in the Mains.
9) Engine temperature effects OFF. No, I do NOT want to deal with your overly enthusiastic engine overheats.
10) Dammit, where the heck did I map my fuel mixture controls?!
11) Those Bf-110 backseat gunners have frelling laser sights.
12) And I thought the sun in Aces High was bright.
