FS 4.0 (Anyone remember the WWI subgame? Bizarre and utterly unplayable!) This was in 1992.. I was 8 years old and hadn't a clue about planes! I thought 'gear' was something you used to accelerate on the runway! Memories: Most of my memories of FS4 are just watching the demo with neat flybys.
F-15 Strike Eagle III (From 1992 to 1994 I guess) Memories: For some reason my main memory of F-15 III is of an OV-10 being shot down.
Overlord - 1994. Or 'How I learned to stop jetfighting and love the Tiffy.' Memories: Rockphoon attacks on trains, and Fw190s' wing roots exploding. Also ditching the Tiffy with cool panning external view as you did so! The diary part of this game was inspired.
Strike Commander - 1995. An RPG flight sim. The geeky side of me wishes we had more of these, (though I don't play RPGs). And who cares what the other 1% of me thinks? Memories: The infrared warning light blinking ever closer, teaming up with MiG-29s briefly, the cafe meets with shifty persons, the nukes hitting Ireland and the screen whiting out. Class.
EF2000 - 1996. Probably my favourite flight sim. Memories: Barrel-rolling to defeat incoming missiles. Firing off Meteors. Low-level runway attacks. MiG-29 dogfights. Ejecting and watching the plane plunge into the sea with an incredibly cool splash. I still use the EF2000 sound pack as my computer sounds (Warning, systems failure!), which annoys the hell out of everyone
Warbirds - 1996/1997/1998
Or so. I actually played Warbirds online in the arena (for one night, till the 5 hours was up!) when it was in a very early stage, having got the demo off the US version of PC Gamer. I shot down a P38, as I recall. Played H2H from release till it got porked in 2.xx, first finding opponents in DALnet #fscombat then on some sort of H2H ladder. Wally? Memories: Loads. Mostly duelling vs 'Jedi Lancelot', a Hong Kong Ki84 pilot and bloody alt monkey, whilst I flew a Hurri IIC (or Spit, or something) and the crazy method of ACM it taught.. flying low and watching the shadows of the planes on the surface of the sea to judge the angles.)
Hornet 3.0 - I got invited into the 44th Werewolves squadron in Hornet 3.0 and had a great time with the 4-player games that game was capable of. These games were all about stealth and radar evasion, not furballs. Memories: High-speed chases through canyons with 'Altitude! Altitude! blaring and ground effect buffeting. The sound of missiles launching. Watching another Hornet streak overhead, missing me by less than 50ft without seeing me as I made an attack.
Flying Circus - 1997/1998
Pure unadulterated online air combat. Utterly daft. Great fun.
Memories: The AK, WingWalkers, Jasta 11, A1 vs C1 (?) 'gentlemans' duelling area with no firing on the merge (!), cheating for my Blue Max (20 kill streak) by pulling out the phone line when I was losing (and by that method keeping the kill streak next sortie!), not cheating for whatever the !! icon was called (50 kill streak) and hence never getting it, bizarre collisions, joining the Red Dragons, and Photoman's great doctored FC screenshots (Which is where Loose Rivets came from really)
Red Baron II - 1998/1999/2000
With FC's beta ending RBII was a poor cousin. OK, so it was more realistic, but the online part was uninspiring. Losing most of the Red Dragons didn't help matters. I ended up playing offline more than anything else, since the single player game ruled. RB3D was the 'massively multiplayer' element and extremely cool by comparison, though I don't really remember it as fondly as other online games. Memories: Fokker DVIIs going insane when damaged. Nieuport 28s spiralling down without the top wings. The best use of 'skins' in any online sim ever, with every squadron having individual paints. Making the Red Dragons paintschemes. Picking the Pfalz DVIII(?) and eventually DIII so as not to be flying a dweeb plane. Finding the DIII was as uber as anything else when damaged and finally giving up because of it. Thinking what a bunch of lamers some squadron who had bat-like wings (hard to describe.. the trailing edge was sort of webbed) on their aircraft (by playing with transparency) were.
Confirmed Kill - The beta. Bad memories: The game. Good memories: Didn't those beta CDs look nice?
Aces High - From whenever it started. Don't remember much about it really. Wouldn't waste your time if I was you.
