Major Gamer’s TacOps Report #1
Saitek X36F joystick and throttle
Microsoft Combat Flight Sim II (Beta)

"Fuel for Gamers" "The bedevilment is within the details. Therefore, to assist all FGN Game Corps. folk with rumored expectations, I uncover what I can about new and coming product. All done, rest assured, with your success always in mind!"

I’ll be tellin’ you this, flight members; I have just been through bloody hell — not, mind you, due to faulty equipment or inoperative software. Indeed, not. Rather, I’ve just been experiencing the dynamics of a lifetime — well, at least for today. Microsoft Flight Sim II, in combo with the Saitek X36F joystick and Saitek X35T throttle, places you deep within the darin’–do quite nicely.      Primarily, as you know, the equipment must be superb if we of the FGN Game Corps. plan to win the game wars, right lads and lasses? There’s naught that I’ve been using afore that comes near the performance of the aforementioned joystick and throttle.      As a "righty", in preparation of an air battle, I placed my keyboard far to the left. I then positioned the joystick afore me and the throttle a wee ways to the left of the joystick. All of the problems you might find with other I/O devices simply are not here! The throttle, she connects directly to the joystick and, as the X36F offers both USB and game port adapter connections, you lads and lasses get to decide what link–up should occur      Blimey! The device certainly was not difficult to set up. Simply install the initial software, then restart your machine, and then plug the joystick’s USB connector directly to your machine. (If you don’t have USB connections, you can use the game port adapter!) As soon as the connection be completed, your Windows software will recognize the new device — as it bloody well should. Spot on! You’re now ready to enjoy the capabilities that are offered by this marvelous joystick.      The throttle performs as you would expect any high–end throttle to perform — she’s magnificent. The hand grip is more’n comfortable, and there are various wheels and buttons and triggers that you can be programmed as you see fit. Thankfully, Saitek included a Microsoft Flight Sim game extension, so your Major here was ready to debilitate those who would be opposin’ me directly from the start.      You’ve got your hat for viewing all around your cockpit, inside and out, and you’ve got your various triggers and even a "pinkie" control. You have various other triggers and buttons that you can program for your other games. And for software that supports this controller, or that you can program for it, there’s the darlin’ SAFE and LOCK trigger for all sorts o’ missiles and rockets and the like.      The Saitek software invites all to install various game set ups, and you can also access sundry tests quite easily. You can also download other game set ups from the fine old web, or access the few that come included on the included disc. There be no doubt about it — Major Gamer wishes to see many of your machines thus equipped so we can be a winning the game wars as quickly as possible!

And then we have Microsoft’s Flight Sim II: WWII Pacific Theater, Beta version. Crikey, I was perspiring heavily in me uniform from the air combat encounters. Aye, ’twas bloody hell when I first started out, with your hero having to bail out of the aircraft more often than not. The action being so fierce and all, I had a scant moment of peace simply within which to absorb the glamor of the graphics — be it planes and terrain.      After thrashing about and enjoying some success in the Quick Combat arenas, I later experienced all sorts of accomplishments within this combat flight sim. The first was the ease with which you can learn the game (naturally depending upon your choice of I/O device. The directional sound, the ping of enemy lead excruciatingly piercing your aeroplane’s armor, the delight of sighting and blasting away at enemy planes, all provided a very real sense of what actual combat in the skies was like during the epoch air battles in the Pacific Theater.      Ahhh, a quick addendum for game folk that might be bereft of a superior joystick and throttle combo — you can use your system’s mouse in the same manner as you would a control stick within this battle–filled environment. The mouse movements you make controls your aircraft much as a joystick would — I found, however, that more exacting movements and controls were possible using the aforementioned Saitek joystick.      With the Beta version, only the Free Flight, Quick Combat and a few Single Missions and Campaigns were operational. Thankfully, as I am always fit and operational, I managed to access all of these environments and became embroiled in numerous dogfights. With about a 50/50 success ratio, which, considering the Major’s mature age, is quite an accomplishment. I departmed this Beta version believing this shall be one grand combat flight sim (when the work is finally done on the production version). Aye, granted, there were some graphic anomalies when flying at dawn and diving toward the ground to chase enemy aircraft. There was a flicker or two, screen blanking, and other stutters, but overall, compatriots, this Beta revealed great depth of play, especially in the future when the finished version releases.      Although I wasn’t asked to offer my flight combat expertise directly to the creators of this title, rest assured that the likes of bonny legends such as Saburo Sakai and Joe Foss’ true–to–life experiences will be part of the offering. When the manual is written, quotes from these Japanese and American WWII pilots will be part and parcel of the docs. Additionally, Bob Campbell and Mike Weide also shared their WWII naval carrier aviation experiences with the developers.      The graphics are a treat — they be rich, well defined and accurate — from the exterior of the various planes to their cockpits. In the Beta version, such matters as the performance of the aircraft (including flight and ground models) remain unfinished. There were also a few of the enemy planes that seemed to be flying rather automatically, with nary a pilot to be seen within their cockpits. Bailing out occassionally found yours truly floating magically through the sky sans parachute. But it was the combat, lads and lassies, that held me in rapt attention. Bloody marvelous stuff! When the final version lands squarely in various retail channels, if you’re a rabid combat flight sim gamer, or a newbie just wishing to be trying out your wings, you couldn’a do any better than this Microsoft title.

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