What is the Best Combat Flight Simulator for PC

With so much choice these days, it can be hard to decide what flight simulator, combat sim, or flying games to buy. You certainly can't always rely on advertisements as I will show. You can however rely on my opinion, as I have nothing to gain by reviewing and recommending what I consider to be the best value for money Flight Simulators you can get right now.

In this article I will be looking at

• Strike Fighters 2 and its expansions
• IL-2 Sturmovik
• Lock on Flaming Cliffs 2
• DCS Black Shark
• DCS Black Shark 2
• DCS A-10C Warthog
• Rise of Flight
• IL-2 Cliffs of Dover
• Wings of Prey
• Falcon BMS
• Flight Pro Sim (and various other similar titles)

That represents a lot of Flight Simulator action, and it's all availble right now!

Remember, if you need a sweet Flight simulator joystick, or HOTAS to fly with, check out my review!!

If civilian flight is you thing, check out The noobs guide to FSX or Microsoft Flight Review!!

Strike Fighters 2 and it's expansions cover a vast period of time, and gives access to the best planes on both sides of some of the major conflicts in recent history.

This small team actually deserve more publicity, so please check them out. They accept PayPal and credit cards, are supported by a wonderful community of "modders" who create everything from scenery, to planes, to entire campaigns, all for free after the initial purchase prise of $23.99 (at time of writing).

I already have an article on Strike Fighters 2 HERE so you can read a fully updated review and check out some more great screen shots from this awesome series of Flight Simulators.

What can I fly?

Strike Fighters 2

Player Flyable Aircraft

• F-100D Super Sabre
• A-4B/C/E/F Skyhawk
• F-4B/C/D/E/J Phantom II

SF2 Vietnam

Player Flyable Aircraft

• F-100D Super Sabre
• F-105D Thunderchief
• F-4B/C/D/E/J Phantom II
• F-8C/D/E/H/J Crusader
• A-4C/E/F Skyhawk
• A-7A/B/C/D/E Corsair II

SF2 Europe

Player Flyable Aircraft

• A-7D Corsair II
• A-10A Thunderbolt II
• F-100D Super Sabre
• F-105D Thunderchief
• F-4C/D/E/F/M Phantom II
• F-15A Eagle
• Harrier GR.1/3
• Hunter F.6/FGA.9

SF2 Israel

Player Flyable Aircraft

• A-4E/F/H Ahit
• F-4E Kurnass
• F-15A Baz
• F-16A Netz
• Kfir C1/C2
• Mirage IIICJ Shahak
• Nesher

SF2 Expansion Pack 1

New Player Flyable Aircraft

• Mystère IVA
• Meteor F.8
• P-51D Mustang

SF2 Expansion Pack 1

New Features

• Mission Editor
• 1956 Campaign set in Cold War Europe
• All 3 original campaigns updated with new aircraft

New Aircraft

• Lightning F.1/2/3/6
• Hunter F.1/2/4/5
• F-100A/C Super Sabre
• Yak-23 (AI only)
• Canberra B.2/6 (AI only)

"Bonus" Features
if you have Strike Fighters 2 merged:

• Lightning F.53 (player flyable)
• Canberra Mk.20 (AI only)

if you have Strike Fighters 2 Expansion Pack 1 merged:

• MiG-15 (AI only)
• Additional skins for C-47 and Spitfires
• Meteor F.8 and Mystere IV units in 1956 Campaign

STOP THE PRESSES!!

TK and the team at Thirdwire have just release the hotly awaited F-14 based Strike Fighters 2 North Atlantic combat Flight Simulator. I have not had time to buy or play this one yet, but I guess it's going to be pretty popular judging the feedback in the official forums!

In the meantime, here are a couple of publicity screenshots from Thirdwire's website so you can take a sneak peek at what's on offer.

Player Flyable Aircraft
• F-14A Tomcat
• A-7E Corsair II

AI Aircraft
• A-6E Intruder
• EA-6B Prowler
• E-2C Hawkeye
• F-4E Phantom II
• MiG-21 "Fishbed"
• MiG-23/27 "Flogger"
• Yak-38 "Forger"
• Tu-16 "Badger"
• Tu-22 "Blinder"
• Tu-22M "Backfire"
• Tu-95 "Bear"
• An-12 "Cub"

This one is HUGE! We go back a few years in to World War 2, so its almost entirely prop driven planes, with a few early jet and rocket examples.

Taken from Wikipedia "IL-2 Sturmovik and the sequels Forgotten Battles, Ace Expansion Pack, Pacific Fighters, and 1946 now contain 347 aircraft, with 256 being flyable. The featured aircraft cover most major aircraft deployed during World War II as well as some which did not leave the prototype stage."

The best thing about this sim, is even though it's an oldie, the community as kept it alive through mods and new campaigns. The number of planes keep increasing with new maps all the time.

Some of the biggest mods are truly works of art. It would be a crime not to look at Ultrapack, Dark Blue World and HSFX. These not only add new planes, campaigns and maps, but can also dramatically improve the slightly ageing graphics beyond all imagination!

That said, you can mod in a smaller way by visiting "Mission4today" and registering. Here you can find patches and many, many user generated missions and even full story scripted campaigns.

256 flyable aircraft! Based on some "internet deals" I bet your thinking that it's going to cost a fortune right?

Wrong! Get it from STEAM for under 10 Euros!!

Or if you need the security of a physical disk rather than a digital download, try Amazon!

This truly is one of the greatest Flight Simulators you can buy

DCS and Eagle Dynamics are the new ones to watch out for in the world of Combat Flight Simulators. We have over the past couple of years been treated to DCS Black Shark and Lock on Flaming Cliffs 2.

These are somewhat more "hardcore" sims, as in they are going to take a LOT of time to master, but they both have an easier arcade mode to get you going, and graphically, they are absolutely astonishing! Both are so much more worthy of your money than certain other sims, so please, buy them from Amazon for the security of a box, disk and manual, or digital download, which you can Google.

Black Shark covers Helicopter warfare from the Russian perspective, and lets you fly the Kamov KA-50 attack helicopter. Rough, tough, low and slow, but this thing handles like no other!

Flaming Cliffs 2 gives you access to the A-10 Wathog (one of my favourites!), the F-15 Eagle, Su-27, Su-33, Su-25, Su-25T, MiG-29 and MiG-29S.

You can read a full review of Flaming Cliffs 2 HERE

A10-C is the third sim available right now, and is an extremely accurate simulation of the latest generation A-10, expect a review after I pour through the 700 page ! manual.

Black shark 2 is now available, improving on the original in every way, expect a full review here shortly with a comparison of the 2 different versions.

Old Skool WWI bi and tri-planes, amazing damage model and graphics, and a feeling of really flying that many other sims are envious of. Best of all, there is a FREE to PLAY model in place now, so you can try b4 you buy. They have recently added a career mode, field mods (think new sights etc.) and you can buy and add as many or as few extra planes as you wish.

You do need to invest some serious time to get the most out of this sim, and of course, a fairly powerful PC. I would also recommend a decent joystick with throttle, I use a Saitek X52 which is available from Amazon.

Multiplayer is vibrant, but somewhat Hardcore, lots of practise is needed before venturing into the online battlefields!

You can read a more complete review here

Or CLOD for short from here on in.

Where to start? Well, it's a Battle of Britain era sim, raging across the south-east of Britain, across the channel and into Northern France. You get to fly from both sides of this epic battle.

This is still a controversial title. The game was released in a completely unfinished state. However, we have just heard that a patch will be available shortly that has re-written the graphics and sound engine!!! Surely, that must be unprecedented in video game history.

The British campaign is still unfinished / broken, but the German one is much better. On a decent PC, this does look great to be fair, but it may be worth waiting for an update on the patch before jumping in.

You can read a more complete review here

Wings of Prey is a flight simulator set in various theatres in World War 2. There are the usual suspects in terms of the planes you can fly, and some slightly more unusualones. The campaign takes you from the White Cliffs of Dover, to the Mediterranean, into Russia and the invasion of Germany. This means that you get the pick of the best planes The Allies had throughout the war. This is the PC version of IL-2 Sturmovik "Birds of Prey."

It has an "Arcade" mode, which gives you unlimited ammo, makes it easier to shoot stuff and doesn't punish you with blackouts or red outs.

There are a couple of other settings so you can tinker and get the set up just right for your experience. You also get a number of planes to crash and burn with / get shot down in, so it's not a case of "oh bugger I got shot down 25 minutes into a mission and now I have to start again."

Unless of course you want it to be, in which case go for the simulator setting!

Wow! Talk about value for money. This one if a FREE add on to the existing Falcon 4 combat flight simulator. Graphically, this one is amazing, it has a great illusion of speed, and my oh my, is it chock full of complicated flight systems to learn!

I have only had it a few days, and it has already impressed me enough for me to throw my support behind it fully. Remember, these guys are the heroes of the community, doing so much, and asking nothing in return!

Only thing to bear in mind is you will need the original Falcon 4 to play this

Check out the review

Another free version of one of the greatest combat flight simulators of all time? That's right, and its bloody fantastic!

For this addon, you don't even need the original Falcon 4, and it adds in excess of 100 flyable planes, and 4 new theatres of war, as well as upgraded graphics (which are wonderful) and avionics / weapon systems.

You can choose to donate if you wish, this is all run by a determined bunch of amatures in the most professional way,

Check out the Freefalcon 6 review!

Please bear with me as I also get something off my chest. This article is indeed on what I consider to be the best Flight Simulators available at this moment in time. Furthermore, I have provided links where possible so that you, the reader, can make an INFORMED choice on what is worth you spending your money on.

But let me offer some personal advice. As with anything on the internet, they are people willing to take your money for something freely available. And I am sad to say that even here on HubPages if you type in "Flight Simulator" or something similar you come face to face with one that is being promoted heavily.

Taken from the websites own Disclaimer / Terms and Conditions page.

http://www.flightprosim.com/disclaimer/

GNU GPL:

Please note the game, some content and images has been released under GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE Version 2, June 1991.

This company is charging $47 for the game, then another $67 for the scenery packs. Now, in normal circumstances I would like to think that quite reasonable, and I have said many times before to support the producers of Flight sims, but this is something quite different.

Re-read the statement above. "the game, some content and images has been released under GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE Version 2, June 1991"

Reading further into this, I discovered that what is on offer here is FREELY available, as in for FREE from http://www.flightgear.org/

If you scroll down, you see links for the FREE Simulator, FREE Scenery and FREE Aircraft.

Now, I am not saying that selling this is a scam, I would not be so daft as to do so in such a public forum, with some people here in HubPages obviously trying to make some cash off the back of it, but I will say from a personal viewpoint that I am disgusted by it, and urge people to look into it themselves and not just shell out cash for something that is in the public domain and free.

At the end of the day, perhaps what this website is doing is not illegal, but is it not morally dubious to take things created by other people for free, and try to make a quick buck out of re-selling it?

Below is a thread on Flightgear.org's forum, so if so inclined you can read and educate yourself further before deciding to buy this "product."

http://www.flightgear.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=5983

Footnote, I do accept that Flight Pro Sim might have made improvements to ease of install, and may have added in some way to the commercial viability and usability of the original sources.

Thanks for reading to the bottom, there is a lot of (hopefully) useful information here, and I ret to keep it regularly updated.

One thing that has caught my attention recently is Microsoft Flight, which is available free now!

Ok, so it's not the most complicated sim around, and it's certainly not a Combat Flight Simulator, but it is bloody good fun, and I have been have a whale of a time flying around Hawaii.

If you would like to read my unbiased review on Microsoft Flight as it stands today, you can do so by clicking HERE

or following this link

http://zakmoonbeam.hubpages.com/hub/Microsoft-Flight-PC-Review

Please please please support the people who make the magic. Flight simulators are not as popular as they used to be, I accept that, but if those of us who like to fly support the RIGHT people, then it can continue. All I have done in this article is give my opinion on who to support, who not to support, and why they do or don't deserve it.

Please make sure you money goes to the people intent on keeping our hobby alive, and enjoy in my opnion anyway, the Best Combat Flight Simulators!

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