Game requirements:
Computer Graphics Memory Disk Space
Minimum 386DX/33 VGA 4 MB 12.5 MB
Max/Rec. 486DX/33+ 8 MB
Control: Keyboard, Joystick (recommended), mouse
Sound: Roland, Pro Audio Spectrum, Sound Blaster, SB Pro & Compatable
Reviewed on: 486/DX2 66mhz VLB 1MB SVGA, 8MB RAM, SB1.5, DOS 6.2 With
DBLSPACE, 2MB smartdrv disk-cache. Control is with Thrustmaster FCS Mk I,
WCS II, and ACM game card. With this control system, any keystroke or
combinations of keystrokes can be programed to any button (or "hat") of the
FCS or WCS.
Reviewer recommends: At least a 486/SX 33.
PAW:1942 is the latest WWII flightsim entry into the computer entertainment market. A few weeks earlier, Origin Systems released Pacific Strike (PS). I saw these two releases, as 2 different companies reaching for the same market. Both were aiming at a Memorial Day release date. This couldn't have been a coinsidence. Pacific Strike will be covered in another review I am going to be working on in the near future. In short though, Pacific Strike would only run semi-smoothly on the most highend 486DX2. To date I have not heard how Pacific Strike runs on a Pentium, or an OVERCLOCKED DX2. Keeping this in mind, the release of PAW was very much awaited by many.
As it turns out, I believe PAW is a winner. I am writing this with only 2 days experience with PAW. So bear that in mind as you read this. Surely, I would not have used the game to its full potential.
First Impressions: (I flew Pacific Strike quite a bit. I am now 1/2 way thru the game. As such I have a good feeling for comparisions to PAW. I also have flown MANY campaigns, and oodles of missions in Aces of the Pacific (AOTP).) My first impression of PAW was not favorable. I was used to the digital sound of PS. PAW uses synthesized FM for its sound. While some type of digital FX addon is rumored, there is no digital FX in the game as released. This turns out to not be so bad after all. The sound seems well done for FM. Most importantly, there are no pauses as the sound is loaded. (This was the one HUGE drawback to PS. In the end PS was really unplayable as a flight-simulator. What was a marginaly acceptable framerate in PS was destroyed, as there would be long delays/pauses as the digital FX is loaded. Only one channel at a time. So you shoot the guns, and the engine sound stops. Then when some other sound started the gun sound stops. For every stop there was a pause. This destroyed the playability.) PAW has none of these problems. In fact I find PAW to be VERY smooth on my machine. Asside from the lower quality sound (which ended up being MUCH better anyway :-). The engine sound in PAW, (I feel) is superb, for FM non-digital sound. The sound of the engine as you wind it up & down really sounds good & adds to the sensation of a radial prop plane. If you do not expect DIGITAL quality sound from FM synth sound, you will not be disapointed. Most importantly as I describe above, the sound does not interfeer with gameplay or framerate.
Also, I was thrown by the flightmodel. Since I was absolutely certain my hardware was good, I attributed this to the great flightmodel. The actual problem was when the speed dropped below 100 knts, there is no roll. In fact, no nothing! I thought the game was garbage.
FLightmodel: What I figured to be garbage turned out to be the thing that REALLY attracted me to the game. Normaly I don't really care if the fligh -model is perfect. I look more for something that entertains me. That is exactly why I liked AOTP. I could throw those planes all over the sky, and not really worry about energy management. ABOUT WHAT??? That is right, energy management. AOTP or PS has none of this to speak of. (If you wanted a flightmodel that dealt with energy management, then you checked into Air Warrior.) It seems to me, that MPS made huge flightmodel improvements with F15seIII. Since that time, they released Fleet Defender. Both of these boast very good modern jet flightmodels. Proof is the lack of performance that MANY complained about! PAW is no different, and I think the best of the 3. Energy management, is essentially maintaining a good flight envelope, during Basic Fighter Manouvers (BFM). That is, that you always have enough speed to manouver... A primary part of energy management is knowing how to trade altitide for speed. Without this, you will not survive PAW, very long.
Even the simplist (weenie) flightmodel in PAW requires good energy management. The REALISTIC flightmodel starts using engine torque! Just rolling the plane & pulling some G's will drasticly reduce your speed. Next thing you know you are stalling. This may be frustrating when you first start out. But, know what? Once you get the hang of it, it is loads of fun!!
Graphics: In a word, FANTASTIC!!! The sky probably has the best rendering I've seen. Again I see an evolution from F15seII -> Fleet Defender -> PAW.
The planes are simply beautiful. On one mission I was straffing the airstrip at Rubal. I was actually seeing puffs of dirt kick up from my shells hitting the ground!
The ships (actual Task Forces!!! Take note Spectrum Holobyte :) are also beautiful. They have wakes coming from their propellers!! PS had this too. ALong with wakes coming from torpedos. I haven't done any torpedo runs or bombing in PAW, so I don't know if PAW has this or not.
There have been some complaints about the jagged edges of the planes & horizion in PAW. To be honest, I don't know what to make of these complaints. The so-called jagged edges don't bother me, and are present in almost EVERY game to some extent. Maybe it is just one of those things, where you cannot please everyone all the time.
The Virtual Cockpit/ PADLOCK: As near as I can tell, Spectrum Holobyte was the first to release a flight-sim (Falcon3.0) that had a view called PADLOCK View. Since that time it seems that everyone includes this view with their new releases. Padlock is really nothing more than 2 things:
1) It can be very dis-orienting... 2) You Lock your eyes on your intended victim. As they say,"loose sight, loose the fight".
This type of view is very difficult to pull off on a 14" computer monitor, while maintaining some sense of flight. F15seIII was the first to have a type of Virtual Cockpit. Which is a type of modified PADLOCK. You could fly and change your view with your, keyboard controls or with the "hat" of a joystick (which I actually liked alot). Origins' SC had a type of Virtual Cockpit too. This view seemed much different than F15seIII though, as you could use the mouse to pan. Quite a few people like Origins implimintation of this. I had a problem with this though. ie...As your intended victim went back into your front view, the whole game would momentarily stop, as the front cockpit view was loaded. As far as I was concerned, this was no good & I never used Origins version of Padlock. PAW is different... It's Padlock is a subset view of the Virtual Cockpit. Once you enter Virtual Cockpit mode, you can "move your head and look around". For once I actually get the impression that I am looking out of an airplane. Once your intended victim is in your view, just hit the padlock key & off you go! Another key will re-center the VC, (to regain your bearings). Padlock in PAW is a 2-edged sword. Sure you can look at the enemy, but you don't have the speed indicators or other instruments to warn you of stalling. ie... Poor energy management! At this time, I find the VC, in its native mode to be more useful than padlock. But, that is after about only 2 days of play.
Gun Kills: I find gun kills in PAW to be very exciting. A favorite tactic is to line myself up, spray some lead & let the poor sap, fly thru it! This is basicly impossible in PS, because the framerate was so bad. Not only that but, you seemed to need 1,000,000 hits to down a jap plane! OH YA! This was just not the case in reality. The jap planes were made of very light materials (wood & canvas???). Their fuel tanks were not self sealing, like the American fuel tanks were. They were basicly flying fuel tank/bombs, just waiting to explode. Many times it just took some well aimed shots, and KA-BLAMO! No more problem. AOTP seemed to do a fair job modeling this. PS is WAY out in left field (about 1,000,000 hits ought to do it, yep!) PAW, is how I really expected this to actually be modeled. I had one mission where I got 3 Zekes in about 2 minutes. I lined them up, fired, they flew thru my cannon fire & almost immediatly blew up! Judging from all I've read about the fragile jap planes and fuel tanks this is what I expected. Their only real advantage, is that the Zekes are MUCH more manouverable than the Wildcat (my plane for this mission). In the end (as in reality) the tougher plane won. Or, dare I say pilot skill :-)
Final Comments: In my opinion PAW certainly outshines the competition. PS's framerate is SO POOR, that it is not really a contender. AOTP is lacking in the flightmodel and Virtual Cockpit department. To a lesser extent, PAW shines in it's modeling of the number of hits required for an jap airplane kill.
I haven't even had time to mess with the FILM aspect of this game, or the Campaign mode. I will get to those soon enough.
While I refused to recommend PS to anyone, (because of its VERY VERY poor framerate performance...) I can reccomend PAW to anyone with a DX2. This is one platform that the game can be played on smoothly, with maximum detail set.
I have also heard from a friend of mine who has a 486DX33 4MB ram, that PAW was VERY smooth on his machine. He is very picky about framerate too. So, while I have not experienced PAW on a 486/33, I do trust his judgement that it would be good.
This review is Copyright (C) 1994 by Greg "Jaguar" Cisko for Game Bytes Magazine. All rights reserved.