PACIFIC STRIKE & PACIFIC STRIKE SPEECH PACK by Origin Systems

Game requirements:

          Computer        Graphics        Memory          Disk Space
Minimum    486DX/33       VGA             4 MB            12.5 MB
Max/Rec.   486DX2/66+                     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 486DX/66+ mhz. In fact, I don't believe the machine has been built, that can run this game smoothly without pauses during flight as the digital FX is loaded. In the end your tolerance, or lack of tolerance to this will determine whether you like this game or not. As I feel it directly affects the marginaly acceptable framerate of the game.

Origin has long had a reputation for pushing the hardware limits with their games. This isn't bad if the game plays smoothly on at least one platform. I have not seen or heard of the computer that will run PS smoothly at maximum detail. Some have joked that Wing Commander was largely responsible for selling so many 386's. Likewise Wing Commander II was responsible for selling 486's. Again Strike Commander choked most 486DX/33's. Strike Commander really needs a 486DX2 66 mhz with 8MB of ram, so you could use a 2MB disk cache. Pacific Strike continues this trend by choking most DX2's. In fact, the frame rate is just barely tolerable on my DX2 with maximum detail. Then add the pauses that occur when the game loads it's sound (DIGITAL FX). Even supporters of PS like myself eventually tire of this. In fact... I tolerated this, until the middle of the Guadalcanal Campaign. Then after I tried PAW :1942, PS just didn't cut it anymore.

First Impressions: My first impression of Pacific Strike was; WOW!! This is the game of the year!!! Then I got into a major fur-ball with many things happening. All sorts of sounds going off, explosions, gunfire, engine sound, radio voices from your wingmen & japs swearing at you. I was blown away!!! This was great!

Sound: Then I noticed something. All of the sounds I mentioned above? They are loaded & played one at a time. When you fire your guns, you loose your engine noise. When there is AAA going off, that is all you hear, you loose everything else. While the sound quality itself, is superior to PAW's FM sound. The implimintation of this sound is not. As if this "one at a time" sound isn't bad enough, there are very noticable pauses in the animation of the game as these sounds are loaded in and out. The framerate is just barely tolerable without this added "feature". This pausing stuff is what eventually killed the game for me. Strike Commander had this "one at a time" sound loading feature. And there were pauses. These pauses were easily overcome with a 2MB smartdrv disk cache. No such luck with Pacific Strike. It is too bad, as this game has the potential to be the best WWII flightsim.

As for the Speech Pack? This one, is byfar the best Speech Pack put out by Origin. There is MUCH MUCH chatter over the radio. As far as the Speech Pack goes, this one is worth it. Too bad the game you are supposed to use it with, has problems handling the sound!!! THis is really a shame.

Origin ANSWERS the TOUGH questions: Since this game had so much potential, I wanted to give Origin every opportunity. I called their Tech Support. The person I talked to was very helpful. I explained the problem about the pauses as the digital FX are loaded. The only help offered was to modify my EMM386 command line to add more buffers. They suggested D=64. Since this was how my machine was setup already, it was no help. I even tried D=256 with not much of an improvement. In short there is nothing the customer can do to improve the sound situation. That is just how the game is.

While I had this person on the line, I asked what type of equiptment they used for a testbed for Pacific Strike. He replied that they used a few 486DX/33's and one 486DX2/66. I asked if there was anyone that he knew of, who didn't work for Origin, that admits to liking the game. He said "yes". I asked what these people thought of the digital FX pausing during the game. He said, that he thought most people just accept this as the way the game is. I got all the info that I needed. I politely ended the conversation...

We are stuck!! How they could have tested Pacific Strike on a 486DX/33, and thought that it was okay is beyond me.

Flightmodel: The flightmodel is certainly not as accurate as PAW's. For me, it was good enough though to have fun for a while. No energy management was really required, and you could run at full throttle all day long. No penalty. I guess when you come down to it. A superb flightmodel would do no good, as the framerate is not the best.

Graphics: First off there is no HAZE! This is the haze that Strike Commander was famous for. The graphics & "eye candy" are simply awesome. You can see the pilots inside of the cockpit. I really like the costal water/beach rendering in Pacific Strike too. Alot of people don't. But it looks pretty darn real to me. The external TARGET & VICTIM views are by far the best!!! Suffice it to say, that it will not be horrible graphics that will turn you off to this game...

The Virtual Cockpit/ PADLOCK: You can actually target land or air objects. I looked at this as no more that deciding who or what to look at. The Virtual Cockpit is activated simply by moving the device you have set for cockpit panning. It can be the mouse, keyboard or the "hat" of a joystick. Padlock is another key, and NOT really a subset of the VC view (as is the case for PAW). PS's, PADLOCK is not a 2-edged sword like PAW's PADLOCK. In PS there is no penalty for poor energy management. You can fly in PADLOCK or TARGET view & not worry about stalling (I never worried, and I never stalled!) Once again as the target flew into your front view, PADLOCK would snap into the front COCKPIT view. This does not help the smoothness of the game.

Gun Kills: Well forget it! There is no smooth tracking at all. No snap shot gun kills. None of that leading your victim, spraying some lead, and letting him fly thru... I was really only sucessful getting on the Japs "6", and spraying him "duck shoot" type stuff. Or I would get the token lucky shot. At the end of the Guadalcanal campaign, I had 29 Air Victories, 21 ship Victories, 8 building/ground Victories. I used unlimited ammo. WHY??? First, I compensated for the garbage framerate I was given. Second, it takes about 1,000,000 hits to down a jap plane. Simply not right... Everyone knows that the Jap planes were fragile and could be downed with a few well placed shots. AOTP is better in this respect. PAW is by far the leader in modeling this properly.

Final Comments: Pacific Strike has the potential to be one of the best games. The problems I describe in the handling of the DIGITAL FX really need to be fixed. I am dissapointed in Origins' lack of response to these questions. I am 100% certain that they are aware of these points. I guess they feel we should be happy & accept it. And I will be happy, with PAW! As Pacific Strike is now, I cannot reccomend it to anyone. I liked the game quite a bit, but it was barely tolerable on my DX2. I would suggest trying the game out before you buy, & make a discision then...

PATCH FOR PACIFIC STRIKE & PACIFIC STRIKE SPEECH PACK by Origin Systems

Game requirements:

          Computer        Graphics        Memory          Disk Space
Minimum    486DX/33       VGA             4 MB            12.5 MB
Max/Rec.   486DX2/66+                     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 486DX2/50 mhz.

After my scathing review of Pacific Strike, I thought it only proper, to write something about the patch that Origin put out. This patch can be found on the Origin BBS at (512)331-4446, or on wuarchive.wustl.edu (in the /pub/msdos_uploads/games/patches directory). There are 2 files. One is the patch (pspatch.zip) which contains the patch to Pacific Strike. The other file, (pspatch.txt) explains how the patch is used, and what it fixes. (Most importantly is a slightly better framerate due to the new way that the ground texturing is handled.)

I had already deleted PS from my HD & had to reinstall... The re-install- ation and patching went smoothly. As I started a GAUNTLET game, I noticed something. There were no pauses or framerate problems, as I fired the machine guns. Deflection/snap shots are now VERY possible. This was quite impossible before. Firing GUNS, and letting your worthy opponant fly thru the bullet stream, is now a joy. This part has made BIG improvements.

Another thing I noticed, is that the textured SKY rendering of PS is an embarrasement, when compared to PAW:1942. So I turned it off. Perhaps, this helped the framerate some. But, even before the patch, there would be pauses as the machine guns were fired. This made any type of tracking shot quite impossible (even with sky texturing off).

Another thing I noticed, was the AAA explosions seemed to be in part FM sound. Not totaly digital anymore. So there were not as many pauses when you fly thru AAA. Any time GUNs were fired, (friendly or enemy) there would be some stop in the action, as the sound is loaded.

The enemy planes still require an extraordinary number of hits, for the kill. This has not changed from the origional release. What has changed, is the fact that hits are easier to come by.

All in all, I would make a rough estimate and say that the framerate is about equal to Strike Commander. For the most part... It certainly seemed smoother to me. There are still pauses though, but they are greatly reduced. Had the game been released in this condition, I doubt that there would have been the uproar that there was. The flightmodel has been unchanged from the origional release. Even the ACE setting (which is the highest) is not as good as PAW:1942's UNREALISTIC setting.

I think the game can now be fun for someone, who doesn't want a REALISTIC flightmodel, and wants to star in a movie of sorts. The graphics look like high quality art, but are no match for PAW:1942's almost photo-quality look. Even with all of this, I think I can recommend the game for people with DX2's. In my humble opinion, the patched game is not the embarrasment that is was when released. The obvoius question: Which one is better, PS or PAW? I would say PAW:1942 for its almost photo quality look. (Just step a few feet away from the monitor & take a look. It looks almost like a movie... ) Also, PAW wins in the flightmodel, and basic all around simulator department. But this realism could be too much for some people, hence PS...