David Hingtgen

Better at the end? Not really. Non-spoilers because it's like every other AC: 1. You take down the big enemy squadron "one last time" and capture the capital. (Yellow, Ofnir, Strigon) 2. Uber-plane shows up. (ADF-01, ADFX-02, CFA-44). You take down the ace piloting it. 3. There's some gigantic mega-complex that nobody knew about until now that's being used to attack you. Go fight the remnants of the enemy squadron, shoot out the power generators/cooling towers/thermal exhaust port then blow it up from the inside. IMHO 5 was the most interesting because it's the most "personal" because of what's going on, and it's the least predictable. My only real complaint is the Su-47---stop putting it in games! It's just another Flanker, and there was only ever one built. At least there were 2 YF-23's, and they're not knock-offs of another plane. (I'd love to see the F-5/20 back). Having the F-16 at the start is traditional, but they make it too weak---no matter how slow another plane is, if it shows up later in the game, it'll be better than the first plane---but there's NO way a Super Hornet should come close to a -16's speed, or an F-117 as agile as the F-16, etc. They need the F-4/F-5 in all games just to allow the F-16/18 to have more realistic stats in comparison. The F-16 should be a nice "2nd all-purpose" plane. Bought fairly early, but not right at the start. (AC5 did make you wait too long for your second plane though) PS---I finally found (and took out) some XB-70's. A lot easier than in earlier games---though luckily I had the F-14 and Phoenixes at the time, so that helped.

I'll have to say I fall in that category---mainly because frankly, I've never had anything to practice with. 1 hour in driver's ed really isn't enough, and few people will trust you with their car to learn. (perpetual source of shame for me, as my dad's truck has an 18-speed and he can double-clutch it)

Yup--I disliked 3 almost immediately. Plot was incomprehensible. AC 2 had very little plot, but it made sense and tied in with the missions. I didn't find out about the "real" AC 3 for years, long after I had sold it. Anyways---played online last night, hooked up with Apollo Leader. I had already been playing like 3 hours so couldn't go much longer. Suggestions for people online (particularly hosts): 1. 5 min games, maybe 10 mins. Anything else is so long nobody has a chance to join in with friends. 2. Limit planes to Level 3. That allows everything BUT the uber-plane, which is just insanely cheap. 3. 8 players is "the perfect number" IMHO. Others have so many there's no fun in trying to get "revenge" or ganging up on someone. Also takes forever to get 12+ people to join. There's one annoying thing with online though---you can't change stages. I got sick of "Team battle 3" after a while, but couldn't change it without kicking everyone out and starting a new session. They really should allow stage changes while keeping all the other settings the same--it's not like I wanted to change it to co-op or anything.

...I only found pics of one. (a CRJ) Anyways-- Official Grumman Iranian Tomcat promos!

Still it seems insanely slow. It is nothing more than "send form into giant warehouse that only has 15 different discs in it" and wait, is it not? There's plenty of companies with like 50 employees that stock thousands of different products and get hundreds of orders a day that ship stuff out same-day.

Others include: Beat entire game in 2:15 of flying time. Beat entire game using only attack/fighter/multi-role planes (3 different medals) (shouldn't be too hard, though "attack" might be A-10/F-117 only---could be hard against Strigon) I really wish each of the medals was worth like 5 pts. Not giving any points until you get ALL of them is asking a bit much IMHO. I can get about half pretty soon, most with a little work. But all? Maybe if I played 500 hours...

A few more missions until I have (I think) all operations. Got gold marksman---200 gun kills. Don't know if it requires 100% of damage to be done with gun, or just the killing blow. (I think it was AC 0 where it had to be pure guns to count) Plan to be online tonight, say midnight CST. PS--I just saw a list of medal requirements. Some of them I think I'll never get. (Such as, beat entire game using only machine gun, and beat entire game without ever taking damage)

Dobber--just remember it's pronounced "n-sock"----then you know it's NSAWC. PS---you getting Century's VF-41 release?

6 is far better than 3 of course, it's just notably below 4/5/0. Mission 10---I only had to go through one tunnel. #3 I think. You never have to (and usually can't) complete EVERY objective and every operation in a mission. Usually 2 of 3 or 4 of 6 operations to get a mission to go to "part 2" which half the time means Strigon shows up. Currently trying for the "all operations" goal---you'll do most of them just going through once, should be easy to get all of them the second time. Currently at mission 6 of 2nd play. Have yet to find an ace to shoot down--they're either rare, or hidden way out there in parts of the area you'd never fly to. (I'm sorta hunting around in likely spots) I'm thinking few people will get the final medal, which looks like "All S on Ace of Aces mode". Which is a level beyond what was "Ace" in 4/5. (Extreme is what 6 calls the former Ace level). I'm betting there's a "S on all operations in all missions" goal/requirement in there somewhere too. Guessing "gold" for machine gun is 250 kills. Sigh. Probably have like 100 now, maybe.

Personally, I'd much rather say "forget the 5 free this from these 15 and free that from this" and just let me pick 3 of ANYTHING. I'd gladly trade quantity for quality. (That goes for both HD and Blu)

Or you could just use the controller. I do, despite being a HUGE jet-nut. (I even play flight sims using the numeric keypad)

Any reviews on that? That's only a little more expensive than a 360's add-on. And I'd rather have a stand-alone.

I just beat 13 (with the Strike Eagle, 'cuz it's on the box art)---wondering what's going to be in the next 2 missions or so (assuming it's a 15 mission game).

Maybe, haven't been online yet. (I keep wondering if I should hold off until I'm "really good" again, with awesome planes--or take what I have now, while there's lots of newbs with just F-16's out there) PS---I just bought (but haven't used) the Strike Eagle, and there's no longer a need for the F-15C. It offers a pure air-to-air configuration, with 6-at-a-time AMRAAMs. Yeah.

Yeah, but a 1/48 YF-19... ::drool::

Glad I'm not the only one that thinks it's fugly. Worst from the side IMHO. And where's the V-crest and beam swords?

True, the dedicated wingmen were far better. Also, I'm starting to (lazily) fall into a pattern: Do all the work myself, as allies shoot down maybe 1 plane per hour. That's the first half of the mission. Then there's the 2nd half with "new enemy planes" etc---but now your "ally bar" is full to blue, so you use it---and the entire air force materializes out of nowhere and vaporizes everything with a million missiles in a few seconds. Mission complete, with "friends" counting for 50% of the kills.

Somewhere, someone just green-lighted the live-action Evangelion.

They're not the problem, Yamato's the problem. 1/72 is the defacto scale for all planes, and now a common scale for tanks. Especially in Japan. Yamato chose 1/60 I believe as a compromise between 1/48 and 1/72. And nothing else is to that scale--expect MP Starscream, which I believe its scale was intentionally done to copy Yamato.

Nope, this is the most boring one in years. 4/5/0 are FAR more interesting. 4's a step below 5 and 0 for "involvement" but I do love 4's story. As for music--nothing notable yet besides the main/first mission theme. I'll complain about "hard to read". This game REALLY wants an HDTV. It's in widescreen, and on a 20in TV that means each letter on the HUD is about 2 pixels high. I'm worrying about Mass Effect now, as the demo disc has some pretty small fonts. "We played it on a normal TV and it's fine"---if you used a 37in, doesn't mean it'll be OK on a bedroom 20in. Overall, I think they spent ALL the money on trying to make super-detailed stuff, and kinda skimped on everything else. PS--regarding immersion----there's actually too many planes now. In 4 and 5, you could easily "follow along" on ground missions---see people, help them out. Now---"there's a transport leaving the field, protect it"----that field may be WAY far away, and there's 500 other planes----it took some 6 mins, but I never found it and it was shot down. There's so many things you feel disconnected from everything.

If anyone wants a diecast model Jolly Rogers F-14, do NOT buy the Franklin Mint one. Paint scheme is way wrong, plus a lot of other small issues. Save a chunk of money, and get a MUCH better (though slightly smaller) model. Get one of these: http://www.aimhigherjets.com/Century_Wings..._p/ahj-4185.htm http://www.flyingmule.com/products/CW-587199 http://www.aimhigherjets.com/Century_Wings..._p/ahj-4180.htm Note: AJ203 has the wings permanently extended forward, to allow the flaps and slats to be deployed---it's posed ready for a catapult launch, and has the nose lowered. AJ210 has the flaps and slats up, but can swing the wings back and forth. Both have moving stabilators and gear up/down options.

C'mon guys, it's midnight--somebody post they got it/played it etc. Quick review: Lacks the "heart" of others. No plot in the missions/briefings IMHO. AC 4/5/0 (especially 5) had stuff happen during the missions, each mission was as important to the plot as the cut scenes. Nothing like that here. "Blow up this, blow up that". Maybe the final missions will start tying in, but they blew a PERFECT opportunity for mission 6 or so to start meshing with the cut scenes, or have a "this is important" moment. (Well OK, the opening mission is a plot/event mission, but haven't seen one since) A LOT of achievements are online, including the vast majority of points. Well, I have a 1-month Gold card for Live, and Mass Effect comes out in 1 month. PS---I think we should also list gamertags in this thread, for people who specifically intend to be online soon playing AC6. I'll start: David Hingtgen--- Xenogears Id (and I just found a cool fighter-chick avatar to use too)

IMHO, there's no way Frenzy fits into a small boombox. Nor could his head make a cellphone. There was "noticeable" mass shifting (the Mass Effect?) involving his transformations. Should have made him even smaller in bot mode.

ZX 2 came out today? Yeesh, I'd only just first heard about it a week ago or so. Capcom needs to advertise more---I'm a huge Megaman fan and didn't even know if was out today. Ah well, guess I'll pick it up next time.

Got my pre-order face plate, saw all 4. Went to the mall to get lunch and the game. There were 4 pre-orders, and only 4 plates. Luckily we got all 4 different plates and I was first so got to pick. F-15E, A-10, Tornado IDS, Sea Flanker. Not surprised at the choices, they're the "stars" of the game. Went with the F-15 as I thought it had a better "background" than the Tornado and worked the best horizontally. (The A-10 is a very "vertical" plate, the Sea Flanker is what I've been staring at on my 360's theme for a month) F-15E has blue-pink "dawn" background, Tornado is pure blue. A-10 is white/pink "dawn/sun-rays", Sea Flanker--can't remember. So is it just the flightstick plate that's delayed? Hmmn, if they ship separately and there's extras I may be able to snag one. PS---this is the first game I've got that seems to be a US/Canadian English/French version. The manual is doublesized--one English, one French. And the back of the case has everything in French too. New MS thing, new Namco thing?