David Hingtgen

I always use an F-14 for the night/radar mission. Why? Because you can zap Pierre from 10 miles away with a Phoenix. Makes life easier, rather than trying to dogfight inbetween 200 buildings and Vietnam-level SAM's. F-15ACTIVE works too. Thus Graham---you probably want something besides an A-10 to take down Pierre. The F-14 (heck, all the planes, since it's not a sim) can get quite slow, plenty enough to fly around inside the radar areas. Pierre likes to hang out right in the middle of the city, so dodge those mobile radars like crazy--they will zap you faster than almost anything else in the game. PS--are you trying to take out ALL the radar? You only need to take out any one of the "corner" ones, then zip inside and kill the core. I died several times trying to kill ALL the radars in each "clump". Haven't bought an EF-2000 yet (I think 2 people get it, not just John), since I got my S-37 at the same time. Currently going for Ellen. Quasi-confirmed theory is that in every mission in which she or Albert appears, you must shoot them down, WITH KEN. I just beat the canyon mission as such (Used Mig 1.44 of all things) so should be downhill from that point. I'm not sure what triggers what. There's certainly something similar with John/Francine. Also, this time around (yeah, Phase 9 of second runthrough) I didn't get Ruth's hospital ship mission. From what I can see, for most things, you pretty much have to use that character all the way through, with few exceptions. As in, despite using Ruth 80% of the time, and winning with her, I still missed one of "her" missions, and "her" ending. (I think you need Ellen too, for Ruth's final stuff). Currently stuck (again) at the Leopold barrel mission. So easy, but 100% luck IMHO. Just depends on its firing sequence. If it does a "center" one after a side, you're screwed. Also annoyingly, sometimes 4 missiles won't take it out, and I have to go through AGAIN. Using John, as this has a Francine encounter just before it (one of those "intercept" missions). I like F-15's for this mission, power/acceleration---the faster you get through the barrel, the less chances it has to fire at you. No plane can run down it faster (unless you can line up from far away and dive right it--I like to get beside it, and make a hard turn right into it, then run down it as fast as I can, hitting the airbrakes at the last second to slow to hit the target) Whew!

About as long as it's existed, thought not in the VERY beginning. Lurked for a few weeks/months at first.

Won, only needed *3* more missiles than I had the last time. (Took like 10 more tries to get to the end again). Go with the YF-23. Graham--next time I'm using my FB-22 on that mission. New planes: Vic Viper--not all that wonderful, like a YF-23 with less power and more HP. F-15ACTIVE: ironically, AC4 has an S/MTD but they call it an ACTIVE. This game has an ACTIVE, but they call it an S/MTD. Sigh--circle vs rectangle, that's the difference. Most people learn circles and rectangles at the age of 3 or 4. Haven't flown it yet. (hey, I'm getting planes faster than I'm flying missions). X-32: not bought on account of fugliness. F/A-35B™ : not yet bought on account of low funds. HiMat: sure it's agile, but sucks in all other categories. Skipped. F-102: can do anything, poorly. But cheap, bought it just to have it. More Flankers. Umm, Su-30MKI, and a single-engined variant. And a modified Su-35. And another Su-30something. And probably others I haven't looked at yet. Yes folks, 130 planes, with 110 of them being Flankers.

It's exactly what an "F-15XL" would be. PS--update. Final mission. As you might imagine, there's a LOT of stuff to blow up. I am beyond ticked, for having gotten to the very final thing to blow up, I've run out of missiles. And there's no gun in the YF-23!!!! I have died, staring at the final "boss". I've tried high-end ferrite-coated Flankers (wtih guns), but there's enough baddies in the area that I usually die, or am low enough on HP to not make it to the end. (need the ultra-high stealth of the YF-23, or insane agility--or both) Sigh. If I had like 10 more missiles, I'd be watching the credits... (Yes, I'm trying to win with Ruth--F/A-22 unavailable, and I don't have anything *really* good for John). Think I'll try some more YF-23 runs, and try to conserve missiles. (Gotta work out the best strategy on the 2nd-to-last thing--I used like 50 missiles, I know it's got to take less than that)

I still want to see you do a ship or an airliner some day. (Hey, Hase makes nice airliners, I'm sure you could build one in a day or two)

Xenosaga 1, no question. I'm very partial to redheads. And now Shion's like a Japanese girl who dunked her hair in henna... And I much preferred KOS-MOS' original design, too. Tatooed forehead not nearly as good as the visor. And being an adult doesn't work as well with the whole "naive android" thing. I think the biggest issue however, is that they no longer fit. Look at all the other characters--they were changed *very* little, if at all. That just looks weird, when some characters all of a sudden look like they're from a different series. (That's a gripe of mine in anime, too---when some characters are "realistic" while others are as deformed-cartoony as it gets---keep it the same, one way or the other) It'd be like having FF9, but then sticking Tidus in. A dozen SD people walking around, then a "real" person shows up on screen.

When I beat the canyon mission (about 3 more tries), I basically stayed low, circled back TOWARDS the canyon as soon as I could to go after the baddies, then made one long slow loop along the rim, taking out all the fans in a single pass. Of course, I got tossed about a bit, but I think going really slow helps--you travel less distance in the 1.5 secs you're totally out of control, minimizing odds of hitting wall. Well, let's see: F-15U: interesting concept, haven't bought it yet. FB-22: neat! Haven't actually used it yet. (Though they give it the X-44 name) YF-23: of course, utterly rocks, better than the F-22 in all categories. I had to repaint it, no pink YF-23's for me! Control scheme totally wrong, they have it set up like a delta-wing, using the flaps as elevons. Yeah. But due to using the ruddervators as rudders (which it shouldn't) it has AMAZING yaw control. Physical model surprisingly good, and they even did the moving trench exhaust right. No gun though. Accurate for the prototype, but the real thing would have had a gun. F/A-22: can't turn worth sh*t, anyone know why? Power seems a bit low, too. Yet more Flankers. Su-27LL (PS)U something something. Seriously, like 6 letters after "27". Apparently the very first Flanker to have vectoring nozzles. F/A-18E: Brian's first good plane. Surprisingly well-modeled, though I think the speed brakes may be off. (But hey, a lot of places get it TOTALLY wrong---Super Hornet's have an entirely different speed brake system than regular's--I'm quite surprised they got as close as they did). X-29. Bought it because it was cheap. More F-14 analysis: pylons in wrong spot (forgot to mention last time), Phoenixes aren't Phoenixes, and while it DOES have a dual chinpod, it's two of the same pods... YF-12A: surprisingly accurate. (asides from the flight model, which is off by about 1000% in most aspects). Fun though. And free. PS--I love the YF-17. Because it's what the Hornet SHOULD have been. Superior in most every way.

Let's see. Currently trying to beat canyon mission, attempt 4. Can get to the end easily enough, but then the 3 guns in the center plaster me in 5 secs, then the baddies catch up and missile me from behind. Anways: F-14 is so wrong it's not even funny. And it's an A, 100%. Not a D at all, even has PW engines. At least they made it rock, though. Why does the F-16 roll sluggish compared to the F-15? And it's not a block 50. I don't think I've seen a plane yet use differential stabilizers. Big no-no, IMHO. Don't see spoilers either. F-4's not as good as AC4's--no stabs, wrong wing. But they got the aileron movement right. YF-17 shouldn't have the strakes above the LEX's. Man, even I didn't know there were THAT many Flanker variants. Programmer's got to have a Flanker fetish. (And an afterburner fetish, for thrust/speed/power/AB levels are totally off) What's up with Brian's planes having NO power? A-4's aren't that bad, yeesh, the Blue Angels used them... Biggest current annoyance: no AMRAAM's on the Sea Harrier FRS.2---that is the reason for that variant's existence. That's like having an F-14D without GE engines...oh wait... (Plus making the AV-8B and Shar the same---Shar's are more agile and faster)

I just got the game this afternoon (used, and traded in another game--grand total of 14 bucks invested). I will of course have a full critique once I'm done, but so far: Kinda jaggy, but looks ok. Models not as "sculpted" as AC4's. Most noticeable with the Tomcat. I think pitch-down is too weak, pitch-up too strong, and rolling too slow. I don't like how the camera deals with yaw, always messes me up when I'm trying to yaw like 2 degrees to line up a shot. Turns bleed speed! Probably the biggest failure in AC4's physics model. You CAN'T go Mach 2 in a 90-degree bank. Man, if they accurately model the differences between planes here, it'll add a LOT to realism. (I still don't have any planes I know well enough to try to compare--need some F-14/15/16/18) Going *really* slow means you have p*ss-poor control! Also quite nice. No Cobra manuevers starting at 110kts... I really hated the "carriers disguised as ice floes" mission. Took like 10 tries. Used F-105, always got hit. When I finally won, I had *10* HP. Still don't know what hit me half the time, I'd be way away from everybody, yet my HP just kept dropping. *Totally* rocked at the Hospital ship mission. (got my F-20 and AMRAAM's) If it was possible to save it, I would have done so. Overall---actually more sim-ish than AC4 due to physics (don't be trying 9G moves in a Thud), and quite fun, once you totally remap the controls. (I did it like AC4, but made square my airbrake, and triangle "target forward"---there's rarely enough enemies to make it worth having "target back", I think it's D-pad L or something) PS--nitpick time. The F-5A looks like the F-5E, and it shouldn't. No LEX's on the early ones, that's what makes the F-5E the *Tiger II*, and not an F-5A/B/C/D Freedom Figther. F-14 (from the few secs I've seen) looks to have the same control surface modeling probs as AC4. As in, totally wrong. Will check out the F-4 and Tornado tomorrow. PPS--they made the A-7 way too slow. It's slow, but not THAT slow. It's basically a fat, afterburner-less F-8. It shouldn't be 100kts below an A-10. (I'm annoyed, for A-7's were our ANG planes for years, I grew up watching them)

There's SO many ways to make composite parts for planes. I'm still amazed whenever I see it on TV. Take a big piece of fabric, a bottle of "goop", a big paintbrush, and get to work. A few days later, you've got an X-32 wing. (May have been UGLY, but the wing construction was ultra-advanced).

I would guess Mitsubishi builds the wing, then assembles the plane in its own factory with the rest of the parts coming in kit form from Lockheed.

I'd HIGHLY suggest reading the 30-page thread here about FFXI. You'll learn a lot more about it than any review could ever tell you. http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?showtopic=3951 PS--while I'm a huge FF/RPG fan in general, I'm skipping FFXI.

Just my IMHO: programmer skill outweighs system power, when it comes to graphics. Look at what happens when Square brings out a new game. It's nearly gauranteed to blow away all previous games on that system and "look like that more powerful system". And then you can have new games that look like they're running off a PSX, or my old 286... And yeesh--Ace Combat 4 still blows away all other PS2 flight games graphically, despite coming out a LONG time ago (in "game years"). It's all about how you USE the power. (Boy is that a cliche, but it applies)

Age overrules size for cost, almost always. As in, a new "cheap" fighter will end up costing more than an "expensive" fighter of an older design. F-16's about the only plane in history that actually did end up costing less (at least really early on, like Block 1), mainly because it could use an engine already in existence, and it was initially a purely close-in dayfighter. Then they added a nice new radar, kept adding things, and now we have the F-16 Block 50D...

I'd love to see someone say what's "wrong" with Valk Profile. Game's nearly flawless, and in my all-time top 5. And has greater replay value than most any RPG, with the two ENTIRELY different endings. (Ending meaning "the last 15 hours of gameplay")

Opening ships up as in you've already beat it and that's all you have left to do? Dang, I gotta start playing more after I beat Ninja Gaiden. Can't remember how many I have. I especially like the R9-DH series, as it has my initials. (Though the further I get, the worse they seem to be--the wide beam just isn't strong enough for later-level lackeys). ::edit:: I buy mags pretty much only for playable demos. GamePro sucks BTW, has so for over a decade. Sites I like: Gamespy, Gamespot, Penny-Arcade, and mostly what I hear from people I know have good taste in games. (Namely, the VG store I shop at (they're independent, not a chain) and my brother).

I got a request for a VF-1's main gear retraction sequence explanation, so here goes. Closest real-life plane I can think of is actually the F/A-18's, though they're somewhat at an angle. Anyways, assuming the gear's down, you open up the gear bay doors, and retract the strut rearward. While it's doing so, the entire wheel/axle rotates 90 degrees so that the "face" of the wheel ends up facing downwards, when the gear's fully retracted. Then the gear doors close. (There's a lot of debate of which, if any, gear doors on a VF-1 remain open when the gear's down. I myself portray them closed where possible). Really depends on the plane. Most Navy planes keep them open, Air Force planes tend to close them when possible. (Though Air Force planes are also more likely to have them designed so they have to all stay open) VF-19's gear is similar, BTW. Though it may incorporate a Z-fold, even more like the F/A-18.

Wow, I figured I'd be the only R-Type fan here. Someday I'll get past level 5. Mind-warping as it is... (RX-11's rock, they're the only thing getting me to the boss)

Heh, must have been an older ep. The current high-end engine is the GE90-115B. 115,540lbs thrust. Contingency rating of over 127,000lbs. (Airliners are my true passion). Anyways---power=acceleration and climb-rate. That's pretty much it. And as you mentioned, if you want to get to space, you need insane power. The full power of the Space Shuttle is 7.7 million pounds. Need Mach 25 for orbit, takes a lot of power to get to that speed.

My PS2 games outnumber my Xbox like 10 to 1. But JSRF alone is worth getting an XBox for. And don't forget Panzer Dragoon.

Camera sucks, but it's impossible to adjust well. Just keep hitting R to reset to default. Most of the time, just deal with it. Ryu has such incredible "knows where to go" when blocking or fighting, it doesn't really matter. My main gripe is that the camera is simply LOW, not looking the wrong way. I like the camera to be somewhat above the character, looking forward. Gaiden's camera is DIRECTLY behind Ryu, so you can't really see where you're going. PS--it's HARD. And fight in the air. Staying on the ground is death, always be jumping or wall-running.

Yup, Guilty Gear XX is the last US PS2 2d fighter. Because Sony now officially sucks. Hopefully (Hori?) will make some X-box 6-button pads, like they've done for most every other system now.

According to "the rules" anything that can reach space, isn't a plane, it's a spaceship. Thus they won't give the X-15 most of its records. YF-19's can go in space, so they're not a plane. daeudi--well, it got REALLY interesting, when they had an engine failure, and were down to 40,000ft and Mach 0.9, after having alerted pretty much the entire Warsaw Pact to their presence. Came real close to a major incident, as many MiG's were scrambled, and quite a few US planes were launched out of Japan and Korea to intercept the MiG's to protect the Blackbird. Luckily, the engine failure happened close enough to "home" that the Blackbird got out of Soviet airspace before it was in serious danger, and everything was called off. PS---SR-71 isn't invincible. It has taken a grand total of one small piece of shrapnel, at altitude. Many missiles have gotten fairly close to it, but only the one exploded close enough to actually make contact. The SR-71 is high and fast enough to avoid like 99% of stuff. But not *everything*. It also helps that the SR-71 is moderately stealthy, and has a LOT of ECM gear. It's not simply high and fast---it's got as much ECM as most dedicated Electronic Warfare planes. Many missiles launched at it were quickly jammed and went off course. If it didn't have such an advanced ECM suite, many more missiles would have gotten close, possibly hitting them.

Quite possibly only in Japan. Sony seems to be quite serious with their new "no more 2D" stance on US PS2's. Capcom Vs Snk: Chaos is XBox-only in the US, as Sony said no, purely because it's 2D. The basic idea is that they don't want "old-looking" games on their new high-end system, that 2D only belongs on the PSX etc.

The only silvering I've ever encountered (asides from those tiny spots which will appear no matter what) is when I decal over gloss. Yes, I know, everyone else on Earth swears by ultra-gloss triple-layer-future as a base for decals, but it just doesn't work for me. I go over raw flat paint. I might also add that I trim *all* the excess clear away---no clear, no silvering. (I have dedicated decal scissors).