Joystick of Joy - Space and a Combat Sim

Hi guys,

Been a while since I've been active on here. I miss it, but finishing Uni sucked up all my free time, and really got me out of the habit of even posting on ATS so I thought I'd take a minute to share a couple of games that I'm sure some of you have played.

Firstly, let me start by saying that I bought a joystick for PC. Probably the first time I've used a joystick since the last time I played on my Amiga 600+ - it's been a while. I thought I'd start with something not totally crap, but nothing expensive either. The Logitech Extreme 3D Pro. I instantly loved it though, and had an immediate hunger for some games I could get stuck in to.

I ended up buying a couple of early access games. I know there's been some bad press recently what with Stomping Land looking like it's about to be imminently pulled from steam, but I choose games from developers who I trust.


So... the first purchase I made was IL2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad. On normal settings the learning curve is steep. On the more realistic settings however, it becomes a full-on combat flight simulator. Here's a wee video...



It is extremely hard to learn this game's flight model. Nothing will master it except time, and patience. In fully realistic mode the enemies don't have any kind of hud maker, there is now way to find yourself on the map other than sheer navigational skills, and if you bank a turn too hard you're plain will fall out the sky and drop to the earth.

I've only had 1 kill in multiplayer after 12 hours of game time. It's hard, but the kill was one of the most satisfying moments in my recent gaming memory.

Moving swiftly on...

My other joystick-induced impulse buy is Elite: Dangerous

The game is really immersive, and you always feel very connected to your ship. Using the joystick alone you can fly, thrust, look around the cockpit, access various systems, set targets, etc, etc. It's an open-world game (and for the older gamers among us) developed by the original creators of Elite - a game so beyond it's time in both scope and execution, I'm surprised it hasn't been challenged.




As mentioned the scale, and feature set of this game is still incomplete. It already feels like a very well polished game though, and it's receiving weekly updates.

I forget to mention that the devs over at IL2 are extremely quick to respond to big issues too, having solved a login problem lots of us new players were having since a recent patch.

So you guys... has anyone played either of these? Any potential new joystick users/buyers out there?

Your thought, gentlemen

Check out this thread.


www.abovetopsecret.com...

Iam getting the same joystick as you for release of Star Citizen plus the rift when it comes out.
I hope you read more about SC cos I want to make an ATS org lol.


Oooo it's come down inprice also

a reply to: Thundersmurf

What a coincedence, just a few days ago I took a look at my fav combat sim I still have standing on my bookshelf. My first flight combat sim is called Night Hawk and the second sim I ever bought is Total Air War from Digital Image Design (DID). To this day I can not find any combat sim with simular or better graphics and game play than the DID game. But your games look promising tho..



After trying to instal the games I tried to find an other Joy-Stick on the web and arrived on this website. If you are not familiar with this site you should certainly check it out. Even if it was just for getting up to date with the latest stuff there is to buy. And man, this shop has some high-end toys for boys.

Something else... unfortunately I live in The Netherlands otherwise I would certainly try to get one of the ejection or ordinairy pilot seats out of the many old warplanes the US government has stored at a plane graveyard site in Nevada .... or was it Arizona.

a reply to: Thundersmurf

I like to play games on my PC with my joy stick.
Where do I find them.
I just can't find games for my win 7.

I liked Mechwarrior and Fighters over Europe and Pacific.
There was some space games to, what was it, it started with a Tych something Gate,,,
I miss those games, mrs g. would leave me alone for hours and hours knowing that I was saving the World!!!

I have the cd's for IL2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad, but it's so glitch at times.

a reply to: guohua

Tried Mechwarrior online?.

a reply to: boymonkey74
Mechworrior online, I did try once and could not get to work, bad download sites or very old download sites.

I really don't like play online as much as I do against me or the computer game itself.
I was told to go to a gaming store, they'd have PC games, but their fair and few, not many around.

a reply to: guohua

They have improved it all and it is much better than a few months back.

a reply to: boymonkey74

hey dude,

Glad to heard I'm not the only one who isn't spending a fortune on a joystick. I only paid £40 for mine, and I'm actually really impressed with the quality and feel of it. I hope you enjoy it too.

And YESSSSSS! to Star Citizen. It looks like it's beginning to take shape now. I was was really torn between Star Citizen, and Eliteangerous. The pure immersion got me in Elite.

For those of you who haven't seen Star Citizen, here's a trailer for the Dogfighter Module:



Sorry I didn't respond to this thread after making it - I've been super tired after work recently, and had to have a massive sleep last night.

I'll check out that other thread now though...

Peace

a reply to: guohua

Hey guohua,

There a few free flight sims out there. If you want things a little more arcade, then the full-realist, or simulator battles on War Thunder are actually pretty good. If you're after something much more simulation based, then you could try Rise of Flight, or DCS World. I believe all 3 of those are free to play, although DCS and RoF are both a few years old now, and are fairly quiet.

Funny you mention Mech Warrior. I absolutely loved that game all those years ago. What a game. That feeling of immersion you have with your mech - you and the machine being one. That's how I feel about Elite: Dangerous.

I might look in to Mech Warrior Online though - it's got me interested

a reply to: Thundersmurf
Thank You I'll look into those, I like that Space Citizen.
I like to Kill Things, I like to use my Joy Stick, I Hate to use a Mouse, Key Board or Game Pad.
I was always a big fan of WWII Arial Combat Games.

a reply to: boymonkey74

I meant to ask you, but forgot...

Have you pledged for Star Citizen? I've been dying to ask someone who has it how it actually plays just now.

I've been on their store so many times, and almost bought it. Still very tempted to make the pledge - I seriously doubt this game is going to be anything other than fantastic.

Do you know if SC is planning on doing seamless transitions to planet surfaces like Elite has planned? I don't know why, but there's just something really beautiful about the idea of taking off, and flying in to space.

I think this one's going to be exclusively ps4 (for the first half year or so anyway)..



I really hope everyone's heard of No Man's Sky. It's an open-world (universe). You fly between planets, and solar systems exploring. I'm still not sure if you can see other players in the game, but I know that if you are the first one to encounter a new, undiscovered animal/cave complex/space anomaly then it gets named after you in the online universe.

Any, let me know if you have any first-hand experience of Star Citizen

Peace