Jane's Combat Simulations: Advanced Tactical Fighters
Let's go, fly boy!
The original U.S. Navy Fighters was a pretty decent old-school combat flight sim that had much of interest to fans of games like Falcon. This sequel continues in the same vein and offers some exciting and intense dogfighting action that is well worth picking up. This one has quite a hefty range of options to play around with, not least of which are the two campaigns. The first is set in Egypt in 1988 and the second in Russia in 2002 (both of which represented the future at the time the game was released) and the aircraft and missions you'll fly have a very slightly futuristic feel to them, although of course, now it doesn't look quite the same. The craft you'll fly here include the F-117 Nighthawk, F-22 Rapter and XF-29 FSW and more, while missions are quite varied and rarely less than intense. Other options include many one-off missions for when you're short on time, and two sorts of mission generator for when you want to exercise your creativity. You also have an extensive reference suite by Jane's which documents all the weapons, aircraft and other gear, and which is quite interesting if you're into such things. As far as mid to old-school combat sims go, this one is solid stuff. The graphics are perhaps where the game falls down most, as they have aged rather poorly, while the sound is also less than stellar. However, in the gameplay department, this still holds up pretty well, with a good level of detail and plenty of full-on combat to enjoy. The range of craft to fly adds more appeal and the reference section is some nice icing on the cake. A solid bit of flight sim fun.
Sequel to U.S. Navy Fighters; just as serious
ATF - Advanced Tactical Fighters is a serious aerial combat simulation, of modern aircrafts. It's more of an update from the older U.S. Navy Fighters just as serious and yet highly playable fighter game, and for a mid 90s simulation, it is very satisfying graphically, controls wise, as well as in the precision of the controls that it has. All in all, U.S. Navy Fighters is a very precise, very well crafted game, one that will offer you a very well balanced gameplay but also a precise and well crafted engine, on top of which you will be able to have a top notch experience. Also included with the game is an editing toolkit, which allows you to directly influence the way the game plays in minute details. With it, you can rewrite the behavior of your craft by changing its speed, it's portability, it's maneuverability, but indirectly, by altering the constructive details of your war bird. Definitely requires an adequate game controller, a joystick plus throttle or at the very least a gamepad with thumb pads. And if you like it, make sure to download Jane's Combat Simulations: Advanced Tactical Fighters - Nato Fighters, which is its addon, for more fighters, more maps and more missions.
Rocket away
ATF Advanced Tactical Fighters is a Jet Sim game, developed by Jane's Combat Simulations and published by Electronic Arts, which was released in 1996 and it's the sequel of the smash hit U.S. Navy Fighters. This game has almost everything a good sim game should have, great graphics, all kinds of jets to choose from, over 30 missions over Egypt, eastern Russia and France, two independent campaigns, a possibility of online playing (which wasn't a regular thing back in the 90's). But the downside is that it gets too hard without real reason, and because the planes don't seem to respond properly the game leaves the player with a slight sense of unreality and fakeness. This game will be just fine for those who are in it for the great graphics and the action while flying, but real sim fans will be kind of dissapointed with its fake performance and the fact that, beside a few more planes and scenarios, this game is more or less just a copy of it's predecessor, really nothing new. But it's still interesting and fun, so you might as well try it.
