F-16 Multirole Fighter
MiGMan’s Combat Diary
F-16 Multi Role Fighter by Novalogic combined a lightning quick graphics engine with accessible gameplay.
The Coastal waters in the Serbian campaign give the first indication of the extraordinary effort Novalogic has gone to to create a realistic environment. Instead of opting for a few shades of blue, the ocean in F-16 takes on many hues and colours.
Features 1998
Difficulty This is sim I can recommend unreservedly to sim newcomers, the aircraft are easy to handle and difficulty caters from newcomer to expert level.
Value for money. In a time when many flight sims are released with a fairly limited set of missions, Novalogic goes over the top with 10 campaigns... that's right not 10 missions but 10 campaigns. F-16 MRF comes boxed with MiG-29 Fulcrum. Either of these products alone are worth the full retail price, with both in the one box this is the flight sim bargain of the year!
Hardware It runs well on average machines. The Hardware requirements are modest in today's terms, running extremely well on a P233.
Graphics The graphics are superb even without 3D acceleration. The variations in secenery and the effort given to creating convincing scenery is awesome.
Sound Sounds are well placed in 3 dimensions, you can hear where your wingman is by his engine noise and when you padlock an enemy the sound of your own engine lets you know which way your head is turned... a life- saving feature.
Missions Missions are very well designed, casual players can end the mission after achieving the main objectives, but if you choose to play on and land the missions often take unexpected turns.
Stability The game/s play straight out of the box without the need to download patches. I was disappointed that the Banshee card wasn't initally supported, but by February 1999 a new .dll file was available for download and it worked perfectly.
Comms Communications are simple but effective, with the radio chat from your wingman and controllers adding tension and atmosphere. The option of Russian language voices in MiG-29 is like iciing on the cake, another example of how Novalogic has gone the extra mile in this product.
The wingman commands are fairly limited.
Objects A wide range of enemies is modelled in great detail.
Multiplayer Multiplayer is smooth and supports 128 players at Novalogics' IBS.
Load time Quick loading. I can sit down at the computer and know I'm in for a session of fast and furious flying with quick load times. (And re-load times if I completely mess up a mission!)
Explosions Explosions look pretty lame. Explosions look pretty lame. Objects, including aircraft, just blow up when destroyed. No wings falling off, smoke trails, just sudden obliteration.
What did I spot on the way home from a mission in Serbia.... a Kutznetsov Class Carrier! Note the distinctive "ski jump" bow. These carriers don't use steam catapults but rely on the extra altitude given by the ski jump to give the aircraft time (and alttiude ) to reach flying speed. Aircraft flown from this vessel have included the Yak-38 Forger, Su-27 Naval variants, MiG-29K and the Su-25 Frogfoot. Maybe we'll get a chance to fly from one of this in a future Novalogic sim... hint... hint...
What's on the deck today? Aha, a couple of Su-25 Frogfoots. I sure would like to fly the Frogfoot!
The A-10 Warthog is detailed down to the chain gun and an impressive shark mouth!
The AH-64 Apache attack chopper looks as good as any you'd find in a dedicated Apache sim. All the more amazing because in the normal course if duties you'd be lucky to get a glimpse of these chaps as they trundle about their duties at less than 200 knots. .... If you get that slow in your F-16 you're probably in big trouble! I know I was!
The terrain looks great.... a lovely spot for a picnic if it weren't for the low flying F-16's!
Radar Installations, a prime target
F-16 Radar Warning Receiver (RWR)
After Ejection, just prior to seat separation and chute deployment.
The pilot is a fully 3D object. The ejection sequence is nicely animated ... the pilots' legs even move about on the way down!
Check out the shockwaves in this afterburner cone.
Look in the cockpit of an enemy aircraft and you'll see a glowing array of instruments... talk about going to a lot of trouble! By the way I didn't get this snap by flying upside down a few feet above the bogey as you may have seen in "Top Gun" the movie - ... but rather I locked the Su-27 up on radar and used the Target View (F8) key, with S to zoom in and Ctrl - arrows to rotate.
The F-16 split airbrake works and looks like the real 'un!
The landing gear is finely detailed. The gear folds in the right directions and the landing gear doors even operate.
The gold-tinted canopy closes before take-off.
Overflying a friendly airbase... look out for traffic,these are busy skies!
An-72
F-5
FLIR
HUD gun funnel
Ka-52
Silk elevator
Su-27
F-16 MRF balances fast action and impressive terrain with a quick learning curve. The avionics (radar and Navigation gear) are fairly simple, enabling you to concentrate on flying and fighting! The rugged terrain makes dogfighting a white- knuckle affair as the bandits attempt to drag you to a rocky end!
Highly recommended.
MiGMan, 1998