Sabre Ace

It's all too rare that I get to fly a MiG... so I was looking forward to blasting around in a MiG-15. However as I found, you have to prove your mettle before you get the good toys!

Going through training reminded me of hauling a Cessna 172 around the circuit. The engine sounds change with RPM and are very helpful in staying above the stall around the circuit. Stalls seem to be sedate and easily recoverable which is good news for newcomers to the flight sim genre.

Formation flying features heavily in Sabre Ace, which was great news to me. For those with limited time you can skip the transit sections of each mission and plunge straight into the action.

I really enjoy the challenge of Formation landings, and in Sabre Ace the runways are wide enough (this is often a problem in sims). The main trick is to avoid an overshoot on finals. Throttle back early.

Training missions in Sabre Ace are well designed and involve a flight instructor actually talking you through the procedures and switchology. He's liable to take control of the aircraft if you do something foolish, so be warned.

The engine sounds change with RPM and are very helpful in staying above the stall around the circuit. Stalls seem to be sedate and easily recoverable which is good news for newcomers to the flight sim genre.

Stall recovery consisted of forward stick and more thrust, spin recovery was effected by opposite aileron.

All the figures you need to fly the plane are presented, as well as good diagrams of circuit patterns.

The first jet vs. jet battle in history ocurred on November 8, 1950, where Lt. Russell J. Brown flying an F-80 shot down a MiG-15 over the Yalu river.

Dogfighting was frustrating at first, but isn't that the case with any new sim? After an hour or so of practice I started to get my eye in. Then the adrenaline kicked in. This sim probably had the most accurate modelling of size-distance-rate of closure in it's time.

Briefings

The mission brief shows you target photos which are taken from the actual game engine.

This is neat. This simple device adds to the immersion.

I often have trouble finding the target in sims and the closer the brief looks to what I'm going to see once I get there in my virtual plane... the better for all concerned.

You can see what the fuel tanks looked like after the attack here, at least I think that was the designated target!

The action was fast and fluid except for areas contaning FLAK. Strangely it wasn't the graphics which were bogging down the system but the sound samples!

My sources tell me that this performance hit is unavoidable. Even on my Celeron-466 the frame rate staggered when these sounds were playing. You could possibly avoid the problem by playing with the sound off... but who wants to do that?

It's a shame because this sim is a great introduction to the military flight sim genre. It's a lot of fun without being too complex.

MiGMan, 1998