No I would include Gunship 2000, Tornado/Hind, EF2000, TAW, Falcon 4 and EECH as having reasonable semi dynamic campaigns that enable reasonable unrepetitive gameplay.
I wont buy any sim that doesnt have at least a semi-dynamic campaign I hate canned missions. This is why I didnt buy LOMAC or any of its offspring. I like to fly a mission against a target and have another generated to suit the unfolding war and have previous targets destroyed. I dont expect campaings to be ultra complex and have supply effects etc as you would in a wargame - this is not what I am after. I just want to be able to replay campaigns several times or alterative campaigns without repetition.
Tornado was a quite good example - it came with several campaigns, you had a few varied missions affected by the previous one in a semi dynamic manner and you had free choice over how you configured the attack. This to me is fine for a flight sim. I dont expect the full on complexity of Falcon 4.
In EF2000 you had a variety of missions and targets to pick from and a variety of planes waiting for you although they were obviously always waiting at the last waypoint before the target. That was a bit lame when I figured that one out. To me its all about suspension of disbelief. Once you figure out a game is coded a certain way that breaks the game for me.
Of course I loved TFX which was canned missions but it wasnt too important that the missions were repetitive as they was quite a few of them and three planes to fly. But I wouldnt buy a sim like that again unless it enabled free choice over mission planning, target etc etc. Thats what I expect these days.
So I probably wont be buying A10 or any other ED sim until they manage to get an interesting backdrop to the flying - Microprose always managed it and things have moved on a lot since then. In Gunship 2000 you had a variety of helicopters to fly, you could select wingmen etc and you had a group of pilots to award medals to etc. That was really fun stuff. You never see that anymore these days. If they could manage it then, software houses these days could certainly manage it if they had a will. But these days its all about an 'accurate flying experience and realism' etc etc. BOOOORING! Lets get some fun sims out there again.
This is what I want to see before I buy - semi dynamic campaign enabling shoice of targets, choice of payload, group of pilots to choose from, medals to award, a few base screens to watch whilst you are waiting for the mission, a choice of wingmen and control of their setups, damaged targets stay damaged for a long time and maybe affect the war somehow (in a minimal way possibly), in flight refuelling, a mixture of Airtoair and Mudmoving missions. See no need for complex flight simulations - its all the rest that makes for a great game.
Why cant developers see this????
