PC Pilot mag reviews BS - 95%

[gillers]

Did a search but didn't find a mention of this. Apologies if it appeared already.

 

http://www.pcpilot.net/

Sorry no online review available. It's a UK print magazine. And the reviewer is none other Chris 'BeachAV8R' Frishmuth!

 

Now don't get me wrong but wasn't Beach a beta tester for BS? At least he had access to early builds. He can hardly do a bad review, now can he???? :pilotfly:

 

Still he is fair with it and goes into a lot of detail about BS which does no harm at all. Beach does know his sim stuff and I've read a lot his work over the years. Though PC Pilot is not overly critical in its reviews as most of them are advertisers in a small niche publishing business!

 

I don't have the mag, just glanced through it in the shop! Maybe Beach can provide more info.

 

Gillers

[rapid]

Im afraid that it is old news. If you look at the BS home page its been there a quite a while BS 95%>>>> http://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/

[LazerPotatoe]

The magazine was only published in February, so this news is not _that_ old. I wasn't aware. Thanks for the heads up.

[rapid]

Dont get me wrong here bud not looking any arguments or anything, but the home page HAD the score for BS well before pc pilot printed the their mag. But feel free to believe what ever you want ...live long and prosper.

 

See here>>>>> http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=38008

Edited March 6, 2009 by rapid

[Kenan]

I rarely check the main DCS site so this is news to me. Thanks for posting it.

[rapid]

but thats the point...it Has already been posted in the forums see my last post.

[BeachAV8R]

Regarding the PC Pilot review. Yes, I was an unpaid beta-tester, although I have to admit that I wasn't a very good one because I didn't offer a whole lot of constructive criticism throughout the beta process. I was more of a "watch & observe" guy that enjoyed seeing the professionals at ED work with the beta testers to really nail down a solid product. My online (forum) time has been severely curtailed the past few months, but I'm still writing regularly for PC Pilot.

 

PC Pilot has traditionally been home to largely Microsoft Flight Simulator content, with a sprinkling of other simulator (both civil and combat) coverage. When they asked me to start writing for them last year it was due to the content I had been writing for SimHQ which was largely geared toward both MSFS and combat sims (obviously). I've probably written 6 or 7 reviews for them so far with scores ranging from 75% up to 95%. If you read the review I wrote on DCS: Black Shark you'll see that I somewhat slanted the coverage toward the PC Pilot audience by repeatedly stressing what a good flight simulator that Black Shark is (and it is). For most of the subscribers and readers of PC Pilot it isn't unusual to drop $30 or $40 for a quality payware add-on aircraft for FS2004 or FSX. Considering that Black Shark is a stand-alone product that not only includes one of the most intensively modeled aircraft ever, but also includes all of the programming that makes it flyable (aerodynamics, terrain, editor, etc..), the cost of Black Shark and the value of what that represents compared to just an add-on for a base product like FSX is pretty phenomenal.

 

Some of the PC Pilot readers are not interested in combat flight simulators at all for reasons that run the range from pacifism to mere disinterest in blowing things up. And to all that would smirk at that - I would just point out that some of those Flight Simulator guys are pretty hardcore into their civil aviation stuff, replicating the reality of peacetime flight to excruciating detail. To me, that makes them as cool as the the combat flight sim guys. So, with that in mind, and the target readership fairly well established, I encouraged the PC Pilot readers to pick up Black Shark even if they weren't interested in the combat side of the sim because it is such a damn good helicopter flight simulator period. You could literally spend weeks just learning the navigation systems and flying around VFR through the beautiful scenery depicted in the Black Shark campaign area. Learn to fly IFR, do flight planning, deal with in flight emergencies and poor weather. That is why I gave it a 95% - because it does offer a value above and beyond what the pure combat enthusiast is looking for. And who knows, once they get into driving the Ka-50 around they might get the temptation to try out the weapons and single player missions and we sure could use more combat flight simulator enthusiasts in our hobby.

 

I've seen reviews posted online and on the message boards that range from 65% to 100% for DCS: Black Shark, and I feel each of the reviewers has legitimate points and legitimate reasons to assign their personal value to the product. Given the scope and depth that ED has modeled into this product I personally think Black Shark is in the very top ranks of combat flight simulators ever. Sure, we all remember Longbow 2 with fondness and heck, I'm still playing Jane's F-15 once in awhile - but in our memories we also probably indulge in a bit of fantasy and can't truly grasp how far we've come. We've become inured to great graphics, great missions, avionics, etc..because we are reaching ever more points of diminishing returns. Remember the old original Gunship for the Commodore 64 where 7 or 8 little white dots represented the infantry? I played that game for hours and hours each night with the suspension of disbelief that those dots were actual troops. Now, the graphics do a lot of the thinking for us. That doesn't make the development any less great, or the products any less worthy of high praise when it is warranted.

 

ED has a great track record. They haven't always pleased everyone, but they are professionals and have a great passion for our hobby (thankfully!). I've witnessed the development of Black Shark over the past couple years and the final product, while not perfect, is pretty darn good and represents a great value with the promise of more to come.

 

Hope you enjoyed the review - and I might as well throw out a plug for PC Pilot (http://www.pcpilot.net/). It has some really good content, and even us military flight simmers can stand a little education on communications, navigation, techniques, etc. There is a lot of crossover between military and civil aviation, so enjoy a little of both.

 

Regards,

Chris "BeachAV8R" Frishmuth

 

PS - And I hope to soon get back to writing some content for SimHQ again soon, I've been on hiatus for a bit dealing with some issues but I haven't forgotten where I came from.

Edited March 7, 2009 by BeachAV8R

[nemises]

Good call Chris, couldn't agree more

[rapid]

I for one appreciate the time you took to give an account of your views.