Lock On: Modern Air Combat Hands-On

Eagle Dynamics, the Russian development team situated in Moscow, recently revealed its plans to expand upon their renowned Flanker franchise. The series of flight simulators began in 1995 with Flanker and soon continued with Flanker 2 (back in 1999) and Flanker 2.5 (which launched last year). Now the folks at Eagle Dynamics are working hard to bring you the latest installment in the series, entitled Lock On: Modern Air Combat. The game is scheduled to arrive some time this December. Until that day, we offer you our hands-on impressions of the latest pre-release version, sent to us by the fine folks at UbiSoft.

The Flanker series always stood out as a high-quality title among flight simulators. From what we've experienced, Lock On holds firm to that reputation. Sticking to the series' tradition, the game allows players to fly over the southern areas of the Ukraine (i.e. this part of the country borders upon the Black Sea). This particular region also includes the Crimean Peninsula and the Eastern Caucuses. The entire area was chosen as a base location for the fictitious air conflict, which remains an essential component of the game. Also, many of you who are familiar with previous Flanker games should recognize many aircraft that will be reappearing in the game. Of course, this doesn't mean that hardcore fans won't find any new content. Eagle Dynamics moderated its principal of including strictly Russian planes - this time around you'll be able to use additional aircraft, some of which are flown by today's NATO forces. Throughout the game players can explore the cockpits of several new military aircraft, freshly picked from Russian, US, and German air forces, including the Su-27 Flanker B, MiG-29 Fulcrum A, MiG-29 Fulcrum C, Su-25 Frogfoot, Su-33 Flanker D, and German MiG-29. Many trigger-happy fly boys will be pleased to know that among these aircraft, the development team also squeezed in the competent and versatile US fighter-bomber F-15C Eagle, as well as the A-10A Thunderbolt (a plane which had its moments of prominence and glory throughout the Gulf War, participating in over 8,100 sorties and launching more than 90% of the AGM-65 Maverick missiles).

Lock On proved to be a satisfying experience right from the start. It was impressive to see how realistically your planes operate once they take to the skies. We must emphasize that this game contains the extensive qualities of realistic flight simulations, with more than 200 commands for navigation, weapon systems, and camera views. Clearly the developers aimed to achieve total in-game realism, offering countless challenges for your piloting skills. Keep in mind, those new to flying shouldn't feel left out - the game also allows you to adjust the level of difficulty.

To make things even easier for rookies, Eagle Dynamics slackened the gameplay a bit by incorporating several factors, such as extra-powerful engines, anti-spin control, and easy landings, all of which come out pretty well during flight. And for those who want to earn their Top Gun wings, there's an assortment of additional features for pilot hot-shots; things like fuel consumption flight range, accurate rates of acceleration, etc. And, of course, for true veterans, the game includes the renowned "Cobra" maneuver, which can be executed with Su-27, Su-33, and Mig-29 aircraft. This editor fearlessly attempted to perform this death-defying move and, as a result, landed in an enemy hangar, upside down (inadvertent acts of bravery are always the best, eh?).

Gameplay wise, I stumbled upon more than enough challenges during each flight. Even at this stage, the game offers plenty of things that can hold a player's attention for quite some time. Enemy forces were strewn about the landscape, aiming to blow my "little" jet right out of the sky - you'll usually encounter many different land vehicles, various AA installations, huge airfields, and even tiny enemy soldiers armed with rocket launchers. We were delighted to note that Lock On boasts pretty decent gameplay depth for a flight simulation. Other than just flying around and blowing stuff away, you'll always feel that there's some purpose to your objectives and flight assignments. Mission briefings are thorough and should encourage any pilot. On top of that, each debriefing always presents a comprehensive record of your flight, carefully noting the successes and failures of your strikes. There's also detailed evidence kept during your piloting career - numerous statistics, flight hours, and, of course, earning promotions and medals.

As it turns out, Lock On introduces planes that are as equally effective and devastating in air as their real-life counterparts - regardless if you prefer heavier or lighter aircraft. So, when it comes to dogfights, the game becomes quite addictive (if you've got the hang of the controls, that is). AI-piloted planes put up a decent fight, reacting intelligently to your maneuvers. We were told that the game encompasses over 50 unique CPU-operated warplanes as well as a huge variety of ground vehicles, artillery, AA weapons, and similar samples of modern day warfare. We have to report though that during the game certain enemy aircraft tended to exhibit slightly weak AI routines, which lead to their own destruction on many occasions. To be blunt, we also found that the friendly AI frequently seems a bit too perfect, unrealistically mimicking your flight patterns and maneuvers. UbiSoft already addressed these issues and guarantees that they will be removed until the final version hits the shelves this winter, so you shouldn't have any worries.

It was nice to see that the game brings a variety of significant visual improvements to the series, as well as the genre. All 3D objects and the entire terrain were carefully mapped out and meticulously designed, in order to achieve a realistic in-game experience. The development team took the time to accurately model each and every tree on the ground of the mission areas (over 50,000,000 of them altogether). (How many?! That's a lot of goddamn trees! - 2Lions) Different military installations (airfields and naval bases), roadways, and settlements can also be found scattered across the landscape. What's more, each region features first-class dynamic lighting effects, impressive-looking smoke trails and clouds, reflective water effects, and so on. We were also pleased with the range of top-notch sound effects. It's all the stuff you can expect to hear, but it all sounds quite good; the ear-piercing sounds of jets and fired rockets whizzing past your cockpit, shattering explosions, and constant radio communication from wingmen, AWACS, aerial refulers, tankers, tower controllers, etc.

At this stage, Lock On: Modern Air Combat appears to possess features of a straight-out and addictive flight simulation that just might attract hardcore jet devotees as much as those who are newbies to the genre. Eagle and Ubi also promised to include at least 36 single-player missions, each backed up with a unique story. You can expect a range of multiplayer modes as well; involving up to 32 players via LAN, and at least six players via the internet, in deadly head-to-head and co-op missions.