Posted on: February 12, 2021
scharmers
Verified ownerGames: 342 Reviews: 18
A proper release for a grand old sim
1998 was a remarkable time for flight simulations - in that year, we got three very good ones: MSCFS, Jane's WW2 Fighters, and the best of them all: European Air War. The mid-to-late 90s were also a time when flight sim designers had yet to jump down the endless rabbit hole of simulating systems at navel-gazing levels (with SSI's Su-27 Flanker being the main exception and a portend of Things to Come.) Flight sims were still for the most part kick the tires, light the fires yank-and-bank affairs that catered to the inner fighter pilot in all of us. All effort was made to get the player into the mood of the simulated time - fancy interactive screens instead of endless lines of boring text. Of course, much of this effort was made because the actual 3D presentation tech wasn't up to snuff, but by 1998 we had 3D accelerator cards (EAW supported 3dFX Glide and DirectX) that pushed visuals further into believability. Anyway, enough of the old "I wuz there, m8" bollox from an old sim grog. Old sims are hard to go back to in most cases. Either their unsophistication in presentation, or their unsophistication in simulation just makes them a no go beyond a nostalgic pass. EAW is an exception. Basically brought to creation by the efforts of one master programmer and designer, EAW is still worth the flight, particularly when, say, IL-2:BoX's switchery buggery and unforgiving "realism" gets to be too much. You also get to fly proper escort missions with more than like 4 bombers at a time. GOG did the work here and has integrated the necessary community patch (V1.28) and wrappers (DirectX, 3dFX, and networking) to ensure this old girl runs more-or-less flawlessly on modern computers. For those in the know, EAW could be a right hassle to get running both before and after the source release, but it's basically click-and-play here. All EAW enthusiasts should pick this up as a clean V1.28 base that requires no fiddling. Younger sim pups should pick this up, too.
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