MiG Alley
by Interplay
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Category: Video Games
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Product Summary
Brand: InterplayFormat: CD-ROM
Release Date: 1999-12-15
Platform: Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me
Publisher: Interplay
Accessories:
Video Game Reviews of MiG Alley
Customer Review: The best dogfighting sim of it's era
Summary: 5 Stars
Should I review a 1999 flight sim that 4 people are going to buy? Sure, there's nothing good on TV tonight.
Mig Alley as you are probably aware portrays the air war above Korea during the Korean war of thhe early 1950s. 5 aircraft are available to fly. The P 51 Mustang, the F80 SHooting Star (Anerica's first jet) the F-84 Thunderjet, the F 86 Sabre and the Mig 15.If you've played modern jet sims like Falcon 4 be aware that these early jets are very different. Handling is a different challenge; whereas a the F16 flies so smoothly that it *feels* like you're playing a computer simulation, the early jets require much more finesse to fly. Push it past it's limits and it will either stall, or go into a dangerous spin. Apart from the way the jets physically behave, the avionics...well they didn't have any! Except for a rudimentary radar ranger for gunsights, which you'll rarely use. As a brief simplication the planes in Mig Alley are like the prop fighters of a WW2 flight sim but with considerably more engine power available. The sense of those jets behind you churning out 1000s of pounds of thrust is quite exhilarating compared to the more sluggish props and you can aptly throw the plane about the sky more than any WW2 sim you've played. The Mig 15 in particular has a great climb rate.
Although there are 5 planes to fly, most players will want to play with only two, the F86 Sabre and the Mig 15. The other planes are primarily ground attack planes, and ground attack isn't what most people who buy this are looking for. While modern ground attack is a complex affair of munitions, avionics and terrain following, the ground attack of the early 1950s is no different from WW2. Fly to the target area, point you nose at the ground target and fire away. Fun for a bit maybe, but the air to air dogfighting is where MIg Alley really shines. The F 86 and MIg 15 follow the classic tradition of "boom and zoom" that is to say one plane is faster and has a more powerful engine at the expense of maneuverability (here the Mig 15) while the other has a weaker engine but is more maneuverable. Here it's slighly more complex still; the Sabre has an extremely quick roll rate (360s degrees in 2 seconds) making it a very agile target (or hunter) in the short term, while the Mig 15 has a slow roll rate, but a higher *sustained* turn rate. There is a large difference in ammunition too, the Sabre uses high velcoity machine guns requireingl ess "lead"(or aiming ahead) at the expense of little damage inflicted, while the Mig 15 fires powerful cannon that can do terrible damaage, but the much slower muzzle velocity means that much more lead is required, making scoring a hit much trickier than with the Sabre. The thrll of dogfighting in Mig Alley is quite amazing considering that its "only" a computer game. I first got into modern flight sims with Janes's WW2 Fighters, but Mig Alley managed to top even that with sheer "Keep in my sights you @*!$!! Keep it there...gotcha!!" immersiveness.
Ohter good points- the sensation of flying is amazing. Although the green and brown Korean landscape lacks the glamour of, say, European farmland or Pacific atolls I can't think of another flight sim of it's era that gave the sensation of flying so well. A good way to measure it is to pick the view 45 degrees either left of right, then do a slow roll in that direction while looking at the landscape. Mig Alley nearly gave me vertigo with that. Another thing that sets is above most others is a dynamcic campaign (here called The Spring Offensive) In fact the campaign goes above most others in that not only is it dynamic, but you can order your squadrons of planes around on the map just like a wargame.
Situational awareness is I'm pleased to say,good. There is an artificial horizon in the top right of your screen at all times, and the relation of other planes to you is shown on a circular cross section. You can tell not only in which direction a plane is, but if it's above or below you too. Good for telling if your being tailed by an ememy. Such aids are not too unrealistic if you think about it, since in real life your situational awareness is much greater and second nature to you. There are number of padlock views available too, although these may be initially confusing. With a bit of experience though, you'll be able to have all the confidence you need in a multi plane dogfight.
Criticisms? Well the manual is practically useless. Okay ,many people don't read the manual, but still, I do, and was disappointed at how little information is given for so many words, and how haphazardly it's laid out. Giving power equatiom curves with fancy graphs is all very impressive but I would have preferred more info on how to play the campaign. There is online help but how many people read that stuff? For such a strong feature of the game, the campaign is frustratinglly difficult to get into. ALso, navigation when flying is somewhat mysterious. There is a map, but getting to waypoints really should have been explained a bit more. Also taking off informatiom can be exhasperating with collions turned on; I eventually had to change the collisons to enemy only.
Some people have complained about system crashes and such. Well I have never experienced anything like that with the patched version. MY PC is quite old by todays standards but to give an indication it's
Windows ME
1.3 Ghz
NVIDIA GeForce 2 MX video card
Creative Audigy (1)
With those specs, I have had flawless system performance.
Overall I feel that Mig Alley is a great simulation of a surprisingly overlooked era. Maybe it's due to the subject matter. The Korean War lacks the heroics of the WW2 good guys vs nasty Nazis or the cutting edge avionics of modern sims. But if you have tried and enjoyed sims like IL- 2, I recommend Mig ALley with no hesitation, in fact in some ways I think it's actually the better simulation
Description of MiG Alley
Set during the Korean War, MiG Alley is a release from Rowan Software, creators of Flying Corps. MiG Alley is an interactive campaign-based flight simulation, with the option of instant action in minicampaigns, single historical missions, and head-to-head play.MiG Alley includes the world's first and largest jet-to-jet dogfights, with over 50 aircraft in the sky at any one time. And you can fly any of the following aircraft, all with accurate flight models: F86 Sabre (the ultimate dogfighter), F84 Thunderjet (long-range strike and escort jet), F80 Shooting Star (ground-attack and fighter-jet aircraft), P51 Mustang (classic World War II propeller aircraft, serving as a ground-attack aircraft), and MiG15 and MiG15 bis (the fighter that nearly drove the UN air force from Korean skies). Other aircraft appearing in the game include the B29 Super fortress, Meteor, F9 Panther, A1Skyraider, YAK piston-engine fighter, and many others.
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