Lock On (Modern Air Combat, Flaming Cliffs, Platinum)

The Lock on series (again From Ubisoft do I sense a trend?). Is an unofficial sequel to the Flanker series. The first version had the same Russian aircraft and the F-15C and A-10A from the U.S. and Flaming Cliffs ads the SU-25T Frogfoot. There is a significant graphical improvement over Flanker and the same great landscaping. But it is set in the same place, and remains so through all its expansions. Platinum attempts to switch things up by moving the setting several hundred miles southwest. The greatest strength of Lock On is its incredible realism. Individual flight models, authentic radio chatter, and complex aircraft systems. It even has a similar damage simulator to IL-2. However it's greatest strength is (in my opinion) also it's greatest weakness. Even when on lower difficulty settings the game is so real that it often loses the fun turn and burn feeling of Flanker 2.5. Although you can still decimate enemy aircraft with unlimited missals and impossible maneuvers, it feels like you're cheating somehow. Although Ubisoft will try to sell Platinum as the best version, Modern Air Combat is basically the same game. (And I feel as though MAC is more visually pleasing in the game menu). I would say that Lock On is a great series that only fails by taking its self to seriously, although there are some comedic moments in the radio chatter for scripted missions. It is a simulator all the way and if you but it only to play with invulnerably, unlimited ammo, and unlimited fuel on, you just overspent by a good 40 bucks when H.A.W.X. is available on Steam for $10.