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The best modern combat sim ever!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 50 / 60
Date: October 24, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Installed a demo. Don't know what the guys who posted below are talking about but im running demo on my rig with following specs:

Athlon 1700+
ATI Radeon 9500 moded to 9700
SoundBlaster Live! 5.1
513MB of SDRAM

Game settings: resolution 1600X1200, 2x AA, 4x AF

The game is smooth. Geting on average 30 FPS. Physical model is great, graphics is great both environment and landscape (i come from Ukraine so i know how landscape is supposed to look like there:)) The only thing i didn't like was the damage model. But i think it's going to be fixed by the release date.

Of course it is not an arcade game. It is a hard core flight simulation with everithing that this entails. You gotta learn how to fly.

Everyone who is passionate about aviation should get this game!

PS. If your demo isnt running great, check out ubisoft's forums. You can learn how to set up you hardware, drivers, and the game right so it is playable.

The end of dumbing down

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 16 / 20
Date: February 01, 2004
Author: Amazon User

If you are not technically minded, don't buy this game. If you dont know the difference between a directX 9 card and a directX 9 compliant card (one works with DirectX 9 but does some of it in software and is useless for many modern games), dont bother. If you have a computer that is not correctly configured, don't even think about it. If you expect to run the game and play well within an hour, stop reading now.

Now for the rest of us, the ones who are sick of console games and know how to build their own machines so that they run well, irrespective of the age of the components. The ones who are prepared to sit down and actually learn how to use a program, and know that a third party manual is the only way to even begin to do justice to this simulation (it is *not* a game)... This one is for you.

Runs well on my 9500 pro (heavily overclocked, with an artic cooler mod), XP2000+ processer and 1Gb RAM and with all of the simulation settings set to high except water quality and view distance (set to low and medium respectively) - as per the manual recomendations (hint for all the folks with low frame rates!). Mine is not a high end machine, but I took pains to work out what the most stable drivers were for everything before installing this game (catalyst 3.7 for the video, plus latest VIA sound drivers for my onboard audio), because I knew it would be a demanding game... not on hardware, but on software configuration. Mid range hardware seems okay on all the latest games, but it is drivers and general software config that causes problems, ddespite what some of the other reviewers seem to think.

Know what? It worked first time, and it worked well. I'm enjoying going through the LOMAC manual (the one published by Digital Aspirin), learning how to play this beast, and when you get into the zone it is absolutely great.

For example, in one mission, I am tasked with shooting down a valuable and well protected AWACs plane that is patrolling off the coast. It is protected by a pair of F4s and there is a patroling squad of F16s nearby.... all of which totally outclasses and outguns my pair of MiGs. So its a case of tactical flight - flying undetected with stealth (passive non-emitting sensor modes), and a BVR attack on the AWACS from behind, placing the F4s in a position where they are furthest away from my escape vector when I de-cloak and initiate the attack. Following my stike on the AWACS, I head for the deck running, using the mountains as cover and using the low level air density to significantly cut missile range (yes, it even models that!). A long chase follows, with the two F4's and my wingman buying it in a short but fast dogfight, when the F4s elect to cut their altitude for speed and catch up. But I make it home, low level all the way to avoid lock-ons by the F16s, who were following at high altitude taking BVR pot-shots.

Exhilarated is the only word I can use when I made it to my side's air defences, and watched the F16s turn and sulk back home... Mission Accomplished!

Now that's gameplay.

S

This rocks!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 15 / 15
Date: July 01, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Well I was reluctant to pick this up. A friend advised me that it didn't run on his top of the line PC. He said that it was fine until clouds and weather affects were added and then trouble occured. Anyway eventually I found it in a discount bin and decided to pick it up. It runs brilliantly on my machine, absolutely flawlessly. My box 2.8Ghz, 1Gig Dual Channel Ram, ATI 9600 Extreme. I was so impressed I went and bought myself a set of X45 Saitek HOTAS gear. How much fun is this. Blowing away bandits in an F15 without ever having to touch the keyboard. The sound is only in stereo unfortunately so I can mix up my EAX settings to run it on 4 speakers but a 5.1 setup would have been nice. The graphics put MSFS2004 to shame. It took me a week or so before I was comfortable flying the Eagle and there are more planes to go. The game has a great level of depth and I printed off the Flaming Cliffs manual which helped some too (all 262 pages). Campaign builder takes a little time to figure out - like the whole thing really, but this isn't a console game this is a complex piece of software. Saying all of this the game isn't for everyone, it takes time, patience and an attention to detail to get the most out of it. I spent a week or so readjusting settings till I was happy. Neverthless this has helped my love and interest of flying and quite frankly this piece of software is a hobby for me rather than a game.

Superb Flight Sim - Can only get better!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 13
Date: March 01, 2004
Author: Amazon User

LOMAC is not perfect but which flight sim is/was? it can only get better - Pay attention to the requirements and try to fly it on Win2000 and WinXP - it does not work (well) with Win98 - ...

The graphics are amazing - the community is great and the developer of the game (Eagle Dynamic) listens and answers on the forums...Again, you need a modern system to run it *unless* you're willing to tune the settings - which is fine too for many players.

... - All the planes are excellent - 8 ones - all with different dynamics!

People complains (Falcon 4 dudes mostly) that there is not a clickable cockpit - what gives! I prefer using a joystick such as a configurable cougar or X45 (best price/performance) along with the keyboard to actually feel my hands reaching somewhere rather than using a mouse in the middle of some dogfights...

There are already many great mods from the community including a Mod Manager/Installer tool named LOMAN ...

Anyhow, you don't have to be an experienced flight sim pilot to fly lomac but it helps for advanced manuvers and such - This is a great sim to get if you want to know more about Jet Fighters in general - The russian fighters are well modded as well as well the US ones...

Patch 1.01 fixed a lot of issues and patch 1.02 is in Beta test - again developing a modern jet combat flight sim is very COMPLEX and it takes a bit of time to stabilize it...

When Falcon 4 was released it was buggy as [can be] - a lot more than LOMAC - many folks remember that.

This SIM can only get better.

P>Get that SIM if you haven't already - I don't mean to say it is a replacement for other sims - I have both Falcon 4 and LOMAC - love them both but LOMAC is something one should get if you see yourself as a flight simmer...

Worth the effort

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 12
Date: January 15, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game about a year ago, and had a really difficult time mastering the learning curve. Since the documentation was so sparse, I mostly laid off trying to master the avionics and just flew it like a dogfighter, flying Sues, MiGs and 15s in "guns only fights, and then just marveling at how beautiful the game was. Mastering navigation and landing was itself a challenge, but I just loved staring out from the cockpit during a descent and feeling very much like I was in a real cockpit in air....the illusion and immersiveness was that real.

Eventually I moved onto other games, but I never removed this game from my hard drive. It felt like a keeper. Now a year later, I've patched it, put some of the add-ons in, and I'm still learning new stuff! I've finally mastered the Su-27 BVR mode and CAC mode. I've also learned how to effectively use EOS and have successfully won missions with it. This is one of those games that you have let grow on you.....at this point I have virtually no doubt that LOMAC is going to be the Falcon4 of the next 5 years. It is going to be slowly patched and modified while hardware grows around it.

I am running an Athlon 2600, with 1GB of PC3200 RAM, and a Radeon 9700 on Windows 2000 SP4. There are a few graphics options I have to turn down, but the game is extremely stable (0 crashes) and gives me playable framerates about 90% of the time at a resolution of 1024x768. Overall the game is very scalable and needs to be tweaked to get the happy medium between performance and eye candy depending on the capabilities of your machine.

I literally can't wait for my next upgrade, and wonder how great this game will look and fly with a fast 64-bit CPU and a next gen video card.

This is a great simulation, and one which will reward you with priceless satisfaction if you are willing to invest the time and effort in learning its intricacies.

Simulation

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: June 05, 2005
Author: Amazon User

The game does exactly what it says it does, it imitates modern air combat. Learning is half the fun and despite a small manual anyone can look on-line with a little effort and find tons of useful information to learn more. The search button on forums is a key thing to understand. Some people complain about stability but the game has never ctded on me once. I run an AMD XP2800+, Leadtek 6600GT graphics card, and 1gb ram. I run everything on high except water (which is the real fps killer along with mirrors). Tons of fps mods are even available if you need them and look for them. I previously ran the game on medium with my XP2800, 512mb ram, and a GfTi4200 and it ran decently as long as everything was medium and water was low. It's all about tweaking, which can take time. The key is to tweak it and then keep at it instead of giving up because once you get cozy with the game you'll start to have the real fun. Getting over the initial learning curve it difficult but I think is probably well worth it if you care to understand some of the top fighters of our time.

A great flight simulation that is a joy to fly

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: September 23, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Developed by Eagle Dynamics, the creators of Flanker 2 , Lock On is a great simulation and a joy to fly.

It requires a good PC (at least a P4 2.0 with 1024 MB RAM) and a 128MB video card (a GForce 5xxx or ATI9800) in order to really enjoy it.

It has already been patched twice and has a great online community that creates missions, skins and campaigns that you can download - and Eagle Dynamics is already developing add-ons for Lock On.

Lock on requires some time to master, but it is easy to learn and, as far as flight simulations go, it is quite intuitive.

Don't miss it!

Lomac Excellent Game With a Very High Learning Curve

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 11
Date: November 25, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I love this game. Graphics are amazing. Game was 3 years in the making. They are still in the process of ironing out some bugs. The patch will be out soon enough. Plenty of things to do in the sim though until the patch comes out.

But be forwarned this is a high fidelity flight sim. It has very high system hardware requirements and a very high learning curve. And you need to patiently learn how to fly. Probabbly will take you 6 months at 3 hours a day to learn everything in this sim. This sim is not suited for kids. Adults only who have the patience to visit the lock on online forum every day and ask questions in a nice way. Don't be rude or you will be banned from the forum.

My personal congrats to the Eagle Dynamics Team and UBI on a wonderful sim that breaks new ground. I love the effort they put into this game.

If you just want a shootem up flight sim this is not your game.

If you want to be a fighter pilot and fly in an online squadron that takes alot of your free time this is your sim.

Be forewarned this sim could make you get a divorce, lose your job, fail out of school, and lose your friends. It is very addictive.

Most of these reviewers have no foundation in flight sims

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 13
Date: January 02, 2004
Author: Amazon User

And I really think that most of them do well just to get Windows to run on their systems much less a flight sim. They dont have the foggiest idea of the complexity of a jet fighter flight sim and what it takes to accomplish that end. But they do know how to gripe if it requires effort on their part to setup on their computer and learn to fly. Don't listen to reviews issued by the Playstation Generation!
LockOn is to date the best flight sim to hit the market. NO, it isnt perfect but it only has one show stopper bug....it wont run on the antiguated operating system Win98. It does however, run very well on WinXP. And it was written to take advantage of the next generation of computer hardware and is scalable to todays hardware and even yesterdays hardware. But these clowns want to load it up on their system and crank all the settings to the top, so they can then come here and tell you that it's crap/buggy/broken and worthless when in fact...it's their review that fits in those categories.
LOMAC is worth the money.
LOMAC works if setup right on the right system and OS
LOMAC is a blast. Best eye candy ever. Almost photo realistic Check the screen shots....they dont do it justice but they are testamony to the fact.
LOMAC plays great online. Smoothest fight I have ever seen and I have flown flight sims online since that activity was possible.
LOMAC belongs on every mature flight simmers hardrive....and that's it PERIOD!!!
Yours truely, SPIKE out
C/O VFA-41 Black ACES
www.vfa41.com

Kick them tires and light those fires!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 8
Date: January 02, 2004
Author: Amazon User

If you have EVER wondered what it's like to fly modern military aircraft in combat, get this title! You get 8 flyable aircraft, I lose count of how many others are modeled in the game that you fly with and against, not to mention all the ground units, tanks and other armored vehicles, anti-aircraft guns, surface-to-air missles, ships, you name it, it's there, and probably quite hazardous to your health. And they are all quite busy doing their thing whilst you do yours, so you'd better be doing it right!

You choose the arena: Air-to-air combat using radar-guided and heat-seeking missles, 20 and 30mm cannon, air-to-ground combat with cluster bombs, Maverick television and infra-red guided missles, "dumb" bombs, fuel-air explosives, rockets, and a 30mm seven-barreled cannon that shoots 70 rounds per second. There are defensive systems as well, electronic counter measures, chaff and flares to help you survive the day.

The aircraft are superb, detailed cockpits for each one and the avionics that go with them. Flight models just feel right, but you do have to use some pilot skills. This is not "Gorilla Kong at Twenty Thousand Feet". If you have never flown a "hardcore" flight sim, you'll have some homework to do, but it's the fun kind, and you'll learn some incredible things about real world aircraft. Having said that, you can adjust the skill factor so that you have super-radar, unlimited weapons, and invunerability. Nice feature, that last one, you can fly and fight all day while you are learning about this environment you just got yourself into!

I haven't mention graphics, have I? Well, if you have a fairly decent system, with a good graphics card, you are in for a treat. LOMAC is graphical flight simulation Disneyland! This is as close to photo-realistic as it gets on a PC. That includes all the aircraft, objects, land, and water (oooh, that water!). I have seen a series of screen shots depicting a mid-air collision at an air show that I would have sworn were real. They were not, they were LOMAC. Seeing is truly believing here.

Now, all is not perfect in human existence, nor is it with LOMAC. It does have issues, no "show-stoppers", other than the Win 98/ME problems, but certainly things that are not right. These things are being addressed with a patch which should be out within the next month, hopefully sooner. Let me tell you, from my perspective, it's darn good now, I can't believe how much better it will be then.

To sum up, if a realistic, yet scaleable jet combat flight sim might be in future, get this one. And remember to strap in, that runway acceleration really pushes you back in the seat!

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