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Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator 3

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: May 12, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This software will usually result in "Screen Lock" and is unusable with Windows Vista. The problem occurs only occasionally with Windows XP. Disappointing in the limited selection of Bomber Aircraft included (no "heavy" B-17, B-24, Lancaster, etc). The flight character of various aircraft modeled do not represent those of the actual aircraft very accurately in terms of firepower, energy manueverability, and vulnerability (Typhoon particularly).

Get ready for Frustration!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: January 04, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Wonderful graphics! Or so they claim. I wouldn't know. After upgrading my video card, drivers and downloading 2 different patches from Microsoft this game is still not even remotely reliable. The game finally locked up this computer system so badly, that my C: drive had to be reformatted and all my programs reloaded, and that was not my solution, but the computer shop that tried to unlock it! Microsoft's solution is to basically start up the computer in a dedicated mode "clean boot" just for operating the game. Yes, just like the old "boot disk" except you have to change the config sys manually and restart your computer. So much for ease of use. My system is far above what Microsoft called for on the box, but still unable to function with the game. I have a 1ghz system 500 megs of ram and a 64megs video card with the newest drivers available. As much as I like flight games, having a computer that can only have this game and a windows operating system on it is a bit ridiculous. Better to spend your dollars on something not so risky say like Enron stock.

Clarence

No, it is not as bad as it seems

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: March 14, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Yes, you can enjoy this game, but first you must understand a few facts about computers:

First, don't complain about having to download current video drivers for this game. Do you want the latest technology, then you have to download it...often. Just because you bought the best video card you could afford a year ago, doesn't mean that it is going to run today's technology.

Second, all big games run from the CD, so understand that you have to have the CD in the drive to play the game (common sense) and that there will be lag time when it accesses the CD. The world is very large and it is difficult for your PC to spawn a 360 degree enviroment on the fly.

Third, turn off your background programs. The listed requirements are for a barebones PC, not one that is running a ton of spyware and third-party utilites that are hogging all your resources.

Now, lets get to the review...

The GOOD:
- The best detail in a 360 degree enviroment of any flight-sim to date.
- Clouds and weather effects are well done.
- The planes and targets look great.
- Nice selection of planes.

The BAD:
- Load time is very, very long.
- The game has more bugs than most finished products.
- The cockpit views are difficult to see from, and the effects of speed and force on ammunition seems exaggerated (even at point blank range you have to lead the ammo so far in front of a target that it is outside of your field of view)
- Armament just doesn't feel true to life.
- The bomber controls are horrible, and while you can take the roll of bombidier or a gunner I recommend you don't, as there is no auto pilot (you can switch seats only to find that the throttle has dropped to zero and your bomber just rolled into an unrecoverable dive, or the gunner's machine guns are now locked "on" and decimating your fellow flight members)

The UGLY:
- This game is too taxing on hardware resources.
- You can't belly land!!!
- Any nick from enemy flak is like getting a direct hit from a rocket - ouch!!!
- The game feels too much like you are playing an arcade game.
- The "campaign" acspect is an inconvience and interferes with regular game play. Needs to be better implemented.
- Framerates can be so bad that the plane will jerk across the sky (making a smooth landing almost impossible)

So in summation, the game is not great, but it will deliver hours of fun here and there if you are patient. Microsoft can, and should have, done better than this and I don't look forward to purchasing any future Combat Flight Simulator releases.

CFS3

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: November 11, 2002
Author: Amazon User

fun ARCADE game, if you have the horsepower to run it. It is not i repeat NOT a Flight Sim any more than Crimson Skies was a flight sim.

MS really had a chance to raise the flight sim bar after the release of IL2 last year and they blew it big time.

half the so-called features of this game dont even work. ie. playing gunner positions in the bomber. its totally useless as the gunsights dont even line up with where the bullets are going! about an inch off on my 17" monitor.

Multiplayer?? forget about it unless you are on broadband, its a total lagfest.

If you want a serious and realistic flight combat sim with good netcode for multiplayer, go buy IL2.
If you prefer arcade type flying games CFS3 is for you but i would wait until it hits the bargain bins.

Sim Junkie

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: November 17, 2002
Author: Amazon User

One star is generous. This sim, and I have them all, is a travesty to the genre. After 4 long days of tinkering with this sim I finally gave up and took it back. I so wanted this game to be a worthy successor to the CFS franchise but it would seem that they have taken a step backwards. With sim's like Il-2 Sturmovik out there Microsoft had there work cut out for them. Over at the message boards for the flight simulation community this "game" is taking quite a bit of heat. For the time being I would hold off on purchasing this title and wait and see if they develop a patch. Not Recommended!

not going to buy

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: November 17, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I have cfs1 and2 and couldn't waite for cfs3 to come out. Now that I wread the reviews I hesitate to buy it. I'll waite till I see REVISED combat 3 out. Bob Carriveau

Huge computer power requirements

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: November 19, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This game is frustrating in part because of the grossly understated computer requirements. It takes a really powerfull system in order to see anything other than a jerky slide show. My middle class system--Pentium-4 at 1.3GHZ with accelerated GeForce-4 graphics card just will not cut it. I benchmarked my sys and it is performing OK and I have done EVERYTHING to make it run faster. Just when the intense action starts, the display gets jerky and your plane jerks from one attitide to another leaving you all out of sync. with the fight. The guns keep firing at nothing when it freezes. I had to turn off all the quality and detail controls just to get that! They should have been honest in stating the actual system needs. Don't but it unless you really have WAY more computer than I do.

Disappointed

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: November 21, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Well I should have read the other reviews before rushing out to buy this game. I would not have touched it. Even though I'm running a relativly high end machine ( 1.3Ghz,Geforce4 MX420 64mbGraphics with the latest drivers downloaded from Nividia and 512mbRAM) . I have had to turn the graphics to the lowest setting and it still judders and jerks.The game looks interesting and I would love to be able to play it . But the bottom line is if you dont have a cutting edge machine don't buy the game despite what the box says.

MS combat flight Sim 3..WORTH IT????

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: December 08, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I run a p4 2.4 with geforce 4ti 4600 and 512 mb ram. I thought it would easily run cfs 3 but boy o boy, it has a lot of chop. Have played it with the graphics tuned down and if you have to run it this low you may as well stick to European air war. With everything turned up to max the game is real pretty but the frame rate drops so much that targeting is hard on occasions. The game is not smooth at all. It would be a great game if it was smooth...Microsoft..you need to help out the dedicated sim fans out there...and fast

A total waste of $ & time.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: December 09, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Short and to the point... This program [is bad]! I'm a veteran simmer and I own a 2.53GHz P4 with 768MB RAM and a 64 MB NVIDIA GEFORCE4 MX-420 Video card. You would think that you could run just about anything with a system like this right? Wrong! After rolling back my NVIDIA drivers and making numerous changes in the included configuration utility (which I might add you probably need a software engineering degree to fully understand) I managed to get the game to run so that it only stutters a little with the clouds (the best looking part of the game) turned down to 1 and the rest of the sliders at 4. The result is a game that neither looks as good as the two previous versions nor plays as well and worse yet, since this is a major departure in format from the first two games, none of the aircraft or scenery are compatible.

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