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This game looked promising until I played it!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 5 / 14
Date: November 18, 2003
Author: Amazon User

First let me say from a serious flight sim fan, this game sucks! Now, if I was someone who just wanted to shoot things and didn't care about the realism aspect, maybe I would be satisfied. I don't actually own the game, I own a demo of the game, but from what I've seen so far I wouldn't buy the game. I wouldn't even play the game if it was given to me because again, it sucks! Sure the graphics are O.K. but it takes a pretty high-end system to render them, I've got a AMD 2400 w/ 2.0 Gigs & a GeForce 4 w/ 256 RAM & I still had to turn the graphic settings almost all the way down just to get a fairly decent & playable speed out of the game. But even if the game played well I would still be dissapointed at the flight model & overall flight dynamics of the game. Coming from someone who respects the companies out there that put so much work into thier flight sims and come out with a product like Falcon 4.0 & the Janes series, & still charge half as much as this one does, I'm very dissapointed in the Lucas Arts Company for even marketing this one as a flight sim. This game feels more like your flying one of the Star Wars Fighters! If you like flight sims and are picky like me about realism, then don't buy this game. Go out and get Falcon 4 or maybe IL-2/WWII Fighters if you want a WWII sim. You will spend half as much and get a much better game!

Secret Weapons Over Normandy is not a flight sim!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 14
Date: November 19, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Secret Weapons Over Normandy (SWON) was designed by Totally Games, whose founder, Larry Holland, has a history of making very fun, very accessible, flight action games, such as X-Wing, Tie Fighter, and Secret Weapons Of The Luftwaffe.

SWON is the continuation of that heritage, and fans of flight action games, and fans of earlier games by Larry Holland, will not be disappointed. However, anyone excepting SWON to be a flight simulation is just setting themselves up for disappointment, as SWON has much more in common with flight action games such as Starfighter and Crimson Skies than it does with flight sims like Falcon 4 and IL-2 Sturmovik.

That being said, SWON is a very fun game. It is fast-paced and throws you right into dogfighting and air-to-ground action from the very start of the game. The best thing about SWON is how accessible it is. You don't have to read 200 page manual just to be able to play the game. Just jump in and play and in no time you will feel like an ace fighter pilot defending liberty in World War II.

The graphics in SWON are gorgeous, and the sound and music are second to none. I strongly recommend Secret Weapons Over Normandy!

Pretty to look at, pathetic to fly.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 6 / 9
Date: November 20, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I read as many reviews of this game as I could find. Most described it as "arcade like". That is an understatement.

Now I have been playing Lucas games since the days of Battlehawks 1942 (circa 1988) and Their Finest Hour (circa 1990). They were really fun to play and they were as realistic as could be reasonably expected at the time. SWON is neither. The flight dynamics are laughable. I know it wasn't made to be a flight sim. But how Lucas Arts could honestly put their name on such an inferior product is shameful. They have so much experience creating flight-based games that this acts like something that could pre-date Intelivision. If it weren't for the graphics this game would be almost worthless.

I do wish to commend Lucas for the narrator and the music. Fantastic! The combination does give the player a History Channel feel of the game. Unfortunately the game gets silly after that. The main character, Chase, is so busy bad-mouthing his flight instructor you wonder if he will turn coat and start fighting for the Germans. The dialog seems to have been written by a teenager with some kind of complex. The in-flight dialog isn't as bad but I found myself too busy trying to figure out the flight dynamics (or lack thereof) to really listen to it.

I have only played the game through a couple of missions. So far, it's about 3 hours worth. It's a shame Lucas Arts didn't take this to the level I know they can achieve. It could have rivaled MSCFS for players that don't want a full flight sim but want the feeling of flying combat. Perhaps Lucas should just stick with Star Wars where they can get away with make believe flight dynamics. How I yearn for a game that can rival Ace Combat 4. I was hoping Lucas wouldn't let me down. Alas...

I can't believe how bad this game is

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 8
Date: November 23, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I am a major fan of Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe. A predecessor to this game and I can't beleive they are in anyway related. This game is pure arcade. It has all of the realism of the old 1942 game for Nintendo. In fact it plays much like After Burner for Sega. This is definately a game that has been rushed out for the holiday season to trick people into thinking it is a true WW2 flight simulator which couldnt be farther from the truth.
I was truly excited when I first read about this game coming out and agin unfortunately I have been let down.

Finally a flight game that you can PLAY!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 8
Date: November 24, 2003
Author: Amazon User

After trying countless flight sims and finding most essentially unplayable, we now finally have a game everyone can play and enjoy. This game is one of my favorite games I have purchased for the Xbox. I am a big WWII fan and the attention to details here are fantastic so accuracy is not lost over gameplay...there is a very fine balance here which I appreciate.

I've played thru 7 missions (total of 30) and I have to tell you I am totally hooked. I've flown Hurricanes, Spitfires, ME109's, P-38's, Swordfish, Ju-88's and Wildcats so far. This game is just amazing. I highly recommend it and to me it is the sleeper hit of this holiday seaso.

WEAK!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 9
Date: November 24, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I own many WWII flight sims. This is the weakest piece of crap of all I have ever purchased...

What a let down....

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 4 / 9
Date: November 25, 2003
Author: Amazon User

My Wife made the mistake of buying me the game as an early X-mas gift and what a mistake. I'm sending it to my Brother's kids in the morning, maybe it will be able to entertain a seven and a nine year old, but I doubt it. What a shame, I was at least expecting an updated SWOTL!

The flight dynamics are missing a few things, like gravity. I've played games like the Falcon series and IL-2 but I also love games like Crimson Skies so I'm not a realism fanatic.

All I got was some dated eye candy. What a shame.

--Ed

ARCADE ALL THE WAY!! Try the demo!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: November 29, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Well first of all , all the people down below have no idea what they are talking about. IT IS NOT A SIM PEOPLE IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE THAT WAY, IT IS MORE LIKE AN ARCADE SHOOTER? THATS THE WAY IT WAS MENT TO BE!! NOT A SIM!!, so get that outta the way and you realize it is a Great shooter in WW2, finally you dont have to worry so much about the sim aspect you can do amazing flight acrobatics to find and destroy your enemies without having to worry about geforces and passing out. I Love flight Sims, I cant wait to get Lock on modern air combat. and i have played all of the older ones. this is great arcade fun!! it is not a sim but was not meant to be. the missions are fun slick and graphics are great!if you want a Game you can sit back a little bit and get dirty and still shoot down lots of bombers and fighter pilots and blow up bridges and so on all with the knowledge you can fly like a maniac and still keep in flight without warning lights and the airplane chatter yelling at you your too low then I think this is for you!! even if you like Flight sims like me you will still enjoy this game Just remember it is not a flight sim so dont expect that..read the Box before you Buy if flight sims is all you like then you should be used to reading bible thick manuals, if ya read the back of the box it will tell you about the game and that well its a shooter....not a Sim....anyway I got mine and i am enjoying it!!...Have fun!!

looks impressive and very fun!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 9
Date: December 02, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I heard that this is not a flight sims game that you all seemed to think. This is more of an action fun game designed for the console rather than the more intense flight sims that's from this company. I find the graphics impressive looking and very detail oriented and easier to play for beginning gamers like me. I'm so hooked. I think you would enjoy this more if you know what the game is intended to do from the sites below. Don't take my word for it. Try out the demo and see for yourself!

Official site: http://www.lucasarts.com/products/normandy/
Mini site: http://www.totallygames.com/games/swon.htm

NOT A SIM! IT'S AN ACTION GAME!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 14 / 15
Date: December 23, 2003
Author: Amazon User

HEY! All you SIM-Heads! This is not a sim. "SWON is an air combat action game following in the tradition of the X-Wing and TIE Fighter and Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe series. Like those titles,SWON is strongly focused on action."- from the LucasArts Secret Weapons over Normandy official web site.
If you're a heavy sim player, you probably will not like this GAME. I've seen a couple of poor reviews citing poor realism or flight dynamics. IT'S A GAME! IT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO HAVE REALISM! LucasArts focused on historic accuracy AND fun. If you like action games without bothersome "flight models" and reality (I turn reality off in CFS1,3 and other of my sims)then you may like this game.
Hey sim-heads, lighten up.

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