Saturday, May 29, 2010

One Trip to the Attic ... And There Goes the Afternoon!

The list of overdue blog entries is not getting any smaller. This noon I went into the attic to recover some game manual and found my CDs of Sonalyst's Naval Combat Pack. I forgot about it almost by the time I bought it, quite a while ago.

Two British Harriers (0027 and 0024) fend off a couple of Argentine Mirage IIIs under the attentive watch of HMS Beaver. It's a long sail to the Malvinas/Falklands ...

Spent the afternoon playing this thing. Gah! Gotta focus ...

Cheers,

6 comments:

Dimitris said...

FC had huge potential back in '99, but was fundamentally hampered by a number of designer choices (too much manual intervention to get things done, no groups, limited tactical AI etc.) that inherently limited the size/scope and variety of representable scenarios and eventually discouraged long-term investment.

The Bruckheimer tone didn't help things either. Or the fact that editing the DB was a non-trivial task.

Damn shame.

MP and the scen editor were definite plus points though. As was the editable tactical AI behavior.

JC said...

Hi Dimitris,

Thanks for your comment.

I remember giving this one a short spin back in the time and archiving it.

What's the relationship between Sonalyst's and Jane's Fleet Command?

Cheers,

Dimitris said...

Sonalysts are the dev group behind FC. They re-used the sim & UI engine in their subsequent titles Sub Command and Dangerous Waters - which is why you see the same map presentation and 3D-style in these sims as in FC.

"Jane's" was the brand used by EA on a number of sim & strategy titles in the mid- and late-90s. IIRC Fleet Command was one of the last titles that used the brand.

Unknown said...

I also had that pack. Loved FC. But Harpoon is still superior with regards to simulation quality.

JC said...

Hi Jomni,

Thanks for your comment and sorry for the late response. I reckon this one is a bit light compared to Harpoon.

Cheers,

JC said...

Hi Jomni,

Thanks for your comment and sorry for the late response. I reckon this one is a bit light compared to Harpoon.

Cheers,