Flanker 2.0

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Flanker 2.0
Flanker 2.5 coverart.png
Flanker 2.5 cover art
Developer(s) Eagle Dynamics
Publisher(s) Ubisoft
Director(s) Nick Grey
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows
Release1999 (2.0)
2001 (2.5)
Genre(s) Combat flight simulator
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer

Flanker 2.0 is a combat flight simulator developed by Eagle Dynamics and released in 1999. It is a direct sequel to Su-27 Flanker. The game allows players to fly the Sukhoi Su-27 and Su-33 in combat missions. In 2001, a major patch titled Flanker 2.5 was released for free to users who already owned Flanker 2.0, but was also available as a fully new purchasable game.

Contents

Reception

IGN reviewed Flanker 2.0 with a rating of 7/10. The limited accessibility and frustrating campaign were criticized, concluding "there's a strong enough sim lurking in this hostile game that passionate flight simmers will find a real treat once they've cracked the shell and accepted the limitations. Anyone else need not apply." [1] GameSpot reviewed Flanker 2.0 with a rating of 8.7/10, praising the graphical improvements and mission editor while critiquing the audio and campaign compared to contemporaries such as Falcon 4.0. [2] PC Gamer US nominated Flanker 2.0 for its 1999 "Best Simulation" award, but it lost to MiG Alley . The editors wrote that Flanker 2.0 is "not everyone's cup of tea, and even veteran simmers find it a challenge to master every vagary of the Su-27. But for sheer authenticity, it can't be topped." [3] In the United States, Flanker 2.0 sold 7,285 copies by April 2000. [4]

Flanker 2.5 won PC Gamer US 's "2002 Best Simulation" award. The magazine's Andy Mahood wrote, "When a $10 upgrade package (for a three-year-old combat flight sim, no less!) takes our 2002 Flight Sim of the Year honors, it's a remarkably sad commentary on the state of the genre". However, he praised the game as superior to Combat Flight Simulator 3 and Strike Fighters: Project 1 , and declared that it "absolutely deserves" players' attention. [5] Flanker 2.5 won GameSpot's annual "Best Simulation on PC" award, and was a runner-up in the publication's "Best Budget Game on PC" category, which went to Serious Sam: The Second Encounter . [6]

In a 2024 feature on the history of military flight simulators, Len Hjalmarson wrote for PC Pilot that "Flanker 2.0 had some of the best-looking aircraft models on the PC. The game was also popular with online pilots and sported excellent weapons modeling and avionics. Yet Flanker 2.0 lacked something in gameplay." [7]

Sequels

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References

  1. ↑ IGN Staff (2000-01-11). "Flanker 2.0". IGN. Retrieved 2022-12-18.
  2. ↑ Grey, Bruce (2000-05-01). "Flanker 2.0 Review". GameSpot. Retrieved 2022-12-18.
  3. ↑ Staff (March 2000). "The Sixth Annual PC Gamer Awards". PC Gamer US . 7 (3): 46, 47, 49, 50, 54–56, 60, 62.
  4. ↑ Staff (April 2000). "PC Gamer Editors' Choice Winners: Does Quality Matter?". PC Gamer US . 7 (4): 33.
  5. ↑ Mahood, Andy (March 2003). "The Ninth Annual PC Gamer Awards". PC Gamer US . 10 (3): 48–50, 54, 58, 60, 66, 68, 70.
  6. ↑ GameSpot Staff (December 30, 2002). "GameSpot's Best and Worst of 2002". GameSpot . Archived from the original on February 7, 2003.
  7. ↑ Hjalmarson, Len (February 2024). "A History of Military Flight Simulations Part IV - The pace quickens". PC Pilot. Key Publishing. p. 67.
  8. ↑ "LockOn: Modern Air Combat". www.lockon.ru. Retrieved 2022-12-02.
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