Game Zone

Spotting a tempting, unprotected Russian truck convoy in the distance, I line up my A-10A Thunderbolt for a low-altitude bombing run. With its large wings and powerful turbofans, the Thunderbolt is a remarkably compliant aircraft—maneuvering to bring its 10 lethal weapons’ hardpoints into an offensive strike position proves quite effortless. Minutes later, the hapless transports are a burning, smoking pile of scrap metal, their light armor lustily ripped apart by my Mk-20 Rockeye cluster bombs. Suh-weet! The A-10A is the highlight of the eight new aircraft that Flaming Cliffs 2 adds to the distinguished Lock On: Modern Air Combat, Ubisoft’s 2003 big-budget survey flight sim. This seven-years-hence expansion—the second from Russian developer Eagle Dynamics—also updates the visuals with Eagle’s next-generation graphics engine, which was recently featured in DCS: Black Shark. The resulting game isn’t quite a totally modern flight sim, but it’s the next best thing. Eagle eye for detail Lock On: Flaming Cliffs 2’s imposing aircraft collection boasts the Sukhoi Su-25T Frogfoot anti-tank plane (with its authentic Shkval and Mercury targeting systems), a conventional Su-25, MiG4-29 Fulcrum (both A and C variants), Su-27 and Su-33 Flankers, as well as the American F-15C Eagle and aforementioned A-10A Thunderbolt. Each plane features authentic and intricately detailed cockpit layouts with enough dials, switches, levers and working gauges to earn hardcore simmer plaudits. You don’t get any of those impressive clickable Black Shark cockpits here—you’ll have to memorize the keyboard shortcuts or map controls to an appropriate HOTAS (hands-on throttle and stick) setup—but the detail is remarkable nonetheless. One of FC2’s best features is its enhanced terrain graphics, which beautifully render the Black Sea’s Crimean Peninsula. Expanded to include much of Georgia, the add-on now shares the same map as Black Shark (as well as the upcoming DCS: A-10C Warthog), allowing full multiplayer connectivity with both of Eagle’s showcase sims. FC2’s single-player content features seven scripted campaigns and almost 100 standalone missions, and whether you’re playing as a Russian Su-25 driver pushing NATO forces off the Crimean Peninsula or an American F-15 pilot dogfighting alongside Georgian allies over the snowcapped Caucasus peaks, the ground attack and aerial combat options are vast. New players may black out from excessive G’s trying to surmount FC2’s precipitous learning curve—even with the “easy avionics” option that significantly simplifies things for casual players—but returning Lock On fans will revel in the aircraft variety, cockpit fidelity, improved terrain graphics, single-player mission depth and Black Shark/A-10C multiplayer connectivity. If you can’t appreciate that, I may just have to bomb your villages.