From: jsaloga@netcom.com (Jon Saloga)
Subject: Over the Reich demo: Comments

Been playing this a lot over the last couple of days, and thought I'd 
post some observations:
 
First off, this is probably the first program I've seen that uses DirectX 
that -did not- make me install it when it's already loaded. It really 
pisses me off when I install something for the first time and it *makes* me 
install DirectX 2.0 or whatever when I already have DirectX 3.0 installed 
on the system, meaning that I have to go back and reinstall 3.0 again. I 
was very relieved not to go through that hell again when installing the 
OTR demo. 
 
User interface is very slick and intuitive. I was playing on General 
level before I even read the readme file. I especially like the relative 
altitude numbers on the plane icons. The planes also have colored icons to 
represent higher or lower alts, but I didn't find these to be of much 
use. Probably would've been better to increase/decrease size of plane's 
icon to give a quick visual indication of altitude.
 
The only problem I had with the interface was with the control stick 
lock. Sometimes after setting the left/right position, I couldn't set the 
up/down position. It wasn't a constant problem - sometimes it would work, 
sometimes not. I ended up turning it off as it was turning into more trouble 
than it was worth.  It would be nice to get working smoothly, as getting the 
right stick setting can get pretty tricky sometimes.
 
Sound effects are really, really well done. I've always wanted WWII 
flight sims to use this straight-off-the-flight-camera approach to sfx. Might 
not be the most realistic way of handling sound in a flight sim, but more 
than makes up for it in atmosphere.
 
Still not sure about the AI. They seem to use what would generally be the 
most appropriate tactic in most situations, but noticed things like a 
lone Bf-109 continuing to assault a full wave of bombers all by itself. 
Recently played the Typhoon vs tanks mission, and after getting pounded by 
the tanks and AA guns (never did destroy any of them), I was down to 2 
Typhoons, one of which was leaking fuel. Before I could clear the area, I 
was jumped by four FW-190s. I had the initial speed advantage and was able 
to keep plenty of distance between them and myself, although they were 
starting to slowly gain on me. Then, a lone P-51 showed up and I was able to 
park him on the tail of each one of those FW-190s and shoot them all down 
without seeing a single evasive maneuver from the Focke-Wulfs. Each kill 
took 2-3 turns, so it was not like I shot them down before they could react. 
 
Speaking of trying to run, I noticed it was much, much easier for the 
computer to disengage from a fight than it was for me. Seems like I would 
have to be at least two full screens away to do this, while the computer 
can pull it off in less than one. Perhaps this is a way of modeling cloud 
cover..? I never thought to look for weather effects until the mission 
was over. 
 
Plane damage seems modeled nicely. If you take enough hits, the aircraft 
becomes more and more difficult to fly, and engine fires, structural 
failures become more likely. I've read that pilots can become wounded and 
incapacitated, but I have yet to see an example.
 
One thing that bothers me is the frequency of reinforcements from either 
side. You can be in the middle of a P-51 vs FW-190 dogfight and a couple 
of Spitfires or P-47s will show up to help you out, or a flight of Me-262s 
will turn up to make things tougher. When planes show up on your side, 
you take control of them. This is all pretty cool, except that it happens 
way too often. I was playing the Me-262 intercept mission and this would 
happen about every 6 or 7 turns. Around turn 35 or so, I noticed I no 
longer had any of the 262s I started with! Now it was a mish-mash of 
109s, 190s, 163s, and other Me-262s. This kept going on and on, and after 
about 50 turns, I turned the whole thing over to the computer and sit back 
to watch. The dogfight kept going and going, due to the constant 
introduction of more planes to the fray, until I finally pulled the plug on 
it at about the 700th turn(!) I really hope this gets toned down for the 
final release.
 
Number of dogfights per mission seems a little high as well. On the P-51 
escort mission, it seems like I encounter at least 4 different enemy attacks.
In a lot of cases, they have come one right after the other, so if they 
all come just as I cross the coastline on the way to target, I'll never see 
another dogfight for the duration of the mission. Not sure how realistic 
it is, but seems a little bizarre.
 
With the exception of the neverending reinforcements, this looks like a 
really impressive program, especially with the added element of managing 
the pilot roster.


Jon S