[comp.sys.amiga.games] Their Finest Hour - Worth it?

jkh@meepmeep.pcs.com (Jordan K. Hubbard) (02/26/91)

Nice game, lots of detail, but very slow and jerky update speed on
a stock Amiga. I've heard several people say that it runs very nicely
on accellerated Amigas/A3000's, so I'm hanging onto my copy for the day
when I finally move up. On an A500 with 2.5MB of memory, though, I find
it too slow to play. It's stayed in its box since the second day I've owned
it. Sigh.

It's funny. FA/18 is like TFH's opposite twin. Great "feel" and fighting
speed, but pretty thin in the missions dept. If TFH had FA/18's basic
feel, without sacrificing the mission detail, I'd probably starve to death
from forgetting to eat. :-)


					Jordan
--
			PCS Computer Systeme GmbH, Munich, West Germany
	UUCP:		pyramid!pcsbst!jkh jkh@meepmeep.pcs.com
	EUNET:		unido!pcsbst!jkh
	ARPA:		jkh@violet.berkeley.edu or hubbard@decwrl.dec.com

opus@cbnewsc.att.com (robin.g.kim) (02/26/91)

In article <JKH.91Feb25190315@meepmeep.pcs.com>, jkh@meepmeep.pcs.com (Jordan K. Hubbard) writes:
> Nice game, lots of detail, but very slow and jerky update speed on
> a stock Amiga.
> It's stayed in its box since the second day I've owned it. Sigh.
> 
> 					Jordan

I believe this has been mentioned before, but in case you missed it, here it is
again.  You can sacrifice ground detail for speed using Alt-G.  There are
three levels of this.  At the highest level of detail, the game is
quit slow, and ground looks patchy (farmland?).  At the middle level, the
ground has no detail except for targets and the coastline.  At the lowest
level, you can still see ground targets, but the rest of the Earth looks
entirely green or blue, depending on whether you are directly over land or
water, respectively.  I always play at this level, except when I want to
fly home from the Channel, when it's useful to switch briefly to the
middle mode to see where the land starts.  The game is quite fast when there
is no ground detail, and gets faster and faster as you shoot down enemy planes,
to the point where it's almost too fast when there are just one or two left,
but then you can always switch to a higher level of ground detail.

I enjoy this game quite a bit.  Like you, when I first got it I was extremely
disappointed at the update speed, having been completely spoiled by Falcon.
Once I tried reducing the level of detail, though, it became one of my favorite
games do to its variety of missions and planes you can fly.  I look forward
to the sequel, Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe, for even more variety and
some of my favorite WWII planes (P-51 and Me262!).

						Hope this helps,
						Robin Kim

fsadl@acad3.alaska.edu (LOOMIS ANDREW D) (02/27/91)

In article <JKH.91Feb25190315@meepmeep.pcs.com>, jkh@meepmeep.pcs.com (Jordan K. Hubbard) writes...
>Nice game, lots of detail, but very slow and jerky update speed on
>a stock Amiga. I've heard several people say that it runs very nicely
>on accellerated Amigas/A3000's, so I'm hanging onto my copy for the day
>when I finally move up. On an A500 with 2.5MB of memory, though, I find
>it too slow to play. It's stayed in its box since the second day I've owned
>it. Sigh.
> 
>It's funny. FA/18 is like TFH's opposite twin. Great "feel" and fighting
>speed, but pretty thin in the missions dept. If TFH had FA/18's basic
>feel, without sacrificing the mission detail, I'd probably starve to death
>from forgetting to eat. :-)

The only problem which i have with Their Finest Hour is the long wait while it
is loading, accessing the map, etc.  Once the game is running the speed is 
sufficient on my 500 with 1meg.  I prefer it to the jet fighter simulations 
I've played but that is primarily because I prefer the seat of your pants 
dogfighting with only .30 cal machine guns to killing from miles away with 
radar and missiles.

Andrew Loomis
Bitnet: FSADL@ALASKA
Internet: FSADL@ACAD3.ALASKA.EDU

I must be a bush pilot; I learned to fly in Alaska.

colas@avahi.inria.fr (Colas Nahaboo) (02/28/91)

In article <JKH.91Feb25190315@meepmeep.pcs.com>, jkh@meepmeep.pcs.com (Jordan K.
Hubbard) writes:
> If TFH had FA/18's basic
> feel, without sacrificing the mission detail, I'd probably starve to death
> from forgetting to eat. :-)

I think you are going to lose weight if you try Wings by cinemaware :-)

-- 
Colas Nahaboo, colas@sa.inria.fr, Bull Research, Koala Project, GWM X11 WM
Phone:(33) 93.65.77.70(.66 Fax), INRIA, B.P.109 - 06561 Valbonne Cedex, FRANCE.