any good flying games out there?

Can you recommend me flying games (aircraft simulation, spaceship fights, flying ducks poking on each other, anything)?

something with nice graphics that might run ok on my laptop.

Can they be played fine on keyboard+mouse or PS-like joypad? or joystick is a must?

thanks.

 

HawX comes to mind, that's the only recent one I can think of.

 

I was going to say HawX

Flight simx?

 

Hawx is very pretty and has a nice simple flight model (i only tried the demo), I think it might work well with a joypad.

FSX is a hungry beast but addictive if you dont need to shoot stuff up. Definitely need a joystick for that and Enemy Engaged 2.

If you like helicopters Enemy Engaged 2 is supposed to fab (and thats from my dad who is a retired heli pilot)

A

 

If you want a true heli sim get DCS: Black Shark.

Check this out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRaNnpIdYWY

you can do manual startup but you really better know what you're doing.

 

Black Shark is an amazing heli sim, as htwingnut said.

HawX is a terrible game for simulation. Its pure arcade with the most unrealistic flight model I've seen in years.

X-Plane is a good flight simulator. Best flight dynamics of any of the flight sims, but graphics are 2002 and has a very unrealistic feel overall. Works well on older hardware.

FS X Gold is going to be the best bet for a flight simulator. It has extremely impressive flight dynamics, mind blowing visuals, good gameplay from missions, very realistic ATC, thousands of addons, and tons of default aircraft.
The only downside (and its a big one) is its steep hardware requirements. The OP's system will run it, but the gfx will have to be pulled back quite a bit. I can't even max it with my max OC and get above 25fps. I used to play it all the time with kb/mouse. FSX allows you to easily map the mouse to be the flight yoke, so detailed movements are possible without a joystick.

I use a Logitech 3D joystick half the time I play FSX, but I think I prefer my XBOX 360 controller over any other input.

 

I second emike09.

FSX is a great civvie sim.

Otherwise, best combat games out there are older, but still great:

Lock-On Modern Air Combat (A-10A, F-15C, MiG-29A, MiG-29C , Su-27, Su-33, Su-25, MiG-29A). I bought it mainly for the A-10!

IL-2 1946 Latest edition of IL-2 includes everything for WWII aircraft. Unbelievable sim. Great fun!

Falcon 4: Allied Force Update on Falcon 4 original. Best in depth cockpit, flight model, and dynamic campaign ever.

Enemy Engaged: Apache vs Havok and Comanche vs Hokum great heli sims. Dated, but there's mods out there that improve appearance a bit. Great dynamic campaign engine. There is an Enemy Engaged 2, but it has bugs galore.

 

FSX seems realistic, but I am looking for something else than just a simulator... I want to shoot things down!

any sci-fi/star wars/laser-blazing-spaceships game?

 

I miss Descent.

 

Descent was great... Terminal Velocity was great when it came out also...

 

Falcon 4: Allied Force is perhaps the most realistic civilian F-16 game out there. It comes with a very steep learning curve, however.

 

It may be a bit dated now graphics-wise but Crimson Skies was a pretty good flying shooter.

Descent series was/is definitely kick-a$$, tho'.

 

Flight simulator is quite good.

 

I think I know one, it was sooo fun. Try Air Rivals, look it up on google or youtube.

 

Didn't Microsoft have a FS series game that was focused on action as well?

 

Aren't you contradicting yourself? Anyway instead of FSX I would advise getting FS2004. There are a tons of addons that can get the scenery quality level up the FSX levels, there are a lot more plane add-ons.
X-plane is pretty nice too but the 75GB install is rather heavy but I prefer the feel of the planes in X-plane.... And they have a promotion right now. I think it cost less than FSX. Lock On Modern Air Combat and LOMAC: Flaming Cliffs are excellent combat sims too.
About Space Sims: Freespace FSP and Orbiter are where the fun is.

Hope that helped.

 

I don't think he's contradicting himself, as I can't put my finger on it, but X-plane just doesn't feel right. I know technically it has a superior physics and flight model, but I don't think it feels right at all. I think he described it quite well. The planes in FSX just seem to fly and feel better, where as X-plane feels goofy and bouncy or something, can't describe it but it drives me nuts, and I love flight sims.

If you are just wanting a flying game to blow stuff up, check out Hawx and Blazing Angels 1/2. Both are pure fun, not realistic, but still a blast at just flying around and shooting stuff, with great graphics, and play well with a gamepad and will look great on your laptop.

Also as mentioned, check out Freespace 1 and 2 if you want to blow stuff up in space. You can either get them from GOG.com for $5.99 that are guaranteed to run, or get a free copy and spend a little bit tweaking it and have better graphics and no money spent. Both are super fun games.

Crimson Skies is good, but is starting to feel dated.

But, sounds like you are wanting a flying game that's not super realistic, but more fun based, so check these out. All that everyone has mentioned are great suggestions.

 

Yeah, it was Combat Flight Simulator, think there were 3 releases. Used the basic Flight Sim engine and added guns and bombs, etc.

 

Exactly! I have no way of describing it, but it doesn't feel real one bit. The models are too round and curved, textures are cartoonish, bouncy is a very good descriptive word, although i wouldn't say the planes bounce around, but bouncy seems to be the right word... Hard to say. Very confusing.

FS2004 is really good, and would likely be the better choice for the OP's system. But it by no means can match the visuals that FS X offers. Especially once DX10 is enabled.

 

if your looking for realism and to shoot things down go get Falcon 4.0 Allied Force, as it replicates the F-16 down to every radar mode and practically everything. Except that the graphics are a bit low but the high realism compensates.

If your looking for a good graphic and mid-range realism go get Lockon.

IL-2 is a ww2 flight sim which is good graphics and is fun. same with pacific fighters.

I would highly suggest getting Microsoft Flight Simulator X because it will pretty much teach you how to fly a plane. Also you can get 3rd party addon planes to add to realism and scenery. For example i got a 747-400 addon from PMDG which pretty much teaches you how to fly a 747-400.

I would higly suggest getting a joystick that moves in all axis, and if you really get into it, buy a HOTAS(hands on throttle and stick)

 

Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator 2 was the best of the MS Combat flight sims. US vs. Japanese WWII combat with a good story behind it. It was quite fun. I completely forgot about that one. Thanks be77solo!

 

If you want a simulator and want to shoot things down, It's hard to beat IL-2 1946 fully patched.

If MMOs are your thing, Warbirds and Aces High 2 are out there. I fly in Warbirds and have been a member of a virtual fighter squadron there for more than 10 years.

 

"Heroin" is a great one and I believe they made a sequel called "Chasing the Dragon".

Both very good flying games; although I haven't tried them myself.

 

Yes, italian madness, FSX does support SLI just fine, and runs great on my X205 w/ SLI 8600GT's, so would run fantastic on your machine in your sig. Great simulator.

Also, finally snagged a copy of DCS: Blackshark, and wow, what a great sim! Completely over the top involved, and if that's what you are after, it's the top dog I'd say right now. BUT, it's actually a suprisingly fun sim on "game" flight mode with simplified radar and controls. Still an absolute blast to fly, but gets you into blowing stuff up and popping up over hillsides to blow up a tank or sam, then drop down.

Was very pleasantly suprised, as even on "game" mode it blows most other games away with it's physics and damage model. So, if helicopters interest you at all, then I'd highly recommend snagging a copy. It's $49.99 online, or $39.99 for a boxed copy at Gamestop.