ORIGINAL: offenseman
Interesting seeing some of the impressions of AHII that some people have. HiTech Creations should take a look at their marketing perhaps. As a long time player, I can add a few things from a person who has actually played it.
"Mmmmmmmm. Looks like the poor cousin of IL2. If you want hardcore air combat then Il2 is still the way to go. Lots more planes, lots better graphics, better flight mechanics and virtually no kiddies or hackers. And, did I mention that playing on line is free..."
Ummmm no. People who are used to playing both games in depth tell me that IL2's flight model is pedestrian compared to AHII. There are very few squeakers (kiddies) and almost never a hacker playing. Most people that complain about hackers in any multiplayer game tend to be those that are not very good and everyone who schools them is a "hacker". HTC maintains a clean game that is enforced by people turning in films of anything that MIGHT be a hack. Yes it is not free though. It is $15 USD/mo
"Who plays single player in the first place?!? AHII's Artificial Idiot = 5 planes flying ring around your airfield so you can test guns on them. Literally."
Sorry. the offline version which is free does have that as an option. However there are plenty of mods for free that incorporate missions and other aspects of the game. The non free version is much more than shooting at 5 clay pigeons. At any given time, more when the USA east coast is during the day/evening, there are hundreds of players playing and one can jump into the game with them. There are also dedicated events such as FSO, Friday Squad Operations, that are more historical and follow a theme that recreates a specific battle over the course of three Fridays. The number of players who participate in that is 400-600. It is a two hour, one life event, you get killed, you are done.
"Besides, yoiu sooner or later get sick of flying mustangs and spitfires over and over again."
That would suck for sure and AHII does have Two versions of the Pony, B and D models, as well as 7 versions of the Spit, (I,V, Seafire, IX, VIII,XIV,XVI), but it also has A6M2, A6M5c, George, Frank, Betty, Peggy, Val, Kate, Tony, C202, C205, 6 different 109s, 4 different 190s, Me262, Me163, Ju88, Ju87, Bf110 in two flavors. Il2, Yak 9 T and U, La5 and La7, Lanc, 3 Hurris, 2 Mossies, 2 P40s, 4 P47s, 2 P39s, 3 P38s, B26, 2 B25s, B17, B24, B29, A20, Bostons. Those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head.
There are also ground vehicles and they are close to releasing a new system for that, that incorporates less arcade style of play and more realism. IMO it is already not very arcadish anyway.
They offer a free two week online trial. If you want to maximize that, download the software, get used to things offline and set your views. Then "join" and try it for two weeks. That way you need not rely on the opinions of people who looked at there website and said it sucked with no real actual knowledge of the game.
