Blast from the past - Computer Gaming World Issue 124 (November 1994)
BOGEY’S BAR & GRILL Tom “KC” Basham feels the pull of'ToRNADo’s roll inertia, as he speculates on why this realistic sim from Trimark is under-rated.
Click on image for full magnification.
Full Text shown below:
Tornado Strikes Again
by Tom “KC” Basham
NOVEMBER 1994 • COMPUTER GAMING WORLD
TORNADO MAY BE TOUGH TO CONTROL, BUT YOU DIDN’T COME TO THE BAR & GRILL TO PLAY KIDDY GAMES, DID YOU? IT WAS DARK. A PITCH BLACK, MOONLESS, FOG covered night somewhere in central Europe. I could tell you the exact location, but then I'd have to incapacitate you, permanently. Screaming along at 450kts, a mere 200 feet above the ground, my stomach was suddenly shoved downwards as the AFDS (autopilot) engaged the afterburner and raised the nose to avoid a rapidly approaching hill. Glancing at the MFD, I saw that we were three seconds late for the next waypoint. I ordered the auto-throttle to increase speed to 525kts. Seconds later, my stomach lunged toward my throat as AFDS crested the hill and pushed -2g to keep the aircraft only 200 feet above the ground. The additional speed worked; I was now less than one second late for the waypoint. As my Tornado GR.4 passed the waypoint, the AFDS banked the aircraft right and turned toward the target. The additional speed would cause my turn to be a little wider than originally planned, but that wasn’t going to be a problem.
The lights and strobes of the enemy runway beckoned us as we broke over the last hill. AAA tracers greeted us as well, and the RWR lit up like a Christmas tree. I activated ECM and began pumping chaff and flares. I could feel vibrations from AAA hitting the airframe. With a slight adjustment I was perfectly aligned over the enemy runway. As I crossed the threshold I hit the "commit” button, and the JP-233 dispenser issued its deadly load, causing the airframe to shake violently. It takes only four seconds to deliver a JP-233 load, but it seemed like an eternity. I couldn’t tell how many AAA hits we'd taken, but I knew it had to be a lot. As we cleared the runway and I began the egress, our luck ran out. An enemy SAM struck us dead center, destroying the port engine. Diving behind the next hill, The radar altimeter indicated we were a mere 70 feel above the ground. After a few tense seconds, it appeared we had escaped. One engine down, ECM gear knocked out, and one MFD destroyed. Getting home on one engine would require a lot of afterburner, and I wasn’t sure we had enough fuel. Even if we got home, there was the matter of a one-engine, crosswind landing at night in heavy fog. They may have stopped shooting at me, but the mission was far from over... That's what a typical hop in Digital Integration’s TORNADO is like. This British import first hit US shelves in 1993 with Spectrum HoloByte handling distribution and technical support. For some reason, though, sales were less than spectacular, and TORNADO never really caught on in the US. TORNADO could could possibly be the single most under-rated flight simulator of all time.
How good is TORNADO? What about it is under-rated? Four main aspects have worked in unison to keep TORNADO on my system while many other combat flight simulators come and go: avionics, flight model, landings and the overall experience.
FLYING BY THE BUTTONS The term “avionics” was apparently coined by Aviation Week & Space Technology to refer to aviation-related electronics. Most modern combat jets are computer-filled technological marvels that are greatly oversimplified by PC-based simulations. Most game publishers do not believe the demand exists for a complex avionics simulation. To date, Spectrum HoloByte’s Falcon 3,0, MicroProse’s F-15 Strike Eagle III and F-14 Fleet Defender stand alone alongside Tornado as serious attempts to model the electronics inside the Jet. But even these sims omit most navigational and radio equipment found in Microsoft’s Flight Simulator. With four different multi-function displays, dozens of instruments, numerous weapons delivery modes, and no “cheat” messages (such as, “You just lost your right engine” scrolling along the top or bottom of the screen), 'Tornado is an avionics fan’s nirvana. During flight, no one tells you which systems are damaged and which ones are functional. Like the real world, you have to scan your instruments and warning panels and make that determination for yourself.
Tornado’s avionics suite, therefore, is a rare gem in the simulation arena. One common misconception haunting TORNADO is “you fly the buttons more than you fly the aircraft.” In one sense, this is true. When all systems are fully operational, you do spend your time pressing buttons and configuring the autopilot (the AFDS). But, when one of those systems takes damage, you must manually take control and perform the relevant tasks. That may mean flying a bulky jet at 200 feet above the deck at 500kts, that may mean landing a damaged jet, that may mean manually calculating pull-up cues for loft-bombing attacks. You have to know much more than what buttons to push; you must also know how to fly the aircraft without the computer gadgetry.
UNREAL HANDLING REALISM What’s so great about TORNADO's flight model? In short, it does everything that Falcon 3.0, F-15 Strike Eagle III, and F-14 Fleet Defender do, while making few of the mistakes these make. Like Falcon 3, Tornado delivers a wonderful sense of momentum and inertia. If you haven’t felt TORNADO's roll inertia, make sure you're using high joystick sensitivity by pressing SHIFT+Y. Like the MicroProse products, TORNADO handles differently with different weapon and fuel loadouts and performs differently at different altitudes. TORNADO accurately models angle of attack (AOA) effects, making for some incredibly realistic landings. TORNADO still lacks the critical but often-overlooked stall buffet, but includes buffet for other aerodynamic effects, such as when the wings are set at the wrong sweep angle.
TORNADO handles the entire AOA/lift/drag relationship wonderfully. It even includes a particularly nasty spin, although anti-spin flight controls generally protect you from this unless you’re heavily damaged.
Obviously, Tornado doesn’t handle like an F-16. It shouldn’t. It handles like a low altitude, high-speed, interdiction-strike aircraft designed to fly fast and low, not crank 9g in dogfights. TORNADO, although primarily a mud-moving simulation, does include an F.3 Air Defense Variant (ADV) for air-to-air fans. Keep in mind, though, that Tornado was designed more for long-range bomber intercepts than knife fights.
PERFECT LANDINGS Landings are my personal favorite. Combat is good. Avionics are good. Graphics are good. Digitized voices are good. But landings can make or break a sim. TORNADO’s landings are incredibly detailed and realistic. Because TORNADO’s flight modeling, landings can be made with realistic approaches, speeds and behavior. The old rule, “Pitch for speed, power for altitude” rings true here. Although Tornado’s autopilot includes an automatic approach mode, you can bring the bird in manually any time you like. In fact, during crosswind landings, you must land manually. I’m aware of no other combat simulation that really models crosswind landings except for carrier-based simulations such as Fleet Defender. Even then, the crosswind component is always a fixed value based on the carrier’s motion. TORNADO is more akin to FLIGHT SIM 5 in this regard, possessing dynamic, variable crosswinds. Finally, how many other simulations out there actually model single-engine failures in twin-engine aircraft? A single-engine landing is challenging enough, but try it at night, in heavy fog, with a crosswind. F-14 Fleet Defender comes close with bad weather landings, and Flight Sim 5 comes close with crosswind landings, but neither incorporates the whole effect found in TORNADO.
MORE MISSIONS IN STORE These are just a few of TORNADO’s finest points, and I haven’t even touched on topics like mission planning, weapons delivery, situational awareness, etc. TORNADO is one of those rare sims that delivers that incredible “you are there” sensation. If a couple of JP-233 runs on enemy airfields don’t fill you with admiration and awe for the men who fly real Tornadoes on real combat runs, nothing will. No, TORNADO isn’t the last word in PC-based night simulation. Yes, TORNADO does have some flaws, most notably the inability to fly two-player mode in a single aircraft as front-seater/back-seater. Nonetheless, TORNADO can’t be shot down when compared with the rest of the simulation market. Hopefully, the re-release of TORNADO with new Desert Storm missions will spark new interest in this often-overlooked product. When the CD-ROM arrives, don’t try to reach me. I’ll be out making some “deliveries” to a few Iraqi airbases. Check six.
At press time, the TORNADO CD-ROM with Desert Storm missions was released by Trimark Interactive with an SRP of $29.95. Tom Basham was not answering his phone. -Ed. 
Translations for our friends around the world.
Topic: Computer Gaming World Issue 124 - Tornado Review (Read 2058 times)
Similar topics (5)
October 05, 2018, 02:08:31 PM