Until the release of this game, Sierra Dynamix' classic Red Baron II (or 3D) was the definite WWI combat flight simulator, and it was amazing how long it managed to keep that title. But Rise of Flight is the superior game in every way and the spiritual successor that Red Baron II deserves.

As realistic as it's pretty, Rise of Flight astonishes you with the accuracy of its flight model and the visual details of its planes. This particular edition, while by no means complete, offers you an above average number of starting planes and other content. The game's hangar can be expanded with a vast number of additional aircraft, but none of them are free, and filling your virtual hangar with every available plane costs a lot of money. This alone wouldn't be that bad since good content may cost good money, but any DLC (there are also weapon systems, paint jobs and maps) has to be bought on the official website, with discounts never exceeding 50%.

Still, this edition gives you a lot of bang for the buck and the game itself is definitely worth the price of admission.

A highly realistic Flight sim with great flight mechanics and authentic planes. The amazing graphics coupled with the physics, in cockpit views and all the other real world effects makes it feel incredibly immersive. It has a wide range of planes and the gamersgate version even has an extra one so it's the definitive edition. The multiplayer is amazingly chaotic and exciting. Whether dogfights or bombing runs are your thing this is the game for you.

A great flightsim. I bought it on sale here on GG and glad i did.I been looking for a great flightsim for a long time, i bought IL and Wings of Prey but they never really got me into it. But this game really did. The graphics are amazing, the sound is amazing, the feel of the planes is great even though i have to play on easy if i want to be able to keep my plane in the air.

Only problem i have, and preventing it from getting5 stars, is the prices for new planes. Seeing that the game normally already costs 40 euro's it is amazing they dare to charge 15 dollar for a new plane (there are cheaper ones as well). And its really amazing that they enforce it on you. You buy a game and exspect a full package, now you buy a game where you can't even do all missions cause you need a bomber for it that costs another 15 euro's extra. Had they made the price cheaper of the extra planes and not a must to be able to play all missions than it wouldn't be a problem. Anyway you still get a nice game and one of the best in its sort.

A really interesting game for any flight sim enthusiasts.

A modern flight sim, with brilliant graphics and sound, and all the modern features including TrackIR support, covering a time period which is rarely seen.

I must admit my heart lies with more modern fighters, World War 2 era or beyond, but it is very interesting to fly some of the older planes, and experience this style of flight.

I haven't played the game with 'easy' mode on - but it does exist if you prefer your flight sims to be a little less demanding.

Combine these features with a sim which is constantly updated, and which has much room for (paid) expansion if you wish, and you should not resist if you have any love for flight.

Fantastic graphics, great level of realism and wonderful feeling of immersion in WWI era. Highly recommended for any fan of good flight simulator!!

Simply the best combat flight simulator, constantly supported and updated, great graphics and physics of flight

if you're into WWI's niche of flight sims, that's an opportunity not to be missed at this price...a free demo might be tried at developer website

For quite a while, fans of early aerial warfare had to rely on the olden Red Baron 3D for their fix, which came out as early as 1998. Back then, the genre of flight simulators was still prominently represented on the market. Over the years, though, proper military sims of all kinds became a niche product. Until the release of Rise of Flight, no serious contender lured gamers and simmers into the colourful, frail kites of World War I. That much is obvious when looking at Rise of Flight's distribution model. It's the same that made many gamers angry about Microsoft Flight - you get a small taste for free, but have to pay an arm and a leg for every little further piece of what can be considered a whole game. The difference: Rise of Flight's developers can actually afford to use such an over-priced approach for even the most miniskule additions - there is no other WW1 flight sim to which one could flee.

The Iron Cross Edition of Rise of Flight, however, is 777's way of trying to reach out into the market. And they do it well. This edition is a good package, you definitely get enough bang for the buck, and you do save a quite notable amount of money by getting this instead of buying this package's single parts one by one.

One justification for the $8 to $15 Dollars you have to pay per additional airplane may be the high quality of 777's work. The Iron Cross Edition represents that very well. Each plane feels truly unique in its behaviour, and the details in their models are just breathtaking.

Sound is a bit bland, though; you can hardly hear the breaking wood when you're hit like it was back in Red Baron 3D, where such sounds made your neck hairs rise... It may be more realistic to have the motor sounds droning over everything else, though.

Speaking of realism, Rise of Flight is definitely a hardcore sim. If you wish, you can even take over managing your engines yourself; beyond throttle there's the fuel mix and cooling to regulate. Luckily, you have a large amount of choices on how to dose the challenge. From mission checkpoint markers and aiming assistance to physics and engine management you can adjust everything to your liking. Rise of Flight can be a simple arcade shooter, if you wish, but that wouldn't do justice to the work that went into all the aspects of this simulator, the detailed modelling of damage in both graphics and airplane behaviour being one of them.

Equal detail and freedom is offered in the video options. You have many possibilities of adjusting the graphics to what your machine can handle. Even on medium to low settings, Rise of Flight's visuals are still pleasing the eye.

There is a comprehensive chain of tutorial missions, but even those can pose a challenge to the aspiring newbie. If you have wind effects activated, you will feel them even in the most basic tutorial missions. On your first balloon shooting you will have to face fierce anti-air units closing in on you quickly, if you don'keep moving constantly while also trying to bring the balloon down. Those cars that you have to shoot in your ground target training move into a patch of wood, making you have to fly into the right position to target them. The tutorials are definitely no mere shooting gallery.

The tutorial missions are introduced via cutscenes which probably feature the cheesiest teacher-student dialogue ever recorded. Unfortunately, the lectures that Eddie Rickenbacker gives you in those contain a lot of information that you really should know. Seeing what the Iron Cross Edition has to offer makes this minor gripe look rather irrelevant, though.

Beginners may feel stumped when they don't even manage to bring down a balloon, but each success that you'll manage to reap while on your way to mastering the steep learning curve will feel extremely satisfying. That's something that has become rather rare on today's gaming market.

A quality product - five stars.

I had been looking for a good WWI combat flight sim for quite a while. My introduction to sim gaming was with the Red baron simulators years ago and since then there has never been a really good WW1 sim game. That is until now. This game is truly great. Each plane is painstakingly modeled in the flight model, damage and looks. The flight model feels so accurate, each plane feels different. The flight model and difficulty can be tweaked from a pure sim to a more arcade feel(although if ur looking to buy this game I'd say you are more into the sim aspect). The graphics are absolutely stunning!! The cockpit,plane and landscape are highly detailed and the effect of the rain and oil on the goggles made me weep at the awesomeness :). I bought this during the 80% off sale and I can honestly say that its the best 8 euro I've ever spent, and its the best flight simulator I've ever played. Even if there was only free flight I'd spend hours and hours flying about and crashing(crashes are in a word EPIC :) ). If you are a combat flight sim fan you simply have to get this game, go to the rise of flight website and download the rise of flight free to play version. You only get 2 types of planes to fly but most(if not all) of the features are available to you. Then if you like it come back and buy it here, the value for money truly is great.

This is a terrible game. First and foremost, the game doesn't recognize the throttle control of a joystick, making adjusting speed overly annoying. Second, even after buying the game, it remains more or less on par with the free to play version, where all of the content still needs to be purchased for $5 or more each. Terrible voice acting aside (which is very bad), the game plays horribly, the flight simulation is simply terrible, to anyone who enjoys flying, I would gladly point in another direction, this game is simply not worth playing.

I'm gonna have to join the others here; as far as plane simulators are concerned, it's great. As far as WW1 plane simulators are concerned, it's even better.

I'm not much into flying sims, but I did always wanna try shooting other planes and this is as close to the real thing as it gets.

I honestly don't know where to go with this game..i had been wanting it for a while and i saw it on sale so i purchased it. I am glad that i did not spend 50 bucks. why am i glad?

because they just want you to buy more shit when you put money down for it.

for instance-you wanna fly a bomber? oh sure, plunk down an extra 14.95

you wanna do career with your pilot? pick a an airfield on the map and have it?

oh wait, you don't have the planes so click the link to buy them. And guess what else?

the upgrades, for the planes? like an extra mg, a COMPASS, an ALTIMETER??? good luck..plunk down some more cash..it is very ridiculous and very upsetting that they just want you to spend more money to enjoy the game more. lately all the games are going this route.for instance, download this extra dlc to unlock the 4th class, etc. i grow weary of it.

graphics wise its great. gameplay wise? i find it very difficult no matter even if i adjust the settings to arcade to fly any plane. and the plane they give you to start with in the American campaign? you cant even look down the cross hairs of your machine gun lol its nigh impossible to hit anything.

interface wise? its tough. no real explanation. the flight training is good, but tough. i do not know how to change my sensitvity on my key board so flying is very difficult for me.

i am also very upset that i have to "pay more money" to enjoy the other aspects of the game. so much potential in this and it sucks. buy at your own risk.

Fantastic experience in wordl war I, in my humble opinion - giving more immersion than IL sturmovik. By the way - superb community of users connected in ROF metaservers. Recommended for all virtual pilots.

I wasn't really a flight sim guy until I randomly purchased this game and fell in love. What drew me to it were the graphics; I had wanted to really push my new rig to the limit, and boy this game does just that, and it is GORGEOUS! I first used a jerry-rigged PS3 controller to play the game, but I soon discovered I was missing out. I ended up spending 400 dollars on peripherals and I have yet to feel any buyer's remorse because this game takes you back to 1917, above the trenches of France, and France is beautiful any time of year, winter, spring, summer and autumn. This beauty is magnificently juxtaposed with the thrill and horror of engaging in your first dogfight; first against the AI and then online, against another human being! What a rush. I haven't felt this way about a video game since Metal Gear Solid, suffice to say, ITS BEEN AWHILE. SO, if flying is your thing then you can't afford to miss this one. If it isn't but you have a long attention span and crave realistic and challenging gaming, then this one is also one you can't miss.

This is truly a great sim.

I have been flying il2 sturmovik for some years now

and I stared too hear about this game

So I started to look up some reviews etc.

I wasnt sure If I would buy this game.

In the end I did and I am still very pleased that I did so.

The flight model is great even up to the smaller details.

Flying a ww1 era plane is quite immersive and breath taking.

If you are looking for something besides il2 this is a game for you.

777 studios pulled it off very very,very well.

Rise of Flight is a great flight sim and probably the best WWI sim since Red Baron.

The graphics are exceptional and the planes are depicted in amazing detail. While I'm no expert on the flight characteristics of WWI aircraft, the planes in Rise of Flight handle like the books suggest they should - the rotaries have serious torque, the triplanes climb nicely, and Camel is a spin waiting to happen. There are options to simplify the flight models in various ways, but each of the planes remains unique in its own way. And all are a pleasure to fly with any standard joystick.

In addition to the scouts, flyable two-seaters and bombers are available, and you can man the gun turrets in them.

The graphics and flight model variety come with a cost: Rise of Flight requires an upper mid-level system to run well. Take the system requirements seriously.

The game has numerous scripted and quick missions, and a few mini campaigns, but it currently lacks a robust campaign system ala Red Baron. The developer has one scheduled for the next update, though. The product is very well supported with periodic updates and has an active multiplayer community. There also are a wide variety of user-made airplane skins, many of which the developer has added to the official game.

The game requires online activation upon first installation and for updates, but can be played in offline mode otherwise. As anti-piracy measures go, it's pretty benign.

Rise of Flight is a very good flight sim that continues to improve and is a worthy successor to Red Baron.

What's great about it: One of the best flight sim experiences, with the fun of flying planes and look and feel like real WWI aircraft.

What's not so great: Fairly heavy hardware requirements and no Red Baron-like campaign (yet).

Game play reminds me very much of old games like Aces High...This game has the depth that aces high once brought us on the 486.. Just now it has great graphics and physic's...

I do love this game its very technical and realistic from take off to landing. Its everything i would expect from a good flight simulator.

Great support for the game and they seem to be continuely updating the program.

Execellent free online play and more games should use this method of multiplay gaming where your single play affects your multiplay status.

That being said the game still has a few bugs..Mainly the camera angles..after doing a few missions the camera becomes buged and makes things very hard to fly almost impossible... This is a problem im sure there working to fix as the devs have told me its a known bug.

The voice overs are a bit robotic but that dosen't bother me much...

Main thing is that they are constantly updating this game so these bugs may dissapear over time.

Its a good representation of a WWI flight simulator and i think its one of the best i have played so far,It just needs a little more work to make it a master piece.

Price is a little steep only the hardcore simulator fan will go for but still worth buying just dont expect an easy game :)

Well, overall a great game. Very realistic. Might be a bit hard to figure out for a few hours or days and it took me awhile to figure out how to dumb down all the options just so i could take off but the graphics are gorgeous and the overal gameplay has its high points.

However, there are a couple issues i have. The cheasiness of teh tutorial (training) is enough to make you want to skip through all the lectures which actually are very useful and the second issue, a major one for me, is the lack of planes. They give you about 10 or so planes (not much in difference) and the other 15-20 planes you have to purchase online seperately. 1 bomber that i was really interested in ran for $14.95. I could buy a whole new game here on Gamersgate for that much money! So, if your an avid WWI flier, give this game a spin. But overall, I dont think its worth it, especially if they will charge you an arm and a leg for a virtual plane.

I have played a number of flight sims, but I'm not really an enthusiast. That being said, I think Rise of Flight is the best flight sim I have ever played.

Rise of Flight offers an "arcade" flight control option for people like me who don't want to spend hours training before jumping into a dogfight, but still has the full flight control option for those who are more experienced. The level of detail in the game is stunning, I could hear the wind shifting direction as I guided my Fokker through a flip. As well as the graphics presenting WW1 planes in all their beauty. I am not sure, but it seems you must be logged on to the internet to play, I wasn't aware of this at first. And I had some problems getting the updater to work right when I first downloaded it. These problems were minor all things considered. If you're looking for a great flight sim, historical accuracy, and stunning graphics this is the game for you.