Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2799 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Centresoft (UK Video Games) Stock Account
• Released on: 2008-02-08
• ESRB Rating: Rating Pending
• Platform: Windows XP

Manufacturer's Description

200 feet above the countryside, 350mph! A salvo of bombs and rockets is released, shattering across enemy positions. Suddenly, enemy fighters dive in to engage. Bullets fly. Adrenalin surges. Hearts pound. The battle for Europe has begun...

Pilot 18 authentic WWII aircraft, including the earliest combat jets.
Experience stunningly accurate 3D cockpit detail.
Battle in thrilling multiplayer missions.
Man the bombardier or gunner position.
Highly detailed ground attack targets and European scenery.
Fast, responsive low-altitude action.
Enhanced weather graphics and effects.

Customer Reviews

CFS 3
If you fly FSX then the principles will be familiar with the added bonus of shooting down the enemy (if you can) BUT the graphics do not have the same quality as FSX BUT then again this is a game, and for that they are good enough.

I like been able to take different positions in the aircraft and like the missions.

As MS have sacked their development team for FSX (as of Feb 2009) this may be as good as it is going to be.

Worth the money.

CFS3 - addicitve !!!
This is a very addictive combat simulation. Not only can you fly the best fighters (and bombers)from the allied and axis powers during WW2 but the combat can be very intense.

The down side is that the online combat facility (the ability to duel against budding aces from around the world) is no longer supported by microsoft and therefore no longer available.

I would strongly recommend purchasing the Firepower add on pack as this gives you even more aircraft options !!

An average WWII flight simulation with some worthwhile features
Microsoft's third version of its popular Combat Flight Simulator (CFS) series followed on from the highly rated CFS1 & 2. The series moved away from the Pacific and into the war in Europe. Usually companies that make these sort of intricate programs are relatively small companies focusing on a small part of the market. That a giant company that produces such a wide range of products decided to attempt this sort of project is perhaps surprising. Part of the reason is the Flight Simulator (FS) series. Although any type of flight simulation is difficult, combat is even more so. Not only the aircraft systems need to be modelled, there's also damage, AI behaviour and weapon modelling. Further in WWII there was a diverse set of aircraft from numerous nations all with individual characters. One element of CFS3 is the plane set is almost like an add-on pack. Weird and wonderful variants are flyable, the Go-229A, P-80A etc. although there are also a Spitfire and P-47. So to faithfully model these planes would be some achievement. Unfortunately the critically important flight models are lacking. I have FS2002 and it feels similar to CFS3. Flight in the vertical plane is not too bad until you stall. Then you feel like you are in a light aircraft, nothing much happens and you loose a little altitude. Stall recovery is too easy. Like FS2002 turn performance is strange. When turning the wings of an aeroplane don't generate a lot of lift therefore you loose altitude, in CFS3 even planes which are not turn fighters go round and round at the same height. They also turn rapidly. I recently flew a P-38 and was amazed how this plane circled in the sky. The interface of CFS3 I found not to my liking and quite restrictive. There are 4 tabs to the left of the screen showing: Quick Combat, Missions, Campaign and Multiplayer. The missions section has about 17 missions in all. Quick combat is fine for setting up a dogfight and the jewel in the crown is the Campaign mode. If you want to make your own missions you are out of luck. For me this is a major omission. It also makes taking off and flying around in any specific aircraft less convenient than it might have been. The cockpits in this game are a joke. There is no attempt at historical accuracy. The gauges are scattered all over and there is even a stall warning light. I much prefer it when the instruments face you but in this game they are hidden away. The scenery is of the auto-gen type found in the FS series. It looks OK high up but not great at low level. Scenery accuracy is rather poor. Then there's the dreaded AI robots. These have been a headache for game companies for years. AI that's too passive, AI that performs miracles all the time and AI that does the silliest of things are a tiny fraction of AI problems. I find the AI to be too accurate and difficult to shake off. CFS3 suffers from the AI tow chain problem. The AI is following you; you pull up, invert and now your heading 180 degrees to your original direction. But the AI is still in the same relative position, he has followed you precisely. In reality this happens only rarely. Naturally the AI always knows where you are and sees through clouds. It also turns and only turns. The aircraft models are very good, if only this treatment had been given to other elements of the game. The campaign mode is also good and in particular this game shines at ground attack rather than dog fighting. The damage model is another reason to avoid dog fighting. Planes explode like they are full of explosives, or hits have no effect. Your damage seems limited to control damage like ailerons and no structural damage. Some AI aircraft also appear to be more vulnerable than they were in WWII. The number of flyables and AI is also quite limited. Flyables do have their own unique characteristics but to some extent they are all similar. When you do really get it wrong you end up with such a scripted, over exaggerated stall you wonder how you ever recovered.

For:
Campaign mode
Aircraft models
Against:
Lacklustre flight model/damage model
Poor AI
Ugly auto-gen scenery
Dreadful cockpits
Lack of missions/flyables
One 4MB patch doesn't solve all the issues this game has
Graphics engine stutters, frame rate not great
No mission builder/editor