Unfortunately, one must join the discord channel to download it https://discord.gg/YDUecPFNAU
The trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09JAYWx-Htw
Screenshots:
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/853713250860662815/876470584840712222/F-16I_Sufa_2.jpg
Yes, exactly, DCS: World.
But DCS: World is not quite pay to win... As in, it is simply a platform where you buy your favorite plane to fly. There is no grinding, or anything. It is not like War Thunder or World of Tanks/Warships/Airplanes. But... the prices are absolutely kidney stealing. ED HATES regional pricing.
If you are a newbie, and wants to spend money on something, my personal suggestion is the F-16, F-18 or the Mirage(M2000). But do so only on sale.
Obviously, the free modules they give are a bit limited, there has been calls for them to add for free the community made A-4. But that fell into deaf ears.
You can download a few mods, some of them are available on multiple servers. If I recall correctly the A-4 mod is available in most multiplayer servers. But if you want to stand a chance, choose a cold war based server, or a PvE server or fly single player.
The A-4 mod: https://github.com/heclak/community-a4e-c
There are other mods out there with different level of quality.
EDIT: I forgot, you need a joystick. A cheap one will do... Unless you are into stuff like this, then be prepared to Games Workshop level of money burning!
Isn't this game semi-realistic with respect to physics? I never could get into Ace Combat much and that's the closest I've done. The flying part was like a spaceship and the missions not so much. Do the controls work all that well with a simple flight stick or would I need pedals and all?
More like almost completely realistic(there are some discussions here and there about performances of missiles and general stuff). If your joystick twists in its axis, then you will be fine.
Any simple or cheap joystick with a throttle, X and Y axis, and twisting for rudder will suffice.
Yeah, if the discussions are far enough along it's about missile performance then I might have to check it out. I don't like in most such games how it's totally impossible to crash the plane by flying it wrong. If it's a flight sim with fighter jets that could be fun. There's only so much I can do in a game like MS Flight Sim before I get bored and start trying to see if I can get a 747 into a spin.
If you want to try something cheaper, try Falcon 4.0 on steam, then download Falcon 4.0 BMS. Easy to install.
The only nagging part is the joystick binding. It is... Annoying hahaha But there are talks that, maybe, the next version there will be a new terrain rendering(no more tiles) and a new GUI. Otherwise, the game is still a looker, and the dynamic campaign is unrivalled to this very day!
As in, I remember one of the missions I played a while ago, where a Korea pilot got shot down on his F-4. I saw him eject, and the wingman stayed there, circling providing cover. While the AI routed rescue helicopters... all dynamic, not scripted. Was that a bug that caused the F-4 to circle? I don't know, but that was EPIC. I stayed there as long as I could on my F-16, hit bingo and had to return to base.
EDIT: Falcon BMS(This is the most recent update. You will need to download update 1, and the full mod) It is easy to install.
https://www.benchmarksims.org/forum/showthread.php?42376-Falcon-BMS-4-35-U2-Incremental-Installer&p=576846#post576846