MobyRank MobyScore
Macintosh
71
3.5
Windows
86
3.9

Description

You're flying the F-16 "Fighting Falcon", a U.S. Air Force fighter, over the skies of Korea. The learning curve is VERY steep and will take time to learn, let alone master. There is a way to "jump in and fly" so the game can be enjoyed by anyone, regardless of experience. The simulated plane is an F-16C Block 50/52 version.

Falcon 4.0 comes with a dynamic campaign, which is full blown strategy game within the simulator itself. As the virtual war developes, the campaign engine moves ground, naval and airborne troops around the battlefield and generates missions for the player.

Alternate Titles

  • "猎鹰4.0" -- Chinese spelling (simplified)

Part of the Following Groups


Merchant Title Platform Price  
Amazon
Falcon 4.0 Windows $27.97  
Falcon 4.0 Macintosh    
ebay.com
Falcon 4.0    
Not an American user?

User Reviews

Intimidating Windows Ashley Pomeroy (230)
Am i the ONLY one to review this brilliant sim! Windows taly01 (8)

The Press Says

PC Gamer Windows Mar, 1999 95 out of 100 95
GameStar (Germany) Windows Dec, 1998 92 out of 100 92
Gamezilla Windows May 10, 1999 91 out of 100 91
Game Revolution Windows Jan 01, 1999 A- 91
WomenGamers.com Windows Aug 25, 2000 9 out of 10 90
Power Unlimited Windows Apr, 1999 8.5 out of 10 85
Svenska PC Gamer Windows Feb, 1999 84 out of 100 84
Inside Mac Games (IMG) Macintosh Sep 22, 1999 8 out of 10 80
PC Gameplay (Benelux) Windows Feb, 1999 76 out of 100 76
Computer Gaming World (CGW) Windows Apr, 1999 3.5 Stars3.5 Stars3.5 Stars3.5 Stars3.5 Stars 70

Forums

There are currently no topics for this game.


Trivia

Development and post-release

Falcon 4.0 was first announced as being in development on September 1994. The game faced multiple development delays and revisions courtesy of the 3D cards revolution, corporate problems and Windows 95, so that it never entered true beta stage until early 1998. The major delays for the game, however, came when Leon Rosenshein was brought in on late 1995 as lead designer. Leon, who had worked for the U.S. government, basically took the project back to the drawing board with lots of ambitious design decisions, effectively scrapping all the early works. After the acquisition of Microprose by Hasbro, the new management team set the deadline to December 1998. Gilman Louie and some other developers of Falcon 3.0 were hired to assist and the game was eventually released, riddled with bugs. Several patches were released but on the 7th of December, 1999, Hasbro laid off the Falcon 4.0 team.

In April 2000, the game's source code leaked to the public, and a project called EFalcon started. Another team, Ibeta, was making realism patches for the game using hex editing. These two weren't compatible until they were combined in a project called SuperPAK.

In May 2001, G2 Interactive purchased the rights for the Falcon series and developed Falcon 4.0: Allied Force, which was released in June 2005 and is a further refinement of Falcon 4.0's engine, which - as with Operation Flashpoint - was developed over a period of several years with an eye to further expansion down the line. Along with the Quake engine, which apparently still has some tendrils hidden away in Half-Life 2, this must make the Falcon 4.0 engine one of the longest-lived game engines of all time.

Leader's Edition

There was a Squadron Leader's Edition released at the same time. It uses a 3-ring loose-leaf cover instead of a box.

Awards

  • Computer Gaming World
    • November 1996 (15th anniversary issue) – #11 Top Vaporware Title in Computer Game History
  • PC Player (Germany)
    • Issue 01/2000 - Best Flight Simulation in 1999
  • PC Powerplay (Germany)
    • Issue 07/2006 - #4 Best Packaging (together with Falcon 3.0)
Information also contributed by Ashley Pomeroy, Toni Oinas and Zovni.


This entry was contributed by Corn Popper (69587) and Spectre (120)
 

Errors and omissions on this page may be reported to the MobyGames approvers.

MobyGames™ Copyright © 1999-2013, MobyGames.
All rights reserved. Do not duplicate or redistribute in any form.

moby sites | about us | advertise | disclaimer | privacy statement | become an approver | RSS

GameFly Media