A-10 Cuba!

Moby ID: 2300
Windows Specs
Included in

Description official descriptions

A-10 Cuba!, the sequel to A-10 Attack!, is a military air combat simulator featuring the Fairchild-Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II ground attack aircraft, otherwise known as the "Warthog." Like its predecessor, it is a highly realistic simulator with a 3D polygonal graphics engine. New features include more detailed graphics and 12 missions set in an expansive, intricate model of Cuba. Four additional multiplayer-only environments allow up to eight players to compete on a LAN.

The game provides a detailed 2D cockpit with clickable buttons and switches. A wide variety of weapons are available for air-air and air-ground combat, including Sidewinder, Hellfire, Maverick and HARM missiles and free-fall, laser-guided, and cluster bombs. Rockets and the Warthog's famous GAU-8 Avenger gatling gun round out the arsenal.

Physics, damage and avionics are simulated in great detail.

The Macintosh version also includes a mission editor.

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Videos

See any errors or missing info for this game?

You can submit a correction, contribute trivia, add to a game group, add a related site or alternate title.

Credits (Windows version)

8 People

Pilot/Mission Cmdr.
Co-Pilot/Navigator
Nose Art/Camo Designer
Draftsman/Chief Air Mechanic
Chief Tactician
USO Sound Man
Base Cmdr. - Parsoft Design Bureau Chief
Wing Cmdr/Activision P.O.W.

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 72% (based on 24 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.8 out of 5 (based on 21 ratings with 4 reviews)

Too bad it wasn't the Mac version...

The Good
There's so much to like about any Parsoft release it's hard to know where to start describing it. The physics and flight dynamics are excellent, the damage modeling superb, great UI as always, even great graphics. But the hallmark of every Parsoft release is the way you feel you're in an actual "world". In most games if you leave the narrow confines of the mission layout there's nothing going on, the world is empty except for a few hand-placed items. Not so in a Parsoft game. Fly anywhere around Cuba and there's always something going on; trucks driving around, ships coming into dock, maybe even someone shooting at you.

Realism of the planes and weapons is excellent. The A-10 is an old plane with no radar, and this makes the game considerably more interesting in my opinion. To many of the modern aircraft sims consist of pressing keys and then pulling the trigger, but this isn't the case in this game.

Likewise the cockpit was excellent, almost a blueprint of the actual plane. Realism was helped further by the UI they used for running systems in the plane. Holding down the Control key turned the mouse into your pilots hand (a hand cursor actually) and you could click various buttons and switches in the cockpit. Since the A-10's systems are so simple you didn't have any instances of confusing controls or menu navigation, so this system worked very well and saved you from having to remember too many keys. Want to drop the bombs you have? Flick the Master Arm switch to "on", click the buttons for the weapons stations with bombs (they light up), turn the gunsight knob to CPIP, and off you go. Not a single keypress.

In the included missions you fight it out with planes, ships, oodles of ground based anti-aircraft weapons of various sorts, and at one point even have to stop a paradrop. No campaign system though, which was a continuing problem for all Parsoft products.

The Bad
Sadly A-10 Cuba had the bad luck of being released on the PC at about the time that the game world was moving onto hardware acceleration. So while the graphics were out of the world for 1995 when first released on the Mac, they were becoming dated by the time they were released on the PC. The game ended up in that netherworld of fantastic games that looked ancient, with Su-27 being the other obvious example.

Another problem is that there was no "original" A-10 on the PC. On the Mac this game was an update that plugged into the existing A-10 engine (suitably patched of course). In the Mac version you had a full mission editor, maps, waypoint control, etc. In fact it was really two games in one based on a common engine, in "game one" the UI was the aircraft, and in "game two" it was a large 2-d map with moving icons. You could switch between the two games on the fly using the Escape key.

For the PC release they simply whipped up a UI shell for "game one" and stuck it in a box. Game two they never ported. So one of the best things about the A-10 engine, the mission system, was simply thrown in the trash on the PC.

What allowed the games to be "plugged together" on the Mac was a system called VBE - Virtual Battlefield Environment. This was an API that allowed the missions, planes, weapons etc., to be plugged into the basic engine. The missions for both Germany (from the original Mac version) and Cuba were in this format, but without the mission editor (and some associated UI) you couldn't put those Mac missions on the PC.

Worst of all the VBE format was never published. A few people tried to reverse engineer it, but no such luck. The real power of the A-10 engine was never placed in the end-users hands.

As to the missions themselves, I just think they were too hard. The ones in the earlier (Mac based) German pack were tough, but fairly easy to understand. Cuba's are out of the world though.They have dozens of waypoints and special events you need to do at the right time or they don't work. It definitely stole some of the fun out of the game, notably compared to the German missions.

The Bottom Line
This is still a great game any way you look at it, and tonnes of fun. But sadly this just isn't the game that it was on the Mac.

Windows · by Maury Markowitz (266) · 2001

A-10 Cuba!

The Good
I absolutely love the physics of this wonderful game.

The Bad
Needs more missions and area's to fly in. More planes to fly, etc. Just more more more of the overall game. If Parsoft ever comes back and makes more versions that are LIKE THIS game (cartoony looking), I'd buy it in a heart beat. It's just so fun to fly.

The Bottom Line
Worth every penny, go buy it! I used to fly online with Michael Harrison (he wrote the 1.2 patch for this game) and we had a lot of fun testing the patch.

Windows · by Pete Hawk (5) · 2003

Great first combat simulator with desert training and lots of weapons!

The Good
This is one of my favorite real aircraft and this game has been one of my favorites for a couple of years now. 4 basic training levels at a desert air base, and 12 missions in Cuba against land, sea and air targets. All standard weapons in multiple combinations: Sidewinder Missles; Rocket pods; HARMS; Cluster Bombs; 500/1000/2000 bombs (gravity, drag, and Laser Guided): Video, InfraRed, and Laser Guided Phonex type missles; & anti-runway missles. Exstensive controls, works with modern joysticks. Head to Head network combat mode also.

The Bad
Needs 9x/ME, only limited support for Win2000 (crashes if you have to Esc out to view the map or reload weapons). Could use some more missions.

The Bottom Line
Good game for when you have an hour to kill here and there, but not ideal for all-day play. All missions take less than 30 minutes to complete - though some can be streached out longer. After 3 years, I am still learning new tacticts and controls. Definitely belongs in your hanger!

Windows · by Donald Terry (2) · 2003

[ View all 4 player reviews ]

Analytics

MobyPro Early Access

Upgrade to MobyPro to view research rankings!

Related Games

A-10 VR
Released 2016 on Windows
A-10 Attack!
Released 1995 on Macintosh
A-10 Tank Killer
Released 1989 on DOS, 1991 on Amiga
10 Programs on a Cassette
Released 1978 on Commodore PET/CBM
10 for $10 Pak
Released 1997 on DOS, Windows 3.x
10 Out Of 10 English
Released 1993 on Amiga, Acorn 32-bit
A-10 Tank Killer + Extra Missions
Released 1995 on Amiga
Make 10: A Journey of Numbers
Released 2007 on Nintendo DS
10... Knockout!
Released 1985 on Commodore 64

Related Sites +

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 2300
  • [ Please login / register to view all identifiers ]

Contribute

Are you familiar with this game? Help document and preserve this entry in video game history! If your contribution is approved, you will earn points and be credited as a contributor.

Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Gene Davison.

Macintosh added by magisterrex.

Additional contributors: Kennyannydenny.

Game added September 4, 2000. Last modified January 29, 2024.