We have been just lately given early entry to an in-progress construct of Aces of Thunder, the upcoming flight simulation sport by Gaijin Leisure, the builders of the ever-popular Struggle Thunder. Though we have been unable to check out the sport’s multiplayer, we had the chance to take a look at the present state of the sport, and the way it’s shaping up on a high-end PC VR setup.
Proper from the get-go, there’s lots that Gaijin has managed appropriately – however we should stress that that is an in-dev model of the sport. For one, there have been no in-game graphical choices for us to tweak; I can not let you know whether or not the sport defaulted to the utmost graphical preset, the bottom, or one thing in between. What I can say is that on the identical 5090 setup I examined Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 on, I managed a locked 90FPS at Godlike Digital Desktop decision settings (150% decision scale to my Quest 3 headset).
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Gameplay footage captured by UploadVR
This might need launched some issues, nevertheless; Aces of Thunder will ultimately have hand-tracking controls, however even utilizing my Contact Plus controllers, I used to be unable to entry any of the menus as soon as I used to be in a mission. The one means I used to be in a position to begin a brand new mission was to restart the sport, or intentionally end the present one – whether or not that be by failing it, or finishing it.
This might simply be a controller mapping challenge with Digital Desktop; we won’t say for positive. I attempted to make use of the identical flight stick I take advantage of in Flight Sim, although for no matter purpose I could not get it working with the present construct. That is tremendous – a part of the appeal of VR flight simulation is having the ability to simulate the analog expertise of piloting an plane itself, and that principally works with the present keybindings on VR controllers.
I’ll word, nevertheless, that I might advocate immediately turning off the throttle being tied to the left controller’s analog stick. The rudder can be tied to the left analog stick, so it may be easy to regulate your thrust whereas making an attempt to make use of the rudders. You possibly can management the thruster manually within the cockpit, and having a further possibility for it – whereas I admire the thought behind it – causes extra issues than it solves for my part.
Past that, the controls really feel like precisely what I might count on from a extra classic, WW2 flight simulation sport. I am a giant fan of how when the sport can let you know’re focusing in on a particular dial within the cockpit, it will give an annotation for its present worth so it is simpler to learn. That is not one thing I really feel like I would want alone setup, but I can anticipate it being helpful for gamers on headsets operating a decrease decision, and with none supersampling added to the image.
Whereas PvP inevitably looks like the principle attraction for the sport, we did have entry to a number of single-player missions – which is the place I’ve to degree with you all. I like a leisurely flight sim, however I’m completely horrible at precise fight. To not point out, the extra classic plane represented in Aces of Thunder are a contact more difficult to deal with in comparison with my most popular, extra fashionable fare. I am positive, given sufficient time, these missions can be a ton of enjoyable – they’re actually nice follow earlier than unleashing your self towards the net lots. Nonetheless, they don’t seem to be precisely a tutorial, which I actually hope the ultimate sport may embody for these of us not already versed in Gaijin’s model of flight sim.
Which is to say, Aces of Thunder leaves a really robust first impression – but on the similar time, fairly just a few questions stay about how issues will really feel when the sport lastly releases later this 12 months. How will it carry out on extra modest setups, and the way will graphics scale in constancy? In what method will the controls evolve; we all know the crew is working available monitoring choices, however how will that work out ultimately? How in regards to the PlayStation VR2 launch? For now, we’re instructed it is aiming to take care of a steady 90fps on PS5.
We’ll remember to report the solutions to those questions in full as we get nearer to launch, slated for later this 12 months on Steam and PS VR2. Till then, you may watch our latest Aces of Thunder livestream to study extra.
