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Lock On: Modern Air Combat

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7.4 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 20 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 547 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: Ubi Soft

Developer: Eagle Dynamics

Genre(s): Flight Combat, Simulation

Players: 32

ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)

Release Date: November 20, 2003

Summary

Feel the power of commanding a modern jet fighter. Fly a variety of combat aircraft in the most graphically rich, audio intense game environment ever created for a combat flight simulator. Lock On: Modern Air Combat combines a broad scope of game play that includes engaging missions, an immersive combat environment, and in-your-face action. Choose from eight U.S. and Russian jets that range from the tank-killing A-10 Warthog and, ground-pounding Su-25 Frogfoot to air superiority fighters like the F-15C Eagle and Su-27 Flanker. Filled with intense campaigns, realistic flight modeling and flexible game options, Lock On will provide unlimited game play action to both novice and veteran flight sim fans. [Ubi Soft]

Also On Metacritic

GAMES: Falcon 4.0 Flanker 2.0 Flanker 2.5

Also On The Web: Games Domain Preview GameSpot Preview GameSpy Preview IGN Preview Official Website

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Cheat Code Central

Learning to fly can be a bitch but the reward is a sense of accomplishment and a feeling of freedom that you just can't get from Mario.

PC Format

Our favourite is the A-10 Warthog – cruising at 50 feet, on the prowl for enemy tanks, it’s one of the most exhilarating missions available in any recent simulator.

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GameZone

As a flight simulator goes, this is as technical and detailed as it gets. For fans of warplanes and flight sims, you should look forward to getting this running on your highly advanced PC system.

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Gamer's Hell

At the time of this review, I can say with assurance that LOMAC is the best commercially available jet combat simulator ever developed. It’s simply the most in depth, the best looking, and the best flying than any previous. (Falcon 4 fans, don’t eat me)

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PC Gameworld

When totally bug-fixed and modded, LOMAC could stand alone as the preeminent modern jet combat simulation. However, if you install the first patch and can deal with challenging frame rates, LOMAC already rocks.

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Worth Playing

The number of flyable aircraft and the attention to detail in modeling them just can't be beat. With the mission editor, and the excellent online component, you'll have plenty to keep you busy.

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Game Chronicles

A stunning achievement in realism, and the only way to get a more authentic experience in one of these cockpits is to enlist and go to flight school for a few years, and even then you likely wouldn’t get to fly in a fraction of these planes.

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PC Arena

I'd personally give it a perfect 5 outta 5 if they had included information on how to drive the system and if it didn't have the few bugs that it does.

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PC Gamer

When the inevitable patches and mods do start shipping, Lock On is likely to transform from a stunning but gawky debutante into the Grand Dame of modern flight sims. [Feb 2004, p.82]

TotalGames.net

While we can't see Lock-On bringing the genre back to the masses, the sheer visual appeal, the depth of the missions and ability to customise and make the game your own should see it do a lot better than recent efforts.

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IGN

Lock On provides the more experienced player with some of the most accurate flight and system modeling around and does so with a much larger roster of planes than most sims. The short verdict: if you're in dire need of a sim, this one is hard to beat.

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GameSpot

While it's a diamond in the rough in its initial release form, there's enough depth and breadth here that there's no doubt at all that Lock On is destined for greatness.

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Loaded Inc

Lock-on will mature as more patches are released and it could well become one of the great flight sims but with the initial problems it's made this a tough game to score. It's a shame the Q&A process failed this game, it would have been better if the developers had just held off and the Beta testers had got off their backsides and spotted some of the more nasty bugs.

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Computer Gaming World

Detailed terrain, buildings, water, and effects lend an unprecedented feeling of speed to low-level flight. [March 2004, p.82]

Gamer's Pulse

It has great graphics, fairly simple controls, great scenery, a decent choice of planes, and a great editor. Although the sounds easily get on your nerves, it will be the load times and need for a computer upgrade that will have you pulling your hair out.

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Total Video Games

The "Full Monty" in terms of the era it covers and it has all the jets! Although a lot is thrown at the player at the start of the experience, with carefully reading the manual, as well as going through the training mission and taking in all you are told will pay its rewards. This is a game you can't rush!

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GMR Magazine

An incredibly deep military flight simulator, Lock On is overwhelming, except to the most die-hard flight-stick jockeys. [Mar 2004, p.83]

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GameSpy

Has all the makings of a truly great air combat sim, but it's hard to recommend while it's crippled by bugs and poor documentation.

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Yahoo! Games

The flight model, graphics engine and overall design clearly represent an ambitious and genre-changing attempt, yet the corner-cutting cheapens the otherwise superlative effort.

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Computer Games Magazine

One of the most user-unfriendly sims ever committed to ones and zeros. [Apr 2004, p.67]

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 7.4 (out of 10) based on 547 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Apathy C. gave it a7:
A decent effort and very pretty, but it was programmed the way Russians approach everything -- by half-measures. Quite entertaining, and by far the best effort in the "medium-realism" sim market, it trips over constant bugs and design flaws, even after three years of patching. Its strength lies mainly in the A-10 missions, which are the most credible yet in the sim world, and an accessible (though buggy) mission builder. In many ways, however, LOMAC is little more than "Flanker 3.0." In the end, the interface and design quality of the game simply mirror the confusion and dodginess of the real plane's avionics. It is, other words, a quintessentially Russian game -- with both the good and bad things that entails. On a realism scale of 1 to 10, LOMAC is clearly a seven. If you desire ultra-realism, then Falcon 4.0: Allied Force is a much better choice. For the occasional "hop," however, LOMAC makes for a nice, relaxing, (if somewhat buggy) distraction from the real world.

Baranth gave it an8:
Having been a Lock On player for quite some time I feel I can cast this accuratly... my only real gripe is with the developers.... Black Shark looks good.. and anyone with the Flaming Cliffs LOMAC is probably quite happy with it... all and all it is a good game but "I Feel" the developers are missing the boat with the whole adding helo's thing and should first go for getting all the planes flyable... and making accurate Flight Model for all the aircraft in the game... not just the magic 6... then add the helos in after... granted... the mods out there to make them all flyable... but these mods don't use accurate flight models or cockpits... BUT it IS comparable to Falcon 4... oh... and developing different theatres would be nice as well... but all and all.... good game none the less.

The REAL Mower gave it a5:
A mediorce sim in the abstract and lite weight in the absolute. For beginners and the easily impressed/amused only.

Alexis G. gave it a 10:
A fine game. Really enjoyed the look and feel of it. I am rather stupid when it comes to complicted games but this one was worth the time and study I put in to learn it. If a moron like me can enjoy it then I am sure others will be able to have a great time with this cool simulation game.

Johnny W. gave it a 10:
Fantastic simulation of both Western and Eastern aircraft. Incredible graphics and accurate flight models. One of the best modern air combat sims I have EVERY flown. Ignore the crybabies and get this simulaiton! With the 1.02 patch it is a must if you love modern air warfare.

Jason K. gave it a 10:
This sim is excellent, especially after the V1.02 patch that was released last month. A fantastic online mupltiplayer experience. A pity that the publisher released it too soon, but fortunately the developer stuck with it and have produced an outstanding simulation with the new patch. Get this sim! It rocks!

Erik K. gave it a 4:
Played the demo, but I don't think I'm gonna invest my few euros on this sim. It's just another Flanker-sim with a couple of american jets thrown in. The western aircraft somehow have too much of a russian feel. Sure it looks good, but it still can't beat that certain modern air combat sim that has been released six years ago and has gotten better ever since.

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Lock On: Modern Air Combat

Game Info

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What The Critics Said

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