MiG­ 29 Fulcrum (PC Game)

The Mikoyan MiG-29 (Russian Name: Микоян МиГ-29; NATO reporting name: "Fulcrum") is a twin-engine jet fighter aircraft desi...

The Mikoyan MiG-29 (Russian Name: Микоян МиГ-29; NATO reporting name: "Fulcrum") is a twin-engine jet fighter aircraft designed in the Soviet Union.

Publisher: NovaLogic
Developer: NovaLogic
Genres: Simulator / Flight Simulator
Release Date: October, 1998
Game Modes: Singleplayer / Multiplayer

NovaLogic’s first aggressor aircraft sim since the KA50 helicopter in Comanche vs. Werewolf, Fulcrum provides simpilots a chance to fly this topoftheline Russian fighter, both across 40 single player missions and in online multiplayer. Not a part of the Lockheed Martin Fighter Series (for obvious reasons; one wonders why there never was a MikoyanGurevich Fighter Series?), NovaLogic’s instead made use of a Russian test pilot “to obtain expert counsel regarding the authenticity of the simulation’s flight model, avionics, and overall performance.” So were they successful? You can also download F 16 Aggressor PC Game, which is similar to this game.

NovaLogic has a long tradition hitting the highend of the scale in the graphics department, and their MiG29 Fulcrum / F16 package of games makes no exception. Players are treated to a very nice looking terrain engine thatamazingly enoughis readable enough to fly at nearly treetop level by eyeball alone. You can also download F 16 Multirole Fighter PC Game, which is similar to this game.

On paper, the older MiG29’s suffered from several key limitations – unfriendly cockpit ergonomics, limited range, antiquated avionics and the Russian’s reliance on ground control to paint the battlefield, leading pilots to heavily rely on orders from below. In stark contrast, you’re pretty much left to your own devices here – orders are purely cosmetic, and the addition of a wingman lets you yourself run the show. To a greater extent, Fulcrum flies and plays very much like NovaLogic’s F16 Multirole Fighter, alongside which it was developed.

Still, we get an impressively well rendered cockpit overall, a strange stew of analog and digital displays that has more in common with the vintage F14 Tomcat than the Falcon. Although the HUD has been retrofitted to suit its Englishspeaking audience, it and the fully functional cockpit instrumentation deliver a good sense of ‘there’. Overall the cockpit environment as a whole is done much better than players would normally have a right to expect out of a “lite” sim. But whereas the real plane was noted for its complex menudrilling procedures for simple actions, here it’s a much more simplified affair.