SimHQ.com - Feature: Best of 2005 - SimHQ Readers and Staff Pick the Winners

Reader's Choice Poll:
Winner: Falcon 4: Allied Force
Runner Up: Lock On: Flaming Cliffs

Staff / Moderator's Choice Poll:
Winner: Falcon 4: Allied Force
Runner Up: Battle of Britain II: Wings of Victory

Comments: No giant surprise here. Modern jet sims represent the genesis of the computer simulation game, and Falcon 4 is the ultimate simulation title of it's genre. The Allied Force iteration cleaned up many of the bugs of the original title and brought the graphics up to code for the 21st century. Kudos to Graphsim and Lead Pursuit for bringing this superb title back to life, and we hope it helps cultivate the next generation of simulation enthusiasts.

Since LOMAC was to be the successor to the modern jet sim throne, it's also no surprise that the superb Flaming Cliffs mod also made the list as runner up. What is interesting is that the staff picked BoB II instead of Flaming Cliffs. Read below for some analysis of this outcome.

Over Flanders Fields

Air - Best Freeware Release

Reader's Choice Poll:
Winner: Over Flanders Fields (CFS3)
Runner Up: EEAH/EECH v162W (EEAH/EECH)

Staff / Moderator's Choice Poll:
Winner: Over Flanders Fields (CFS3)
Runner Up: EEAH/EECH v162W (EEAH/EECH)

Comments: We were all bummed out when all the WW I titles dropped of the scope in 2005, and there's clearly an itch that needed scratching in the sim world for a historic title from the dawn of air combat. OFF has certainly scratched that itch for us all, as well as breathing new life into Microsoft's CFS3.

EEAH and EECH are probably some of the most well-balanced helo sim titles out there, and with a strong following of core modders, the games continue to age well, like a fine wine.

SWAT 4

Land Combat

Land - Best Commercial Release

Reader's Choice Poll:
Winner: SWAT 4

Staff / Moderator's Choice Poll:
Winner: SWAT 4

Comments: Not a lot of choices in 2005 for Tactical Sim fans, but this one was VERY well done. Except for the advertisements, as Magnum has pointed out.

Battlefield 2

Land - Best Commercial "Run & Gun" Release

Reader's Choice Poll:
Winner: Battlefield 2
Runner Up: Call of Duty 2

Staff / Moderator's Choice Poll:
Winner: Tie - Battlefield 2 and Call of Duty 2

Comments: We could tell what a fun and exciting casual combat title Battlefield 2 would be when we saw it at E3. And it is. But the historical sim fans on the staff also liked the style and flow of COD 2, so much so that it turned out to be a tie.

America's Army

Land - Best Freeware Release

Reader's Choice Poll:
Winner: America's Army: Special Forces

Staff / Moderator's Choice Poll:
Winner: America's Army: Special Forces

Comments: Well, I guess when you have a superb, complete game title that cost millions of dollars to create, but is distributed for free, you've got a sure-fire winner in the Free-ware categories. No other mod even came close, the best registering only a 5% share.

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