The negative: It's taken 15+ years to do what others have done in far less time
Who would that be?
One could argue that Falcon 4.0 pulled this off. While they only released one aircraft, the system was designed to be modular (reportedly Microprose was planning the F-15E), and Spectrum Holobyte had pulled it off with Falcon 3.0 (F-16/MiG-29/F-18 and 7 theaters).
Of course, people also tend to look at the history of Falcon 4.0 with rose colored glasses. Many don't remember that Falcon 4.0 was virtually unplayable at release, and that the patches that were released often broke the game more than they fixed it (even more than DCS patches sometimes break things in missions). It wasn't until 1.08 was released a year later that Falcon 4.0 was considered stable, and even then the campaign engine, while groundbreaking, was still buggy. It wasn't until Allied Force that I could run a campaign and not have to pray that my results wouldn't be lost in a CTD exiting the mission.
Still, Falcon 4.0 created a high fidelity flight sim and an integrated dynamic campaign engine in 5.5 years. Unfortunately the effort also bankrupted Microprose/Spec Holobyte and effectively took Hasbro out of the videogame business.
-Home Fries
"Pacifism is a shifty doctrine under which a man accepts the benefits of the social group without being willing to pay - and claims a halo for his dishonesty." - Robert A. Heinlein
The average naval aviator, despite the sometimes swaggering exterior, is very much capable of such feelings as love, affection, intimacy, and caring. These feelings just don't involve anyone else.
