Lock On: Modern Air Combat

Lock On: Modern Air Combat arrived in early 2003 as one of the most sophisticated modern combat aviation simulators of its time and became the predecessor of the later DCS World platform. The game, from studio Eagle Dynamics, let players fly selected contemporary combat aircraft, including the Su-27 and A-10, and focused on a detailed simulation of their avionics, weapon systems, and flight behavior. The campaign and individual missions took place in modern conflict scenarios that combined aerial dogfights with ground support and attacks on land and naval targets.

The flight model was among the most realistic on the market at the time, and the game let players choose between simplified and fully simulation-level controls, making it accessible both to newcomers and to demanding flight simulation enthusiasts. The detailed rendering of cockpits, radar systems, and weapon loadouts stood in contrast to the more arcade-like flight games of the era and marked a significant step toward an authentic simulation of modern aerial combat. The graphical treatment of the terrain and aircraft was above standard for its time and contributed to the overall sense of credibility, as did the elaborate sound effects for engines and fired weapons, including the realistic behavior of heat-seeking and radar-guided missiles.

Lock On became the foundation on which Eagle Dynamics later built the expansive DCS World platform, whose individual aircraft modules still build today on principles laid down by this very title, including its modular approach to individual aircraft. For the simulation enthusiast community of the time, it represented a significant step toward modern combat aviation, as opposed to the World War II simulators that had until then clearly dominated the market. Today it is seen mainly as a historically important precursor to today's DCS World and as one of the first seriously intentioned simulators of modern aviation on personal computers.

Why play it: For anyone interested in the history of modern combat aviation on PC and in the roots of today's DCS World, whose foundation Lock On laid at a time when the market was dominated by World War II simulators.