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Falcon 3.0

DOS - 1991

Year 1991
Platform DOS
Released in France, United States (1991)
Brazil (1993)
Germany (1995)
Genre Simulation
Theme Contemporary, Flight, Vehicular Combat Simulator
Publisher MicroProse Ltd., Spectrum Holobyte, Inc.
Developer Sphere, Inc.
Perspectives 1st-Person, 3rd-Person
Dosbox support Fully supported on 0.72
4.66 / 5 - 65 votes

Download extras files
Refcard available

Description of Falcon 3.0

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One of the best flight simulators ever made for the PC, Falcon 3.0 became an instant classic upon its release in 1991, and the benchmark against which all later "hard-core" modern flight sims would be judged. Arguably flight sims as a genre has been quite underrated, and many pilots will tell you that Falcon 3.0 can't be rated highly enough. I'll let MiGMan's thorough review speak to how excellent the game is:

Falcon 3.0 was published in 1991 by Spectrum Holobyte. It was the sequel to Falcon [and later Falcon AT]. Falcon 3.0 pushed the boundaries of Air Combat Sims its release. It had all the features anyone could dream of at the time and the gameplay was riveting. It was also demanding on hardware, needing a 486 to run the "High-Fidelity Flight Model".

Even today it's a hoot, and if you only have a 486 you really can't get much more excitement than what's available in the Falcon battleground. Luckily you can adjust the AI of the SAM operators, AAA and enemy pilots because on the higher settings they are murderous!"

Suffice is to say that Falcon 3.0 will forever go down in history as one of the very best computer flight sims ever made. Fortunately, MicroProse's Falcon 4.0 largely lives up to the pedigree, with numerous improvements over this much-loved classic. Two thumbs up, but be prepared to fiddle with your memory settings for a bit to get this oldie to run on new computers.

Note: Spectrum Holobyte later released several add-ons for the game, all of which are included as part of MicroProse's 1994 Falcon Gold collection. In 2001, G2 Interactive purchased copyrights to the entire Falcon series from Hasbro, current owner of MicroProse.

Review By HOTUD

Add-ons for Falcon 3.0:

Falcon 3.0 has the following addons available: Falcon 3.0: Operation: Fighting Tiger, MiG-29: Deadly Adversary of Falcon 3.0 and Hornet: Naval Strike Fighter, don't miss them!

External links

Comments and reviews

JACK 2020-10-22 -1 point

Onko missään F-16 hävittäjässä sama ohjaamo kuin Falcon 3.0:ssa? Voihan noita olla erilaisia mutta mikähän on F-16 hävittäjän ohjaamo sama kuin Falcon 3.0:ssa?

LibertyToad 2020-08-10 2 points

I played this for hours when it came out. I have all of the add-ons (The MiG-29 is great fun to fly). A buddy of mine that I used to work with and I bought 2nd phone lines so that we could fly together and talk as we flew. Great Sim that was a joy to play and had a number of great add-ons. I also have some old 3rd party utilities for the Sim that I thankfully saved. I recently installed the game and am having a ton of fun playing it again. The graphics are certainly dated, but the game play is still exceptional.

turn turn turn! 2020-05-26 2 points

here some utils:
http://www.gamers.org/pub/archives/cactus/

Hack 2018-06-01 -1 point

There is that cockpit at Falcon 3.0. Why there is not that calculator under the HUD? There is at Falcon 3.0 display under the HUD.

GuyFawkes 2018-03-14 3 points

Anyone know where you can get Strategic Falcon, an unofficial commercial addon? Also it's companion Falcon Test Pilot for creating your own crafts.

Hurricane 2017-11-02 4 points

One night we were flying a co-op mission via modem, which if you remember missions would take about 15 minutes to load. Anyhow we were returning from the mission out ammunition when we got jumped by a mig 29. After a lot of turning and burning we were trying to figure out what to do. Finally decided to try something, : So my buddy I was flying with took the lead in getting the mig to follow him. I came in high and behind the mig, then basically just did a guess and dropped my empty exterior fuel tank on top of the mig. Didn't really think it would work... but we laughed for days... it actually worked. Years ago but a great memory, but also a great game that actually let that happen.

Raymond Danner 2016-04-09 0 point

I played this game for numerous years until my HDD failed and I lost key data I had developed for the game, including a squadron I'd developed that was fairly reliable for just about any mission with few issues. I've even got two copies (both unopened) of the CD. I never opened either copy, and to this day, wonder why. Oh, wait. Windows' DOS-emulation sucks.

fdisk 2015-08-28 1 point

EDIT: Thx fdisk ;)

Mythicaldakka 2015-03-08 0 point DOS version

Fantastic game. Still my favorite flight sim ever. One of the first PC games I bought (along with DOOM, my fave PC game EVER). Many hours spent playing, especially after I got Falcon Gold. Joe Powell, my dad got me that book, very handy! Thanks for writing it!

robk64 2014-11-01 1 point DOS version

Where are Victor Zavaduke and the Compuserve Challenge Ladder folks today?

Joel Powell 2014-04-04 1 point DOS version

I miss this game!

It was a great opportunity for me. While looking for bug fixes on the Compuserve Forum for Spectrum Holobyte I came across a request from Mitchell Waite (of the The Waite Group Press) for someone to put in a proposal to write a book about this flight sim. I paired with Tom Basham and wrote Falcon 3: The Complete Handbook. I still have a copy propped up here on my desk at work.

Thanks - Joel Powell jpowell@joelpowell.com

FOXSMILE 2014-03-22 3 points DOS version

I played this game in 1992 when i bought my 1st PC. It took me almost a month to read the manual book and this is my first and best flight simulator ( I still kept the manual to this day).
After abut 6 months, I bought a book Advance Falcon 3.0 which teach a lot of technique, dogfight methodm, evading radar etc which I still use up to this day.
I upgraded it with MiG29 and the F-18 later.
This is indeed the best flight simulator.
There re times I flew over 3 hours on a mission to bomb a nuclear plant. Again and again..
I sometimes even won a dogfight with 9 MiG 19, or 3 MiG29. And thats really one hell of a dogfights. But usually I lost.
I still miss this game... Jane's Flight Simulator is the closest.
Other than that... the simulator either too slow, or too stupid like an arcade game... where an aircraft can go backward,,, or shooting like beans... still miss this game.

Kooljerk666 2012-12-29 0 point DOS version

Best of the Falcon Series. I bought every one of them including Allied Force. I just found my Falcon 4.0 manual, disk & keyboard overlay & ready to fly again.

Actually I have been flying but in WWII using IL-2 of every version IL-1946 now w/ Batlle over Europe, so I am used to guns/Cannon & unguided a2g everything.

This Release worked right out of the box & had no problems, campaigns made sense, as did behavior of enemy AI.

At any rate this program will work on any PC made in the last 10-15 years & is one of the best Combat Sims ever made.

mnpd 2012-02-03 1 point DOS version

Back in the early 90's I bought this game and was hooked! I'd play Falcon 3.0 until dawn each day (I worked evenings anyway). Over the next few years Spectrum Holobyte produced different sims for different fighter planes including the Gold CD which included them all. I bought EVERYTHING as soon as it came out.

My only disappointment is that the company advertised their final product... the A-10 Warthog and I couldn't wait for the release, finding myself staring at the plane on the advertisement. But, the Warthog version was never released. That's almost 20-years ago, and I'm still disappointed.

kaori 2012-01-06 0 point DOS version

Aahh, the predecessor of the venerable Falcon 4.0! Another must have. I wonder if it also feature an in-flight refueling? Well, I'll find out soon. Thanks for this awesome sim ^_^

Xyvik 2011-04-11 1 point DOS version

So many hours wasted on this game...so awesome! The campaigns are still addictive to this day, and instant-action as deadly as ever.

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Buy Falcon 3.0

Falcon 3.0 is available for a small price on the following websites, and is no longer abandonware. GOG.com provides the best release and does not include DRM, please buy from them! You can read our online store guide .

Game Extras and Resources

Some of these file may not be included in the game stores. For Falcon 3.0, we have the following files:

RefcardEnglish version 555 KB (DOS)

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