by Richard Ordway

Richard Ordway is a former Pitts Special competition aerobatic pilot with TF-51D Mustang, Spitire Mk 9 and T-6 Texan aerobatic experience. He has an MBA in aviation and has been playing PC flight simulations since 1982.

Test System

• P200 64 meg EDO and 256 cache
• Diamond Monster 3D 4 meg
• 8x Toshiba EIDE CD
• WD 2.1 GB
• CH Force FX Stick and Pro throttle

You too can fly scenarios such as this, with what is at this time the most detailed PC F-22 simulation on the market: iF-22 by I-Magic Labs. However, as fun and deep as it is, iF-22 still has some critical problems. This is even after FOUR patches (versions 3.0-3.3), that still might make some gamers not want to buy it.

However I-Magic must be given strong credit for providing so much after-market support (53 changes already!). I-Magic also states that they are committed (and working "day and night") to fix every concern listed in this article and other concerns as well. You can download the patches from the I-Magic Website .

IF-22– Factual Description

First, what is it? IF-22 is currently a heavily patched first person, detailed PC flight simulation of the future F-22 air-superiority fighter from the United States’ point of view. The United States hopes to make the actual F-22 operational by the year 2004 (none too soon since former Secretary of Defense, Caspar Weinberger, states in his book, "The Next War," that both CIA and Naval War College computer simulations show that it is "probable" that the United States will lose a hypothetical war in the Pacific in the year 2005 because of the current trends of US military "unreadiness" and downsizing.

IF-22’s single-player section consists of four general modules. It has an instant action mode, training missions module, unlimited dynamic single missions module and a dynamic campaign module (which has missions that never repeat) for both the Ukraine and Bosnia. The training mission module includes six training missions: takeoff, landing, navigation, dogfighting, bombing and group tactics. The single missions and campaign modules include at least ten different types of missions to fly such as air superiority, escort, SEAD (anti-SAM and AAA), CAP (defending a certain area), CAS (supporting friendly troops over the battlefield), airfield attack, and deep strike as well as others for example. IF-22 gives you the choice of starting the missions from the ground or in the air as an added benefit.

It also has ten wingman commands such as "engage my current target", "engage remaining targets from formation", "radio silence", etc. You can also communicate with AWACS, other allied aircraft, the control tower, and your flight as a whole or individual wingmen from easy-to-use drop-down lists. The missions and campaigns have many different mission planning choices such as choosing the number of wingmen (three allowed total), altitude, weapons loadouts, waypoints placement, etc.

Two flight models are included: a "relaxed realism model" and a "realistic model". The realistic flight model is stated to be a six-degree freedom of motion model with a three-axis digital-flight control system and an engine/thrust model with thrust vectoring. The relaxed realism model includes an automatic centering device and the controls are very responsive.

Multiplayer is nicely supported. If-22 includes support for modem (four players), IPX LAN (eight players) Internet TCP/IP (four players), and serial connections. Multiplayer games available are "Head-2-Head", "Cooperative" (single missions with a total of four players), and "Capture the Flag" (Two competing teams try to capture a neutral airfield).

The graphics modes include 640x480, 800x600 and 1024x768 (the latter not supported by 3Dfx). If-22 also supports 3D accelerators (more on this claim later). The sun also has blinding effects for correct tactics. The view system consists of 17 fixed internal views (20 if you include views of the interior cockpit) and a padlock view as well as seven external views. The cockpit is very interactive with clicks of a mouse to activate almost everything. The views can also be changed by clicks of the mouse from inside the cockpit. The terrain is nicely taken from actual satellite and elevation data.

IF-22 Meets up to Specs

If-22 has many outstanding points. First, it is immensely fun. The training is thorough (relatively painless) and challenging all on its own. The simulation has lots of depth. The missions and campaigns have literally infinite variety with the dynamic mission generator feature. You get to control many aspects of the missions, which also adds to the excitement. Being able to handle so many communications choices through easy drop down menus is also fascinating.

Secondly, its replay value is likewise fantastic with no two missions or campaigns being the same because of the dynamic mission generator. You could literally play the missions and campaigns and try different tactics for months–and then come back later and still enjoy it! The strong mission planner with so many options adds a lot to the fun.

Thirdly, the flight model is strong in most respects (it certainly is the best PC F-22 flight model of any F-22 PC flight simulation on the market). It includes airspeed bleed, ability to pull G decreases with lower speeds, inertia, a fly-by-wire control system that resists stalls, the ability to descend while in a nose up attitude, performance differences with altitude, differences with and without loaded ordinance, blackout and redout (not exactly flight model, but still related), aircraft rolls towards dead engine when one engine is out, engine takes awhile to spool up, and a choice of using an angle of attack limiter or not.

Fourth, some of the graphics are very well done. The terrain looks very realistic from about 6,000-11,000 feet and higher (depending on which views you use) in 2D graphics. In 3D, the graphics look flowing and nice right down to the ground. It gives you an especially nice feeling to know that all the terrain is so accurate that you can navigate with the enclosed paper map–nice! The internal cockpit views are stunning and believable...especially when most of the visible features are mouse-activated (interactive cockpit). This adds immensely to the feeling of actually flying and "actually being there"–bravo! The HUD (heads up display), has different colors to choose from (red is the most visible).

Fifth, the sounds are spectacular. They are reportedly taken from actual aircraft and sound like it. The engine spooling up sound is very unusual and does not sound canned. The sound of the afterburners kicking in is also unlike any other simulation I have ever heard. Pilot voices are used for almost every transmission and sound more realistic than in most other simulations. The sounds of the missiles locking on are also very convincing and do not sound "arcade".

Sixth, the written manual is very well done. It contains 177 pages. Everything you need is laid out in an easy-to-understand format. Most topics are covered with pictures when needed for clarification. Even thorough tactics are included as well as the minute details of running iF-22 if you want them. In short, the manual makes the simulation much more fun, understandable and learnable. However, unfortunately, iF-22 still has some very shaky teething problems.

Taking Flight?

As good as iF-22 is, many gamers might be very disappointed by some aspects–even with the patches.

First, many gamers will not effectively be able to use the 3D graphics mode. I found that even by following the many suggestions given by I-Magic, I could not get 3D graphics to work without distracting pauses and fatally slow frame rates on my Pentium 200, 64MB RAM and Monster 3D video card. (Note: the patch must be manually installed by copying data into the directory. When released this was not clear. Pauses are then eliminated). With 2D mode, I saw simply horribly pixilated ground at even 11,000 feet. Gamers with Pentium 166 computers have also reported, on the Internet, being able to play in 2D mode with smooth frame rates at 800x600 resolution (but reported that the ground was terribly pixilated at low altitudes).

Secondly, some of the other graphics are very distracting. The sun is just a painted, yellow circle as seen in the seven-year-old Dynamix’s Red Baron. The clouds and missile trails look as if Vincent van Gogh (the famous abstract painter) was standing beside you as you played and started roughly oil painting on your screen right in front of you. Houses, ground objects and other aircraft also look the same way–in other words, many objects do not look as if they fit into the simulation. This is a weird effect and it definitely pops your reality bubble. However, some gamers probably will not be bothered by this "van Gogh" effect.

Thirdly, the flight model needs patching. The problems do indeed affect game play. I find that the pitch rates are way too slow. The nose moves glacially up and down as in a World War II bomber. The pitch inertia is also way too much and acts as if you were flying a loaded, heavy bomber. The F-22 is reported to be able to dogfight. With this slow pitch rate and pitch inertia (or at least it seems like it is moving through molasses to the player), the simulation seems just plain fake. It is not believable and pops the reality bubble for me. Pilots report that the actual F-15s and F-16s have a very fast maximum pitch rate. Also the F-22 is an inherently unstable airplane kept flying only because of computers. I do not believe that the F-22 would be (or seem to be) so glacial in pitch.

The iF-22 also incorrectly has the same roll rate at high and low altitudes. Even with thrust vectoring, a jet is still a jet. If you get high enough, jet engines and wings become ineffective because of a lack of air density and oxygen. This is why rockets have been used to help jets at high altitudes. This means that you have an arcade-like jet at high altitudes. It is also missing a screen shake option. This gives valuable feedback for stalls, getting hit, firing guns and landing–and has been included in many flight simulations for years. Although not really part of the flight model, redouts and blackouts need work. The screen often turns black instantly without a gradual graying out even if you are not pulling back hard on the stick. This hurts gameplay. The blackouts and redouts should be made more gradual commiserate with low stick forces.

Fourth, the padlock view still needs fixing. It confuses me, as it does not indicate where you are looking very well. It also follows enemy airplanes in big jerks and skips around without the enemy airplane actually being there–very disconcerting! Also, you cannot padlock an enemy unless it is locked on radar. This also hurts game play and situational awareness. Most other simulations have the padlock view able to shift from one plane to another regardless of radar.

Fifth, iF-22 takes up a fatal amount of hard disk space for many gamers. Depending on the install, you need from 153MB to 783MB. This might be too much for some gamers. I know that I cannot run some other needed programs because I have iF-22 installed. Even with the maximum install, I still get pauses when I play iF-22 (so I do not know how really useful it ends up being).

Sixth, iF-22 missions take a very long time to load on an 8x CD-ROM. It almost reminds you of the Origin Wing Commander series a while back. If you are brave enough to load the massive 781MB, then you should not have to endure this (but the loading is still agonizingly slow with 781MB). It is definitely frustrating.

Seventh, you cannot perform section tactics such as pincer movements, deception tactics, surprise tactics, dragging maneuvers, etc. as you can in Jane’s USNF series or Spectrum-Holobyte’s Falcon 3.0. I-Magic needs to add more varied wingman commands for this to happen such as "approach target from right", "approach target from below", "break right", "break high", "continue straight", etc. With this omission, the wingmen are pretty useless and a whole area of air combat is not covered (section tactics). Falcon 3.0 has modeled this for at least five years–and it is important to have in a detailed simulation.

IF-22– Taps

Overall, iF-22 is an extremely fun, solid, and deep simulation. It has a dynamic mission generator, good flight models, satellite-based terrain, nice interior views (except padlock), a good manual and a good training module. In 2d mode the distracting way the ground is pixelated even at 11,000 feet, the painted sun, clouds and objects are also very disturbing. I would strongly recommend that if you do buy iF-22 (even with the patches), that you do so at a store which allows returns. You might be able to accept its shortcomings and maybe you might not.

Who should buy iF-22? Gamers who like realism and in-depth features should investigate it. It might be too much for sheer beginners (I-Magic could add more optional automated features that would make it easier for beginners such as automatic multi-function displays, and automatic locking on of targets). However, even beginners can probably play it in its easiest settings and learn to love it. However, they must be prepared to take time to learn its systems.

What do the four patches do? They really do not do much for me yet in terms of correcting the simulation’s deepest problems: load time, slow 3D frame rates and pixelated ground. The wingman’s artificial intelligence is however, noticeably stronger than before the patches. The Internet connections also work much better than before (but you still should have fast Pentium computers for best results). The patches also fix some mission planning problems. The "invisible" HUD problem has been fixed with a choice of different colors. In terms of the frame rate/graphics issue trade off and many pauses, I do find a little improvement–but not enough for me to love iF-22 yet. However, if I-Magic gets the problems fixed iF-22 will unquestionably become one of the most outstanding simulations ever released for the PC.

Requirements:
Windows 95: 90MHz Pentium, 16MB of RAM, 4X CD-ROM

Multiplayer:
2-8 players, Internet, LAN, modem, serial

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