Flight models are quite good, stalls are modeled well and each aircraft is sufficiently unique. With full realism turned on, you can no longer yank the stick around, and coordinated turns (stick and rudder) are necessary. Blackouts and redouts are modeled as well.

There is also now a squadron menu. Users can create and recruit players to join their squadrons. Squadrons can hold mission briefings and plan missions together. Again, a nice little touch that ties things together.

As for other hardware advancements, force feedback adds another level of realism. In that 400kt screaming dive the stick get stiff, firing guns gives the stick a shake, and a few more interesting effects. All these tricks, the force feedback, the voice, the real pilots, add to the immersive qualities of the sim. It feels bad when that B17 with 7 guys goes down and you were supposed to be flying cover for it.

Six new campaigns grace the new sim. They are:

• Malta: January 1941 through September 1942, RAF and Luftwaffe
• Eagles of the Rising Sun: December, 1941 through October, 1942: operations of the elite Japanese Tainan Air Group in the Philippines, Java, New Guinea and Guadalcanal
• VF-10 Grim Reapers: October, 1942 through April, 1945: a campaign of 28 missions with one of the great Navy fighter squadrons of WWII. Three tours of duty include assignment to the Enterprise
• VR-17 Jolly Rogers: October, 1943 through February, 1944. The Jolly Rogers were legendary for their exploits and for the history written by Tom Blackburn. Includes 20 missions in the Solomons.
• 92nd Bomber Group: Fames Favored Few: June, 1943 to February, 1944. For lovers of bomber campaigns this one takes you to Europe with the ALlied 8th Air Force. Fly the B17 Flying Fortress during the critical months of the strategic daylight offensive against Germany.
• Imperial Japanese Army Air Force: January, 1943 through April, 1945. The air force of the Japanese Army has been under appreciated. 40 missions cover every significant theatre beginning at Singor flying the Ki 43 Hayabusa (Oscar) in support of the attack on British held Singapore.

Kesmai intends to support up to 120 players in the air at one time in missions that will reenact historical flights with pre-determined objectives. This is a huge transition for Air Warrior since mission goals and the success of missions will no longer be determined by random battles of seasoned players against newbies. Both the team and the tactical dimensions of WWII air conflict have become much more significant.

Click to continue . . .

After all this hype you might be thinking I work for Kesami or something. Well, now its time for the low points. Air Warrior has been around for a long time, how long I’m not sure, but probably more than 5 years. The interface has been around that long too, and it shows. To drop paratroopers you have to type ‘*go, eight times. Sure, you can set up a hot key, or a button on your joystick, but the commands are anything but intuitive.

Novice pilots will have a hard time as there are a lot of very good pilots, and it can get quite frustrating to keep getting killed seconds before you drop your bombs. It can be a bit boring at times as well, bombers need 20-30 minutes to get to altitude. It may be realistic, but that wait it tiring. But at least now you have someone to talk to.

Since it is also an online game it is quite prone to lag, and there seem to be some annoying pauses as well, 10-30 seconds where nothing moves. But I guess it is still a beta?

As with any online game, there are some people who try to ruin it for everyone else, shooting or bombing friendlies, or treating it a bit too seriously. (It IS just a game).

Do you like flight sims? Do you like campaigns where the action doesn’t stop when you stop playing? Do you like teamwork and work and play well with others? If you answered yes to these questions, you might want to take a look at a Airwarrior 3, at $9.95 a month, it looks like a bargain.