Interactive Magic deserves an A for consistency: they get their games out on time and try to make sure that anyone buying their games can play them regardless of their previous experience with other simulations. iF/A-18E Carrier Strike Fighter is such a game.

While ahead of schedule, iF/A-18 promises to win back those customers that were turned away by the mass of problems encountered in iF-22. While it is true iF/A-18 uses the same basic features from iF-22, it is only the best of iF-22 that has been carried over, such as the TALON dynamic campaign, and fully clickable cockpit.

The campaign system deserves mention as one of the better features of if22. Replay value with a system like this is excellent, 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 the campaign. While it would have been great to see iMagic move to a real-time system, the essentials are still here.

Other areas are expanded far beyond iF22. One of the shortcomings in conception of the simulation was the mission planner, which appeared to be almost an unfinished feature. Not so with if18; the mission planner not only corrects the deficiencies of the earlier code but surpasses it in every way possible.

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The interface in general is logical, intuitive, and attractive, unlike the somewhat kludgy interface of iF22. Here again the team has done some great design work and look set to to create a new standard for iMagic simulations.

Multiplay includes support only for Head to Head A2A. This is both surprising and disappointing, due to the attack capability of the Super Hornet. The coop multiplay options in a product like EF2000 which allowed players to join each other in a variety of missions, would add great fun to the sim. Maybe we'll see this in a later addition.

The F/A 18 is the same plane that beat out the F-14 Tomcat 2000 for USN orders. Both the USN and USMC will operate the F/A-18E/F Hornets. Players can choose between flying USN and USMC Super Hornets with authentic tail markings. As with all iMagic games, a player will choose a persona to fly their F/A-18 and track this pilot through his service with appropriate promotions and medals.

One drawback to if18 is that iMagic is still married to the Direct 3D only approach. Many Voodoo owners (including myself) understand the idea of including everyone with D3D but would still prefer that they also include direct support for specific 3D cards (such as GLIDE.) The Glide API still gives higher quality and better speed to those who have made the investment, even though DX6 may further reduce this lead.

The DEMON terrain system (iMagic calls it DEMON 1.5) that received so much criticism after iF22 was released has been improved and revamped. Interactive Magic also promises that the buggy "pauses" that plagued iF-22 are gone. Transparent smoke effects are among many graphical improvements from iF-22. Graphically iF/A-18 looks superior to iF-22, and resolutions go from 640x480 to 1024x768.

I had a chance to fly iF/A-18 at E3 and the flight model seemed a bit relaxed. However, this was only beta code and Jim Harler (former USMC aviator and iF/A-18/E designer) mentioned that there was still some tweaking left to do. He emphasized all the background research iMagic has put into iF/A-18 in making the simulation as realistic as possible.

Truthfully, they have put a ton of research into this product. Trips to both the USS Abraham Lincoln and to Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland where testing of the actual F/A-18E/F is taking place is helping iMagic get the cockpit, avionics, MFD's, sounds, and performance characteristics as close as possible.

While if22 didn't include every aspect of the F22s avionics (the moving map, for example), it was quite accurate in the features it portrayed. As a result of the teams commitment to realism if18 will quite possibly surpass if22 in avionics and systems detailing and could prove to be the most realistic simulation of systems yet seen on the PC. Happily, this should carry over to the carrier ops as well!

Clearly a great deal of effort was made in making the GUI that the player uses to navigate around the base look very good (reminds me a lot of Jane's Longbow). In addition, everything is very well laid out and organized. If iMagic really has dealt with the pauses and some graphical problems that plagued iF-22, then look for iF/A-18 to really do well and restore the confidence from those who felt iF-22 let them down. We should be getting a version of iF/A-18/E Carrier Strike Fighter ASAP so look for new news from Combatsim.com soon.

According to Interactive Magic, the specs for iF/A-18/E are as follows:

Minimum requirements:

• Windows 95 with 100% DirectX drivers
• Pentium-class processor, 133 Mhz +
• 24 MB RAM
• 100 MB free space
• SVGA video card
• 8X or faster CD-ROM
• Sound card

Recommended setup:

• Pentium 166 Mhz or faster
• 32 MB RAM
• 200 MB free hard-drive space
• 3D Accelerator card
• 12X or faster CD-ROM drive
• Joystick with throttle

Look for this in-house product from iMagic around Fall or Summer. Look for the real F/A-18E/F to enter service around 2002 and replace F/A-18A's some F/A-18C's and all F-14A's and possibly some F-14D's.