• Pentium 166MMX
• Intergraph Intense Voodoo Rush
• 64 MB SDRAM
• 17" Monitor
• Sidewinder Force Feedback Pro
• 30BT internet connection

I originally started playing Air Warrior on Compuserve in the summer of 1996, and played Air Warrior 2 for a little while after it came out. I was a bit underwelmed by Air Warrior 2, it didn't seem like much of an upgrade at the time. In the winter of 1997 I moved to an area where Compuserve was hard to get at and my new ISP could give me 30 megabit unlimited access for $40 a month. Needless to say I cancelled my membership to Compuserve, and with it, my opportunity to play Air Warrior.

Fast forward to 1998. When Air Warrrior 3 appeared on a demo disk, with 3dfx support, I installed it very quickly. And again, I was not very impressed, the terrain and 3dfx effects did not work very well, and it played the same as AW2.

Just recently I went to the Gamestorm web site and decided to download the complete package, with all the artwork and give it one last try. I downloaded about 70 Mb (in 8 minutes!) of programs files, terrain and cockpit artwork. The installation is completely automatic, and quite painless. One of my main reasons for trying it was to I could play a flight sim with my force feedback joystick.

I configured all of my hardware and started playing. The number of players on line was a pleasant surprise (more than 500). There can be up to 150 players in any of the 6 theaters. There are 49 different aircraft modeled from three eras; World War 1, World War 2 and Korea.

The majority of players seem to like the WWII Europe the best, followed by WWII Pacific with carrier action. Each theater is divided up into three countries; A, B and C, who battle in a never ending war to capture their enemies bases. Bases must be 'Prepped' by bombing key points (tower, fuel, maintenance, ack) then paratroopers must be dropped on the base. Believe me, it is not as easy as it sounds.

Paratroopers are dropped from C-47 Gooney's, and they are slow and defenseless, very easy prey for AAA or one pass by a skilled fighter pilot. Coordination with other pilots is very important, and herein lies the best part of AW3.

There are no virtual pilots in AW3, every plane you see is controlled by another human somewhere in the world. It could be an 8 year old kid or a grizzled old veteran. Bomber missions take this to a new level allowing up to eight people to occupy one B-17. One pilot, one navigator (pretty boring, nothing to do) and 6 gunners. With 3 or more gunners, the B-17's live up to their Flying Fortress name, very dangerous.

AW3 has added a new dimension to the simulation. Users with sound cards (who doesn't have a sound card these days?) and a mike can talk to other people in the plane, or on a specific radio channel. No more typing to other pilots or gunners in the middle of a dogfight! I have personally been waiting for something like this to arrive for years. It is the future of online gaming; real time voice communication adds a whole new depth to the experience.

Having said all that, I need to mention that VOX is new, and quality is not great, yet. You do not hear what you say, only what other people say and voices play over engine noise, so everyone has to speak very clearly. It took some tweeking in the WIN95 control panel before people could understand me.

As for online community, during a bombing mission last week, the pilot was in Wales, the chin gunner in Washington State, the ball gunner in Texas, upper gunner in Boston, and I was home in New Brunswick Canada! All of us talking to one another, flying on the same virtual aircraft, deep into C territory, fighting off hordes of oncoming attackers. Sound interesting? Its great!

The views look quite good in 3dfx, not quite as good as Hornet Korea, but quite close. The mountains and clouds look better, but the terrain is still pool table flat except for the mountains. Bases, cities, factories look good, and the structures within them are well modeled. Smoke looks great, from long distances black smoke can be see rising from burning bases, giving an immediate heading cue.

Other aircraft look quite good close up, but you cannot see the outside of your own aircraft except out of the designated windows. Another interesting feature is the different cockpits available. If you download all the cockpit art, every plane is different, further immersing you in the game.

Four new aircraft are included in AW3: the Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa "Oscar" fighter, the Aichi D3A1 & the D3A2 "Val" divebomber, the Nakajima B5N "Kate," notorious for its role as the torpedo bomber that helped sink the aircraft carriers Hornet, Lexington, Yorktown & Wasp, and the Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero "Zeke." The "Zeke" was a much demanded plane by prop fans, being easily the best fighter in the Pacific when the US entered the war in 1941.

Click for large image..

The view system supports three different window sizes, the smallest being the traditional AW with the view in the center surrounded by instruments (Pic 1). I usually use the full screen view, as they finally have enough working instruments in the full screen mode to be able to fly the aircraft.

The Combat and Full Screen Views have been improved in this new version, allowing you to see ALL your guages in the full screen view, and to see even distant targets and IDs in the full screen view. AI has been rewritten for CCPs to allow them more flexibility in combat manouvers and your AI wingmen will be better equipped to help you if you get into trouble. 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.

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.