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| Air Warrior 3 / Carrier Strike Fighter |
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Not just 2, actually a holy 3 in 1!
I guess tat this is a case of Buy One, Get One For Free(BOGOFF)! Air Warrier 3 is a very slight improvement on Air Warrier 2, though it all seems to be more of the same. The only difference is that the ground has some textures, which are okay, and match the grainy look of the cockpit interiors and wings. These, however are convincing and rank as the best cockpit interior views of any PC flight sim. The action is fast, though each battle is set piece and has similar outcomes each time. There is no pad-lock (cheat!) view, so the authenticity of scanning the skies for enemy planes is brought to life here. Apart from that, there is no realistic gauges, and the flight dynamics are dodgy, though fluid. The sound is without radio, but something of the long waits and brief action that suddenly disappears as quickly as it began ( as in real WW2 etc. experience) IS captured. This is somewhat a thinking mans WW2 and Korean combat sim. TZhere is a need for strategy as all the planes in your flight will follow your every move (Follow me as I follow Him). There is a wealth os planes and missions however, but this very much an online game in disguise. The F/A-18 Carrier Fighter is a typical (if ther is such a thing) F-18 Hornet sim. The plane does what it is meant to do, and the cockpit is great and easy to see every thing when you need it. The game takes ages to start, and the ground and see textures are mininmal (probably not a problem in a furball at 20,000ft!). There is a variety of see, ground attack and dogfight/missile combats, but it is all a bit sprse. NB you need a very high res screen and a joystick to even make this work at all! Finally... there isanother superior demo included, "WarBirds" is a great big sim that is superior to AW3 in gauges anmd with similar all round cockpit details that ae stunning. the demo plays well enough, and this is the real winner (though not mentioned on the box!), with British, American, Japanese and German fighters and Bombers included. Its meant to be online, but is great offline too.
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In terms of reality, I would have to say that this is probably the most realistic flight simulator I have taken to the skies with since Falcon 4.0. If reality is what you are looking for, this will not let you down. However, a word of "caution"... It is not until page 59 that you finally find the in.. 
Microsofts Combat Flight Simulator: WWII Europe Series does exactly what is says on the box--it lets you fly Second World War aircraft in combat missions. You can elect to fly "quick combat" missions or take part in a variety of campaigns flying for the British, Germans and Americans. You can choose how realistic you want the flight characteristics of the aircraft to be. Crank it up full and too tight a turn will see you spinning to destruction... unless your spin recovery technique is po.. 
Very nice software for FS98. It has the present Air Force One VC-25A(B747) and the Air Force One used during the JFK era VC-137B (B707). Another 3 US Navy aircraft come with this package VC-137A-MATS/VC 135A STRATOTANKER and the E-3A SENTRY/AWACS(B707 type). The panels are excellent and the airport .. 
Is this another F-22 or F-18 game? Well, yes and no. These 2 types are your options and they do the job pretty well, though the cockpits and graphic details are spare (the external views are in low visibility grey colourings anyway), so it has more of a gamey feel. The landscape (Arctic) looks cold .. 
There is a Stuka in CFS already, but it has no cockpit panel and you need to Rename it as a bf109e and delete that fighter to make it flyable. This add-on allows you to fly that and a great variety of Stukas(Sturz kampfflugzeug) or Ju87s.