Saw this review on the PC Gamer site. Amazing that AH was even mentioned, since the 'mainstream' games press has managed to totally ignore it for years.
WARBIRDS III - PC GAMER MAGAZINE
These days, when hardcore propeller-heads argue the merits of the best online World War II aerial combat game, you’re unlikely to hear mention of anything other than Aces High and WarBirds. At any given moment, scores of dedicated stick-and-rudder fans can be found violently abusing their fellow pilots in the virtual skies that HighTech and iEntertainment rent out on a 24-hour basis.
When WarBirds III rolled out of the hangar earlier this year with its spiffy new T&L-enhanced graphics engine and dozens of upgraded aircraft and ground-combat vehicles, iEntertainment jumped straight to the top of the online flight-simming pyramid in the eyes of most online veterans.
The massively multiplayer flight-sim business is a shaky one, though. A shortage of subscribers knocked Air Warrior completely off the radar last year, and, with a hefty $24.95/month charge for full access to all of WB III’s arenas ($9.95 buys you basic access), the WarBirds community has also begun to thin out significantly over the past year.
In an effort to reverse this trend, iEntertainment has joined with Simon & Schuster to produce WarBirds III: Fighter Pilot Academy, a new retail version of the sim that boasts a standalone offline gaming component calculated to entice new recruits into the fold.
So what do you get for $30? Well, in addition to all the stuff you can get gratis via a 155MB download — including 52 flyable WWII fighters and bombers, and several attractively rendered real-world terrain maps — you get 12 short training missions and 13 Instant Action and scripted Battle scenarios that can all be completed offline in a single afternoon. The addition of an AI component is certainly welcome, but without any cool maps, printed manuals, or even a multi-mission campaign to sweeten the deal, this product really doesn’t have a hope in hell of competing with premium boxed titles like IL-2 Sturmovik or Combat Flight Simulator 3 for standalone gameplay value.
Nor does it want to. With two free months of access to the basic online game (or one month of premium access) bundled into the purchase, the real purpose behind this release is to expose as many customers as possible to the rich WarBirds multiplayer environment and encourage them to sign up for a full online hitch. So what if the offline training missions take less than an hour to complete? The online game, which runs hiccup-free on both broadband and dial-up connections, will teach you more about dogfighting and combat-maneuvering tactics in one week than most sims will in a year.
The WarBirds community is populated by a number of skilled veterans who are only too willing to help newbies earn their combat wings. This process often involves ventilating your aircraft with 30mm cannon fire, but it’s a “tough love” kinda thing.
When set to full realism mode, WarBirds III’s ultra-challenging aircraft physics can be quite daunting for rookie pilots, but the payoff comes when you get your first air-to-air kill against an honest-to-god human opponent. Although almost all of the action in WarBirds is weighted heavily toward the advanced, premium-priced arenas, the relaxed-realism theaters (currently all but deserted) will likely get a much-needed influx of new players thanks to this new release.
WarBirds provides one of the most entertaining and challenging air-combat environments on the Net. Though this release doesn’t really deliver the expected offline goods, it does give novice sim fans a convenient and inexpensive opportunity to learn what all the hubbub is about. And that’s mostly a good thing.
— Andy Mahood
FINAL VERDICT
HIGHS: Dedicated online community; many flyable planes; authentic flight modeling; hiccup-free Net play.
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LOWS: High monthly fee; dinky offline component; no printed manual; empty relaxed-realism arenas.
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BOTTOM LINE: The Top Gun of online aerial-combat sims — but a so-so offline experience.
SCORE: 75%
