F-22 Lightning 3

After a startup sequence, the user is delivered to the main screen, where they can choose to fly a single mission, start a campaign, play on Novaworld (NovaLogic's own multiplayer arena), fiddle with game options, or update the product to the current standard.

In the quick mission area, players have the ability to select from a whole slew of missions to fly, but this area too has good and bad things to it. While there are a great number of single missions to fly, many of these are rehashes from the campaign, so it's not exactly a whole new place to discover. At the same time, however, the quick missions contain a set of beautiful game tutorials to show a new pilot how to handle the F-22. Each tutorial addresses a specific item (e.g. landing, air-to-air, etc.) and the player is guided by an instructor pilot voice-over that tells the player exactly what to do and how to do it. This is a great feature and it saves people tearing through manuals trying to learn how to fly.

As far as multiplayer games go, F-22 Lightning 3 has it up on many games. The arenas seem stable and lag is not a major issue, however I have never seen an online game where air-to-air missiles are more useless. I can sling a whole bag of missiles off all day at a target and not hit it. This tends to get frustrating. The VON (Voice-Over-Net) technology works well, with relatively clear transmissions, but I personally found it hard to find anyone who actually used the system. There are 3 game types to choose from, but the only real problem with the multiplayer aspect is that it's really hard, if not impossible to actually coordinate an attack. Generally speaking, players end up flying off on their own in an attempt to be an airborne Rambo, and no real teamwork develops. This is a shame, because the potential is there, and would make it an infinitely better game if coordination was possible, but the lack of the ability to lock your teammates on radar so you can join up kills all hope.

So what did I like about this game? Well, the graphics throughout the game are simply stunning and the terrain is as real as I've seen it in any other sim. Explosion effects and aircraft models look beautiful. The real-time weather effects, too, are something to be seen, and they can really add to the atmosphere. As I mentioned above, the beginning tutorials are a great tool, and the sounds are also quite good. Attention to game detail is something else to be mentioned, as the control surfaces on your F-22 move in synch with your joystick movements, and the airbases are full of activity all around you. The flight model itself in this game is relatively decent, with good effects modeled for a plane that is "dirtied up", that is, has its landing gear and flaps down. The game runs well on my PII400, and even at high resolutions the frame rates don't really bog down. Finally, kudos should be given to NovaLogic for delivering a product that is playable straight out of the box. While there is an update out to be downloaded, it is not necessary for play. Too many game companies are rushing products out without actually finishing them, falling to the sell now, patch later mentality.

Campaigns are also contained in F-22 Lightning 3, but unlike the popular trend these days of dynamic campaigns, these campaigns have a canned feel to them. The player builds a pilot character, and eventually gains points and rank, but none of this career advancement has any effect on the game whatsoever. There is no mention of medals, but sometimes if you look in an obscure part of your pilot's file, you will find a campaign medal or two. The campaigns themselves take place in a variety of hotspots around the world, but the missions seem disappointing somehow. The player is assigned missions with a variety of goals, but these are all prepackaged missions, and the campaign usually ends with the player nuking some target to end the threat. The missions themselves are also awfully short, with the player flying a matter of 5 miles before being in the thick of things.

What don't I like? Well, the short, canned missions don't leave a heck of a lot of replay value. Also, despite the best stealth technology the US has to offer, enemy planes seem to have no trouble at all acquiring your F-22 and shooting the smack out of it, despite your best flying skills. The defensive display is no real help at all, because it only shows you where a missile is coming from in the last 2 seconds of its flight, only SOME of the time. Also the manual for the game is a pretty big disappointment, as it's pretty skinny and leaves some things to be explained, but there are a three big documents addressing some of this on the CD.

All in all, F-22 is a decent game, with many good features. The nukes are fun to use, and VON works well. The unfortunate thing however is that it seems that for everything good in this game, there is something bad to set you off. The game is fun, and will entertain you, but only if you're willing to forgive it for its mistakes. On a percentage scale, I would have to give this game around 75%. It makes a good "light" flightsim that's great for people who don't want to get bogged down in detail and just get to the flying and fighting. Hardcore flightsim fans, however, will be disappointed when they don't find another Falcon 4, so my advice to them is to save your money for another game. Overall, I liked the game, and I'm sure I'll find myself drawn back to it from time to time.

Jonathan Loeppky
jonathan.loeppky@sympatico.ca