A variety of aircraft, a variety of scenarios and best played in a group.

Easily outshining its competitors in the small car range, the Mazda2 Neo is the junior of the new Mazda2 range. Photo from www.mazda.com

How to win

The Gamesmen has an XBox copy of Unreal Championship and the PC release of Warbirds III to give away. Entries should be e-mailed to ADFgamesmen@telstra.com with the name of the game you would like to win in the subject line. Only one entry per person, as subsequent entries will be discarded. Please include your full name and mailing address in the e-mail or your entry won’t be accepted. Congratulations to our recent winner IGI2 Covert Strike M. Smallman, Sydney.

Fly the birds of war

Warbirds III
www.warbirdsiii.com
Red Ant Enterprises
www.red-ant.com.au/index.aspx
There is an endless debate among gamers concerning the legitimacy of paying to play a game, via monthly subscription, versus the more common one-time purchase of boxed software.

From the outset I would like to state quite clearly that I am in the second camp, paying the initial purchase price only, but for one reason – exchange rates.

After spending a couple of months with WarBirds III, I can definitely see the appeal in this multi-player online war game. Unfortunately, forking out what averages about $25 a month as well as the $60 purchase price, for several months, with my level of dedication just doesn’t appear feasible at this point.

I found aspects of gaming in WarBirds III I have never experienced elsewhere and have thoroughly enjoyed my time fighting to hold or take the numerous airfields and cities on the game map.

WarBirds III is a massively multi-player online game that focuses on aircraft engaged in a battle for the skies. For those that have played earlier versions, it is essentially the same game with a complete visual overhaul. It also includes some elements of ground warfare and requires strategic thought coupled with tactical awareness and good skills to succeed.

WarBirds III gameplay can be divided into three distinct areas: offline flight, online flight and control of ground vehicles.

Offline, the game is quite playable but it is really only designed as a training area before the player launches into the online world.

A very simple quick mission builder is included, allowing players to practise take-offs and landings, aerial-combat manoeuvring, gunnery and formation flying.

The player can introduce AI-controlled aircraft that behave as target drones, set up intercepts with bombers, attack or duel with fighters. Attacking ground targets can also be achieved but requires some in-game manipulation using the radio console.

WarBirds III online, given the right preparation, is an amazing experience. Unfortunately, to get the most out of it requires a fair bit of dedication and commitment. Launching an online mission is quite easy and WarBirds III offers several arenas for play.

Most players usually congregate in the general arena but there are also training, arcade and some private arenas dedicated to players in full-blown historical missions.

On launching an online game, players pick from four countries – red, green, purple and gold and select a start field.

Depending on the status of the field only certain units may be able to operate from the area. In most cases, fields under attack or on the frontline are closed to aircraft and only ground vehicles are able to spawn from them.

Now this is where it gets interesting. Launching an online game by myself usually deteriorated into a series of dogfights with about 50 other players all intent on just shooting each other out of the sky.

In fact there seems to be a constant furball in a couple of places, with people respawning and just heading back into the fray.

This can get frustrating particularly when outnumbered five to one – chances of a long-lasting flight are pretty slim.

However, by joining a WarBirds III squadron and playing with squadmates the game completely changes.
During the course of this review I was lucky enough to fly several missions with one of the Australian WarBirds III squadrons, No 456 Sqn vRAAF supporting two other Aussie units, Nos 21 and 75 Sqns vRAAF.

On one mission there were well over 30 virtual pilots focused on achieving a mission objective set out by the CO.

Another had more than 20 pilots take off in P-38Ls flying at about 300ft above ground level to remain undetected by enemy radar and attack an enemy airfield. As the gaggle tightened up enroute, a lone enemy JU-88 pilot crested the hill on the way to attack our base. I would have loved to see his face when confronted with a windscreen full of P-38s.

This co-ordinated approach allows players to specialise as fighter pilots, provide close-air support or use heavy bombers and transport planes in a collective assault package and actually achieve something within the game.

Apart from the ongoing cost, the major fault I found with WarBirds III is a result of limited control within the arenas.

Players can take any aircraft from the planeset into the skies, despite their country, and the result is a map full of uberplanes. This is a real shame. Unless it is an organised mission, wonderful aircraft such as the Hurricane or P-40 hardly ever see action as they are easy prey.

Those wanting a more realistic game can join the historical arenas but I feel a similar tightening up of the general arena would give the game far more appeal.

Unfortunately, unless taking part in large organised missions, the game seems to have no goal. This relegated the game to a once-per-week event for me and only if I was available on the particular night of the mission.

WarBirds III was my first foray into the world of massively-multiplayer online gaming and the sense of amazement that I felt seeing more than 100 players engaged in an online war cannot be understated. The game provided me with moments that I have never experienced in my years of PC simming.

However, the game’s few problems that soon diluted any sense of enjoyment – individual co-operative missions were fantastic but just jumping online at anytime to continue the war was a real let down.

After the disappointment of B-17 Flying Fortress, I’m sure there are hundreds of simmers who would pay the subscription for the co-operative bomber experience alone. Warbirds III requires at least a PII 400 with 256 MB RAM and a 16MB 3D Video card. A Mac version is also available.

This review was written based on experiences with a US online purchased copy of the game and appears in full at www.wargamer.com

Console Corner - XBox

Unreal Championship
Eidos Interactive www.eidosinteractive.com/

First, a bit of nostalgia and news. When Unreal Championship loads a little bit of gaming history flashes on the screen – the unmistakable logo of Atari. I don’t know what it is, but for some reason that logo always means a great gaming experience for me. It was recently announced that Australian distributor Infogrames will be taking on the legendary name.

The Unreal franchise has been battling the Quake world on our PCs for several years now.

Despite similar hard‘n’fast gameplay and a bloodsport-like mentality gamers were strictly in one camp or the other.

With advent of the new age of consoles like the XBox, a game as detailed and system intensive as Unreal Championship has made it to our TV screens.

Unreal Championship is all about deathmatch and to really enjoy that multi-player is the only way to go. The game does offer very capable bots to practise on but nothing beats fragging a mate. It is the standard fare played out larger-than-life on a TV with all of the normal taunts, gibes and other sticky bits flooding a player’s senses.

Unreal Championship is also XBox Live compatible and with Microsoft currently calling for Beta testers (you need a broadband connection) a local Unreal Championship tournament looks set to lead the console’s new role as a truly multi-player system.

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