Air Warrior III Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)In the grand pantheon of online games that have come and gone (or are in the process of going) this is by far the one that I miss the most. Air Warrior III, or AW3 to those in the know, was a fairly simplistic air combat simulator/game that offered up an amazing array of different flyable aircraft from several time periods in a number of different combat arenas. Each arena was themed, with a WWI arena for those wanting good old-fashioned biplane combat, to several WW2 types. The numerous types of aircraft you could fly in the arena were mindblowing, and coupled with the novice-level flight characteristics this game offered the player an unprecedented level of freedom in their play-style. The graphics were rather dated for their day, but the gameplay more than made up for it, which is something I wish more game companies took note of.

The most heavily populated arena was a WW2 themed one in which each team was separated from the other by a river (teams were A,B, and C. Nothing fancy here). Players would go to specific airfields and select one of *dozens* of aircraft, ranging from one of several variants of Spitfire or Bf-109, to the lumbering giant B-17, down to the IL-2 Sturmovik. In addition other players could assign themselves to your plane as gunners, which added to one's lifespan over the battlefield. In the process numbers of "aces" began flying over the arena and engaging in long dogfights with other aces, and furballs (or large collections of fighters in one enormous dogfight) were a common sight over contested ground. This game was not limited to aircraft alone, however. The player could select tanks and flakpanzers for base defense, and if patient, could even drive the long distances to enemy bases and wreak unbelievable havoc.

The goal of each team was to bombard enemy bases to a point where a C-47 Skytrain could be flown in to drop paratroops, which would then "capture" the base. This sounds simplistic, but it's actually quite involved when you have up to 300-400 individual people in the arena at once.

I particularly enjoyed flying my underpowered and undergunned Ju-87 Stuka on divebombing missions against enemy bases, and when I would drop the dive flaps and roll the nose over towards the enemy base's oil tanks it was a rush beyond words. Especially when the poor folks on the ground could hear my dive sirens wailing and had nowhere to go. How I miss it! With organized player-made squadrons one could join in on massive bombing raids, utilizing a mix of several fully-crewed B-17 Flying Forts, as well as a hodgepodge of lighter DeHavilland Mosquitoes and B-25 Mitchells, with fighter escort.

When EA finally dropped the game in early 2002 there were a lot of AW3 veterans with only limited choice on where to go to continue thier online flying habit, namely World War II Online, Warbirds, and others. I've tried several of these games out but have failed to find one that is as immersive and fun as was AW3. If I knew of a place online where I could return to play this venerable classic I'd be willing to pay large monthly sums to do so. The flight characteristics were so forgiving that the game gave the player the time to enjoy the experience, rather than fighting with tedium and 4000 page instruction manuals.

I still think often of my old squadron members and wish I could fly with them again. Salute to any C-Hawks who may be reading this!

barco :)
aka "That crazy Stuka nut"

Click Here to see more reviews about: Air Warrior III

Want to read more honest consumer review about Air Warrior III now ?