Janes' Simulations have always been the highest calibre visually. Games like Longbow Apache set the standard at an extremely high level, and games like this keep smashing that standard up 100%. These games are truely simulations in every sense of the word. The graphics are made to immerse the player in a world, and they do just that. The aircraft in this game are phenominal; no other game can touch this one for the amount of detail modeled into them. The fuselage of each aircraft has 'hit points' where when the aircraft is shot, pieces will fall off and bullet holes will appear. Other games have tried this, but none have succeded in the way WW2 does. If your aircraft gets hit in the tail, depending on the amount of damage bullet holes will appear, metal will shred and large holes will appear, or the tail will be shot off completely exposing dangling control cables and the internal structure of the aircraft. Panels can be blown off by malfunctioning parts of your aircraft, and even leaking liquids come out from appropriately placed bullet holes. The gunfire on each aircraft is a thing to behold. Every part of it has been modeled; tracer bullets, muzzle fire, gunsmoke, the bullet casings that fall away, and jamming of guns. Everything is modeled properly, so if you start firing and pull up, the gunsmoke will change its path over your wing, as will the casings falling away. Along with the multitude of types of guns on both sides, your aircraft can be armed with varying sizes of bombs and dumbfire rockets. These too, are astoundingly realisticly modeled. Returning to the externals of the aircraft, the control surfaces all move properly, and the propeller is probably the best, most realistic looking one since Flight Unlimited 1/2. Camouflage on the aircraft is all very realistic, except for one little thing that annoyed me. On almost all of the Allied aircraft, there are black/white stripes on the fuselage and wings. This is sort of important in a way because the only aircraft that had this were those that participated in the D-Day invasion. Seeing as alot of the campaigns in WW2 Fighters take place before D-Day, this is historically inaccurate. This is trivial however, because the rest of the aircraft details are historically accurate. Unfortunately, you can't add your own nose/tail art to aircraft. This would truely have been a beautiful touch, but we can't have everything can we? The scenery in the game is some of the best ever, and certainly the best in any WW2 flight sim. From 20,000ft down to 5ft, there is no loss in realism, and of course no pixelation. Trees are all modeled in 3d individually, and mountains are all very realistic looking. True to European landscape, there are little towns along rivers and roads, and they each have their own individual layout. Alot of the game is made up of you flying air-ground attack and close support missions, and ending up getting into a dogfight to get out alive. The ground targets are all very realistic, and they have made vehicles true to the real allied/axis powers, and they have made them smart. AAA and flak guns will wait for you to get into range and then spring into action. Tanks will track you, and some even try to fire at you. Soldiers scatter and run around trying to avoid being strafed down, as do smaller vehicles like trucks. One of the most stunning aspects of this game are the 3d cockpits. Each plane has its own unique cockpit, and you can look almost anywhere. The controls are all beautiful and not blurred, and your control column (stick, whatever you want to call it) is actually done realistically.

Next to graphics, one of the biggest things this game has going for it is its appeal to every type of gamer. The gameplay is totally scalable. Difficulty can be dropped down to that of what is basically an arcade game or pushed all the way up to totally realistic simulation. The enemy's intelligence can also be dropped down or pushed up to challenge you. This can be done separately from the difficulty of flying your aircraft, so you can set it up so that your aircraft flies totally realistically, and turn down the enemy difficulty so you don't get bounced everytime you pass VNe and snap your flaps. Thats another thing, this game won't let you make mistakes without punishing you. If you drop your flaps to takeoff, and forget to raise them when the maximum flying speed with flaps comes along (about 170mph) they will get damaged and possibly be stuck in the down position for the rest of your flight, and make your flight very bumpy from inside the cockpit. (A nice touch.) Also, raising or lowering your gear at too high a speed will break them in different ways. Depending on the speed of your aircraft through the air when you drop the gear, they can either snap off completely, or the wheels will be damaged and when you land they will look like wobbly clown wheels. At its peak, the enemy AI is extremely intelligent, and uses some tactics I've never seen any other computer controlled players use in a ww2 sim. The flight model for your aircraft, when turned all the way up, is very well done. Everything from stalls, to spins and slipstreaming effects have been modelled and modelled well. One nice touch was that damage to your aircraft will change the way it flies appropriately. An example would be if you had your left wing root shot up severly, the aircraft is going to roll left because your left wing isn't creating as efficient lift as your right wing. Every other variable can be influenced as well. Things like engine temperature, oil pressure etc. are all very important to getting you through a mission.

Sound in WW2 Fighters has to be some of the best that Janes' have ever put into a game. The sounds of weapons, engines and fly-bys are all excellent, and add infinite depth to gameplay. Some other nice touches in the sound department were the creaks and moans your aircraft makes when you strain it in High-G manouvers (which were actually pretty low compared to todays fighters), the sound of radio static intermittently throughout flight, and the wail your aircraft makes in a high speed dive.

The presentation of this game is top notch, as are all Janes' sims. However, WW2 Fighters has a bit of a unique twist. The game menu is done in the form of a WW2 Aviation Museum. As you stroll through exhibits you can pick and chose the game options and showcase the different planes. This gives the player alot of in depth background information on WW2, and brings the game along nicely.

Multiplayer is delivered in the form of TCP/IP and IPX. You can use www.janescombat.net to match up with other pilots in rooms for WW2 Fighters. (along with every other capable Janes' flight sim.)

SUMMARY

Janes' WW2 Fighters sets the new standard in flight sims for graphics, and gameplay. It is so far above and beyond its competition that it begins to shadow even some of the latest non-historical flight sims. If your computer has the guts to run this game, and you've been itching to test out that new TNT or Voodoo2 video card, this game will be for you. With its scalable gameplay which will appeal to the non-propellerheads out there who just want to go up and shoot down Jerry's, and its beautiful, realistically detailed graphics, and plethora of historical information to absorb, this game will go down as one of the turning points in PC flight sims.

Highs: Graphics, wide spectrum of gameplay and scalability of gameplay, multiplayer capabilities, detail, historical information, the Janes' name, did I mention amazing graphics?

Lows: Uh... hm. Well, gee, uh... hrmz... nope.

Graphics: 20/20
Sound: 14/15
Gameplay: 28/30
Fun Factor: 20/20
Multiplayer: 4/5
Overall: 10/10