Interactive Magics 'iF-22' is the latest flight sim to hit the market this August. It is based on the F-22 Raptor designed by lockheed and is going to be the US Air Force's next generation air-to-air fighter. It is based on the F-15 and the F-117A fighters which gives it long range supersonic ability with stealth technology.
The game claims to be the most realistic simulation of the F-22 because of the aircrafts unprecedented stealth capabilities, incredible agility through thrust vectoring, blinding speeds of up to 1.6 mach, and a cutting-edge integrated avionics package, combined with a mission generation system the makes every mission unique and photorealistic scenery of former Yugoslavia and Ukraine.
After installing the game you do not need to spend hours configuring the game just to get out on the runway because you can select 'instant action' which put you flying through the air with a full bay of air to air missiles and plenty of bad guys to eat dust. After you have learnt the ropes of flying and basic air combat you can go to the ready room to 'report for duty'. You select your flight, emblem, nickname, callsign etc, you can even choose a photo of a pilot from a selection of about a dozen. After all that you can get on to the real stuff...
You are presented with a list of about 12 missions that you can pick one of, they are all unique so if you don't like any you can generate some more. The missions all originate from 11 types:
In the past, flt sim landscapes have been limited to single tone colours(e.g. bright blue for the sky, dark blue for the sea and radiation green for any land) but not on iF-22. I-Magic have created scenery using satellite pictures and elevation detail of the entire combat area. You have a choice of two theaters: Bosnia and Ukraine both with plenty of enemy planes and SAM radars to keep you on your toes throughout your mission, even though you boast the best stealth technology in the world you cannot afford to make mistakes.
In previous flight sims you have had to learn dozens of keyboard commands to fly your plane which can lead to being hit by a missile in a dogfight whilst searching for the chaff or flare key. In iF-22 keyboard commands still exist but you can also use your mouse to navigate around the cockpit and click on the buttons to activate things, however if you are using a joystick you would either have to use the mouse with your left hand or take your right hand off the joystick altogether which is not always possible in heated moments.
As I have mentioned before the game uses incredibly detailed photorealistic scenery but this can cause alot of strain on your computer. I-Magic states that it needs a P-90 with 16 MB RAM to run but it recommends a P-133 with 16MB RAM. I am running the game on a P-120 with 16MB RAM and although it is not exactly unplayable I do notice that the game has to 'stop and think' for a few seconds now and again, particularly when changing views of the aircraft(i.e. chase, missile, target etc). There is a period when the computer has to 'think' and compile scenery etc inbetween the final mission setup screen and getting in the plane, which can take a minute or so and can become tedious. I-Magic has tried to do something with this screen by showing data being transferred from a satellite to a dish but nice as it may be I still use the time to go to the toilet and stockpile some food (chocolate) for the flight. One other nice touch is that included in the game box is a proper aeronautical navigation chart of the Bosnia area which is usefull as there is no actual landscape map to show you where you are available in the aircraft.
The Final Word
I like iF-22 as it is nicely presented and incorporates some features new to flt sims(unique missions, photorealistic scenery, 'active' cockpit buttons) but all of this does need a powerfull PC to run on, which can cause long waits.
System Requirements