As in every combat sim, there is a fictional campaign with a well thought out, interesting background in F/A-18. This one appears to be far longer than any other single campaign I have encountered in any of my past experiences with combat flight sims, too. It is divided into three stages, and you can play any of the three stages by itself, or play through the entire campaign. A feature that began in F-15 was to have your squadron include the same pilots (whose names you can choose) and same aircraft throughout the entire campaign. That way, anyone who goes down is gone until the end, and any airplane that is damaged must be repaired before flying again. F/A-18 expands on that idea to include total time and statistics of all kinds for every pilot, the more missions he or she flies. (Speaking of "she," F/A-18, which expands on the already advanced communications from F-15, includes one aspect of communication only available through a complicated "easter egg" that I never uncovered in F-15, female pilot voices!)

     Anyway, this campaign is set in northern Russia in the near future. The basic deal is, the Russian economy has collapsed, and the poverty is extreme. A group arises that wants to restore the glory of the former Soviet Union, and return communism to the motherland. This group comes to be known as the "Red Russians," while the democratic Russians, as well as the government, become known as the "Blue Russians." Eventually, skirmishes begin, and that turns into all-out warfare involving the killing of the Russian president. Eventually the country is split in two, and the Blue Russians turn to Coalition forces to drive off the Reds before it is too late.

     Naturally, the Reds are armed with the latest in Russian armament, including airplanes, and are roaring to go. In my campaign (though I believe there are several different beginning missions that are chosen at random), my first mission was to intercept and scare off but NOT destroy a Bear-F bomber that was searching for our battle group. I was almost ready to go, but I had one change to make first. I had to find some airplane skins, because I had made my squadron the carrier squadron that is my all-time favorite, the VF-103 Jolly Rogers. They operate the F-14B now, but by the time this campaign would take place, they would be operating the Super Hornet. I managed to find both liveries, and with little difficulty, turned both the Super Hornet and the Tomcat into Jolly Rogers!

     NOW I was ready for action! I shot off the cat and went in search of my prey.

I soon found the Bear lurching along at Angels 25 searching desperately for the carrier group, and I proceeded to show him the door.

     So this first mission was a success. The Bear bugged out, and just as some Flankers were on their way to check out the mysterious American fighter that scared their precious little bomber away, a Tomcat CAP jumped them, and they bugged out quicker than the Bear did! This campaign is ongoing, and I will regularly report updates in the Russian crisis, of course.

     So that's the long and the short of it. There are very few complaints of any worth, and there sure doesn't seem to be much missing from this sim. In-flight refueling is so realistic that I can't even do it, and though I'm sure I'll be able to eventually, so far I have only managed to catch the boom twice, and it popped off about 5 seconds later because I moved too much. This is one of the most complete sims I have ever had the pleasure of using, and I strongly suggest it to all of you so that my dream of an online TAF Jane's F/A-18 squadron can finally come true!

Happy landings!

Jon M.