Jane's Combat Simulations: IAF - Israeli Air Force for Windows (1998)

Jane's Combat Simulations: IAF - Israeli Air Force Windows Front Cover

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Published by

Electronic Arts, Inc.

Developed by

Released

Platform

ESRB Rating

Genre

Perspective

1st-person, 3rd-person (Other), Behind view

Interface

Direct control, Voice control

Vehicular

Flight / aviation, Vehicular combat

Setting

Cold War, Contemporary, Historical events, Middle East

Narrative

Misc

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Description

Jane's Combat Simulations: IAF - Israeli Air Force is a multi-aircraft simulator. It was developed by real-life IAF pilots, and features terrain with true elevation, made by using satellite data. As with other titles using the Jane's license, the focus of the game is in creating a realistic and believable military aircraft simulation. Hence, the game's controls and mechanics are elaborate. It is also possible to give basic commands to wingmen, if they are present. While waypoints and refueling can be managed by the aircraft's autopilot, all such maneuvers can be done manually.

IAF is based on 7 different fighters and bombers of the Israeli Air Force: F-4E Phantom II, F-4 2000, F-15 2000, F-16D Fighting Falcon, Lavi ATF, Kfir C-7, and Dassault Mirage III. In game modes other than the campaign, the MiG-23 and MiG-29 are also available to the player. Each aircraft performs differently and is meant for different tasks, and can be seen from the cockpit (with 2D and 3D views available, and the possibility to look around from the pilot's perspective), from the outside (in a behind view or one of the cinematic views), or with just the HUD visible.

The game has six campaigns, three of which are historical (Six-Day War, Yom Kippur War, and the Lebanon War), and the other three (Syrian, Iraqi, and Lebanese Fronts) being fictional and set in a hypothetical future. The player's progress and rank is recorded in their profile, with each mission's success or failure affecting their score. Scoring itself can be changed by setting various difficulties and "aids", with AI help removing score percentages but making the game easier for newcomers.

Aside from the campaigns, there are preset single scenarios, as well as a quick mission editor which the player can use to manually set the parameters of a desired air-to-air skirmish (whereas the campaigns have both air-to-ground and air-to-air missions). There is also a Scramble button in the main menu, which randomly picks a mission from a small mission pool and puts the player in a random plane. IAF has a multiplayer mode available via LAN and JanesCombat.Net (which has since been discontinued).

Finally, the signature feature of Jane's-licensed games is the in-game encyclopaedia, which is present in IAF and lists and describes in detail not only the aircraft the player can pilot or shoot at, but also all other objects that can be encountered in the game, as well as missiles that aircraft can be armed with.

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Screenshots

Jane's Combat Simulations: IAF - Israeli Air Force Windows Mig-23

Jane's Combat Simulations: IAF - Israeli Air Force Windows Flight from wingmen is smooth - I disagree with any review that says the contrary - join-ups, breaks, fighting, bombing & landing show skill. Here I lead my flight from base to final.

Jane's Combat Simulations: IAF - Israeli Air Force Windows Lavi closeup during take off

Jane's Combat Simulations: IAF - Israeli Air Force Windows The basic combat formation in IAF is the pair. Here we see the start to a bombing training mission. Radio talk is brief. This air force cannot advertise its presence.

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Promo Images

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Trailer

Alternate Titles

"以色列空軍" -- Traditional Chinese spelling
"以色列空军" -- Simplified Chinese spelling
"כוכב כחול: סימולטור הטיסה - חיל האויר הישראלי" -- Hebrew spelling

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Part of the Following Groups

User Reviews

One of the few about IAF	darkpilot (1003)

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Critic Reviews

Gameplay (Benelux)	Nov 02, 1998	90 out of 100	90
Electric Games	1998		90
Hacker	Oct, 1998	88 out of 100	88
GameStar (Germany)	Oct, 1998	86 out of 100	86
PC Action (Germany)	Oct 21, 1998	86 out of 100	86
PC Gamer	Dec, 1998	83 out of 100	83
Gamesmania.de	1998	80 out of 100	80
Computer Gaming World (CGW)	Dec, 1998		80
Power Unlimited	Oct, 1998	7.6 out of 10	76
PC Games (Germany)	Oct 07, 1998	68 out of 100	68