Confirmed Kill, the combat sim from Domark that's played over the Internet, is finally out and ready to go. Before CK, GEnie's Air Warrior was the only other game that met the demand for this kind of on-line gaming. In fact, the Confirmed Kill programmers are actually hard-core Air Warrior players. However, they got tired of what they saw as limitations with Air Warrior and decided to do their own game.
CK is basically a flight combat sim using World War II-era planes. There should be around 15 planes to choose from. That number may seem fairly impressive, but it pales against the number of wannabe pilots out there who will be able to dogfight each other on the Internet. The designers say they haven't yet reached maximum capacity, but up to 500 players at once may be within reach.
The planes themselves are a central feature in CK, sporting some of the most accurate and advanced flight models in PC gaming. This accuracy comes from the piles and piles of military information and data the designers incorporated into the flight models. Personally, I fly sims on a fairly regular basis and have a pretty good grasp on the basics of flight dynamics. That didn't help me much with CK, because these planes' flight models are so realistic they're a handful to just get off the ground. When I finally got into the air, I found it very easy to accidentally throw my plane into a spin. However, don't let this brand of realism scare you away, since there will be a flight arena available for players who are more interested in arcade action.
Along with the advanced flight models, CK also plots where each bullet hits a plane, then determines the plane's damage accordingly. For example, if someone shoots the enemy's rudder, then the plane will act accordingly - that is, it'll fly the way a real plane would without a rudder. No more just taking a percentage of damage until you blow up at the 100 percent mark. In CK, if your wing is hit, it gets blown off. And if you're the one doing the shooting, it's extremely satisfying watching the enemy careen out of control from your bullets.
CK is going to include more to do than just free-for-all killing matches, however. Matches will be organized in which a few hundred fliers divide up into teams and go at each other. Some matches will even put these teams against each other over a series of matches throughout a week or so, the winning team being the one that has come to closest to achieving whatever the predetermined goal was for that particular match. Eventually, tanks are going to be included for more of a full-scale military operation. Ships will also likely be added in the future.
The look of CK is as impressive as the smoothness of operation. In SVGA mode, the planes are beautiful models of the real things with amazing detail for an on-line game. However, while the terrain does have different levels, there are few features on the ground other than airfields and other buildings. These are decent looking in their own right, but don't compare with the aircraft graphics. For fun, you will be able to see some familiar landmarks such as the Pentagon and the Taj Mahal.
You're probably wondering how Confirmed Kill can achieve great graphics, exacting flight models and precise damage assessment, while still maintaining the smoothness of communication needed on the Internet. That's a good question which I don't have the technical expertise to answer. However, Interactive Creations Incorporated, CK's designers, have come up with a game that goes well beyond simply communicating where everyone's plane is at the current time. The software can tell everyone where everyone else is going to be in the future and plot things before they actually happen - or something like that. There were some slight pauses while running CK in SVGA mode, but I've played some games with a serial connection that were choppier. I don't understand how it works, but the end result is action is smooth, seamless and accurate.
You really have to get on-line and start flying around with a whole bunch of other folks to get a feel of just how impressive Confirmed Kill is. The planes are extremely well done, from the looks to the flight specs. You will be able to download the CK software, free of charge. Keep checking the ICI and Domark sites to find out when and where it will be available. However, please remember that it will cost you so much per hour to actually play the game on the Net. Domark is planning to release a CD version of the game which will include features that won't be available with the free software.
Confirmed Kill is an incredibly fun and sophisticated combat sim. Be forewarned - it has so much depth, you're probably going to run up a pretty decent bill just getting into it. However, you will enjoy yourself playing a title which brings on-line gaming to a new level.
