by Chris “BeachAV8R” Frishmuth
Welcome to a new series of training and campaign mission reports for F-22 Total Air War. This classic title from 1998 continues to be among the greatest combat flight simulations ever published. While definitely showing some signs of aging, there can be no doubt that the gameplay of TAW remains as popular today as ever.
This series of articles will initially focus on getting back into TAW by flying through the included training missions and exploring some of the other facets of TAW using some of the included free flight missions. Information will be pulled from the outstanding TAW manual and help module included with the game, the very comprehensive F-22 SimTech Strategy Guide, and last but not least, tips and tricks discovered and disseminated among the fans and players of TAW over the years. To be clear, I’m no expert on TAW, so this will be a learning experience for me as well.
We’ll start out by entering the “TRAINING” module within TAW. I’ve already setup TAW for my preferences, including graphics and difficulty. I will be playing on the “HARD” setting in order to provide the most challenge during combat and campaigns.