Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a UFO! No wait, it is a plane! Sort of.... In Eidos Interactive's Joint Strike Fighter, the player takes on the role of a fighter pilot behind the stick of aircraft so advanced, they could be mistaken for alien technology.

As we near the Millenium, military technology has been reaching levels once seen only in science fiction, and nowhere is this more evident than in today's jet aircraft. Arguably, the value of these hi-tech wonders has been proven again and again, since they are usually the first units involved in any type of combat engagement or military intervention. So it's probably not surprising that the focus of design is always on the future, always on the anticipation of what the enemy just might be able to throw at us. What is surprising is how accurately (and quickly!) military aviation technology makes the jump from the classified hanger to your PC. Hell, if the Air Force ever runs out of good pilots they can recruit a group of PC flight sim jocks; gamers know how to fly everything from the Stealth Bomber to the Raptor, and most of them have probably logged more simulated combat missions than a Top Gun instructor. But those planes might as well be Sopwith Camels, because they aren't even worthy to share the skies with the futuristic flyers in this game.

Joint Strike Fighter is the epitome of a high-tech flight simulator for one very specific reason -- it models two military aircraft that won't even be mass produced for at least another 10 years. In 2010, the Pentagon will begin the mass production of a multi-role jet fighter that will actually service the needs of three branches of the U.S. Armed Forces throughout most of the 21st century: the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Marine Corps. The goal is to create a plane that can do everything better than it's ever been done before. Naturally, each military branch has its own unique requirements, so this is no easy task. The Marine Corps needs a plane with STOVL (short take-off/vertical landing) capability that can replace the AV-8B Harrier; the Navy needs a stealthy aircraft that can be used for deep-strike missions, and the Air Force needs an inexpensive fighter to replace the outdated F-16. The Pentagon's answer is the Joint Strike Fighter program. For the next several years, two cutting-edge aircraft will compete to be the 21st Century's ultimate military fighter plane. Boeing's X-32 and Lockheed Martin's X-35 are as good as they get -- designed with such effective stealth technology they are invisible to both human eye and electronics; fully-loaded with the newest, most destructive conventional firepower known to man; and equipped to access the futuristic "warfighter's Internet," an online database set to become operational in the year 2008. Yet ultimately, only one plane will be chosen to fulfill the role of the United States' ultimate defender. Which aircraft is better? That's for you to decide.

The two aircraft in Joint Strike Fighter may be conceptually similar, but there are enough solid differences to make flying each a unique challenge. The Boeing X-32 was designed as a replacement for both the F-16 and FA-18, and production of the plane began after the Advanced Tactical Fighter Contest selected the F-22. The squat, almost rounded look of the X-32 belies the beast buried within, for the aircraft uses a unique propulsion system that produces the greatest possible non-augmented thrust possible. The Lockheed Martin X-35 looks very similar to the F-22, and for a very good reason. The aircraft's propulsion technology was designed by Lockheed's Skunkworks team, and as advanced as it is, can fit into an existing airframe.

With this next generation of fighter planes comes the next generation of weaponry, and Joint Strike Fighter is the first PC simulator to model some of these new goodies. The game includes the AGM-154 Joint-Stand-Off Weapon (JSOW), the Lockheed Martin Wind Corrected Munitions Dispenser (WCMD), and the GPS-guided JDAM iron bomb. The new weapons are a nice change from the usual complement of missiles and rockets, although their usage in the game is a bit limited.

Joint Strike Fighter has four huge, dynamic campaigns and each is made up of 2.4 million square miles of fully-modeled terrain. Players represent the military might of the United States in Colombia, the Kola Peninsula, Korea, and Afghanistan. Each of the different regions offers unique challenges, including detailed weather effects like rain and snow that can affect the performance of your plane.