Flying Circus Preview

It's hard to believe there could be such a thing as a well-kept secret on the Internet, especially when it comes to PC games: Thanks to newsgroups and the scores of web sites dedicated to gaming, news of a hot game usually spreads at just under the speed of light.

That's why it's so unusual that so few people have heard about Flying Circus, a World War I air-combat sim that's about as addictive as it gets. You'd think a new multiplayer air-combat game would be a hot topic in a newsgroup such as comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.flight-sim, but the only way I even found out about it was from a friend who'd heard about it from an opponent in an online game of Red Baron II.

The recipe for Flying Circus' appeal lies in its simplicity: Just like with the online version of Red Baron that thousands of fans enjoyed back in the early '90s on The ImagiNation Network, all you do is dogfight. Allied pilots can mount up in the classic Sopwith Camel or a Spad X XIII, while players who opt to play as Germans can fly either the Fokker DR 1 or the Albatross D.III (SimGuild is currently working to add the Pfalz D.III to the lineup). There is an offline mode, but with no enemies to battle, it's strictly for getting accustomed to the various planes and the location of various airfields.

Ernest Navarro, one of the founders of Flying Circus developer SimGuild, says the creation of Flying Circus was largely serendipitous. "We had a friend who went to work for a game company in Dallas, and he thought that being a game programmer was the ultimate job to have," says Navarro. "Another founder of the group, John Padgett, had already written a flight sim, so we decided to borrow from his experience and try it on our own - and SimGuild was born. Beta testing started in the early summer of 1997. We really didn't catch on until September of 1997."

While Flying Circus' graphics are certainly nothing to rave about - the planes look fine, but the terrain consists of flat polygons - this game is about intense air combat, not pretty images. Although you'll see a few mano a mano battles taking place, most players wind up in massive fur balls where only the most situationally aware survive for more than one or two sorties. The number of planes is also decidedly limited, but the modest selection does provide planes for slashing, hit-and-run attacks (the Spad and the Albatross), as well as for twisting and turning battles to get on a bogey's six (the Sopwith Camel and the Fokker DR 1).

The first time I hopped into combat, my first sortie ended with my plane smoking on the ground: I'd stalled my Spad while trying to turn with a Fokker DR 1. Next mission - shot down by an Albatross that hopped on my tail as I obsessively pursued his wingman. It wasn't until my fifth time out that I earned a kill, and when I did I realized that the game had gotten its hooks into me. Over the next week or so, I played obsessively - often at the expense of more productive tasks.

Naturally, gamers who've been taking part in the Flying Circus beta test for several months now are beginning to want more than dogfights, and Navarro says SimGuild is working to expand the scope of the sim. "We plan on adding more planes, ground objects, and a tactical mission where you do more than just shoot down other planes," he says. He also says that SimGuild would like to add an extra theater that would give newbies a chance to practice their shooting and fighting skills against computer-controlled opponents. Also in the works is a World War II theater, but SimGuild is being extremely hush-hush about any details.

Another appealing aspect of Flying Circus is its sense of community. Several squadrons have been formed, and at the SimGuild web site you can check out message boards and join in the dueling ladder. Things can get a little heated at times, but that's simply a testament to how riveting the game is.

In keeping with Flying Circus' best-kept secret status, SimGuild is pretty hush-hush about any of its plans. When asked how much Flying Circus will cost and when it will go live, Navarro says, "We're currently working out the final details with our ISP on rates right now and therefore have no numbers and no date to give at this time." Probably the biggest fly in the ointment for SimGuild is that only 60 players can play at one time, although that's sure to change once the game goes live and more servers are set up.

If you're at all interested in air-combat sims, you've simply got to try your hand at Flying Circus. To stay on top of new developments and to participate in the beta test, head to SimGuild's web site. You won't regret it.