Introduction: With all the add-ons available for Combat Flight Simulator, it is becoming harder to make a decision on what to buy. The competition amongst the developers is creating some very nice add-ons, most of which are worth your time and money. This one is no exception. Despite this product's few shortcomings it will be worth the money you spend. Pacific Combat Pilot will definitely be a nice compliment to your CFS aircraft/scenery library.
Overview:
There are 20 aerial combat missions divided between 2 campaigns available in this product
which place you in the role of an American, British or Japanese Navy pilot in the
invasion of the island of Saipan.
The invasion of Saipan was one of the bloodiest battles of the Pacific Theater.
24,000 Japanese soldiers were killed, another 1780 captured. US losses were 3,426
killed and 13,099 wounded. A loss rate of almost 25%. The American victory enabled a
forward base to be established for B-29 Superfortress' to bomb the Japanese homeland.
Air units provided close air support, however it was mostly a land battle because of
air assets being tied up in the Philippine Sea. The campaign takes you through the
invasion as both sides saw it.
Installation, Display and Documentation:
Pacific Combat Pilot must be installed in the same folder as MS Combat Flight Simulator.
The installation program does a super job of searching the Windows Registry and locating
this for you, however, if for some reason it can't, you will need to direct it to the
correct directory. The manual is 68 pages long with German, French and Spanish sections
as well. Even though it is in black and blah (I mean white), the manual gives you a complete run down on all the aircraft as well as history and any
special functions it may have (some aircraft have some very interesting functions!) The product consists
of one CD which should install flawlessly on your system.
Despite the quality of the product, I was surprised to find that they had apparently
and deliberately left out the mission maps from the campaigns and missions. While this really
doesn't have that much of an impact on playing the sim, why leave it out? It's not as though
it cannot be done because their competitors are doing it. Maybe I'm just nit-picking, but
it makes me feel like something is not working properly when I load a mission to defend
Saipan and see the English Channel instead.
BUT, there is a tailhook on the Hellcat and Corsair! And a carrier to land them on!
WHY am I complaining? Well, because I can. <grin> If they keep coming up with neat
little tricks like this, then I'll not complain about silly mission maps.
Speaking of tailhooks, you had best practice this maneuver a lot before you attempt it
in an actual mission or campaign because it is not easy. While the carrier deck is not
bouncing around like it would in a more realistic simulation (a CFS deficit, not a PCP deficit),
using that tailhook at just the right time takes practice. If you trigger it too early, you will
find yourself upside down in the drink. And don't, for heavens sake, trigger it by mistake
at some other time or you will find yourself in an immediate uncontrollable dive (I think it's
actually configured through the program using the speedbrake process...only it's a speedbrake
from hell which it is supposed to do). I did eventually learn how to use it properly and it
really does make landing on the carrier much easier.
Available Aircraft
There are 27 aircraft to fly in PCP. You have two versions of the
P-51D Mustangs (P-51D1) with Netherlands Indies Squadron No.120 markings
of the Military Aviation/Royal Netherlands Indies Army
and the P-51D2 Shawnee Princess flown by Maj. Robert Moore of the 462nd Fighting Squadron,
506th Fighting Group, USAAF), a Spitfire, a Mosquito
and of course no Pacific Theater add-on would be complete with out the Corsair or Hellcat.
The B-29 Superfortress is also modeled and handles like a truck in rush hour which
is what we expected. For the Japanese side
there are 4 types of Zero's ranging from the early Pearl Harbor model to the late model
type 63 (see graphic below).
Also there is the twin engined Betty and the 4 engine G8N1 Rita both of which saw extensive use during the war and are well modeled here.
For fun, there is also the Ki-200 Shusui which is based on the German ME163 Komet rocket powered fighter. Since it was never actually used during the war beyond a flight test at Yokosuka on July, 7, 1945 which failed miserably when the fuel supply stopped abruptly during a climb and it crashed, we are assuming it was included in this package as a diversion.
This model features flames that shoot from the rear of its
rocket motor that vary in two stages and landing gear that toggle on and off using the "G"
key (the real Shusui had gear or skids designed to drop away--how is that for realism?)
The Nakajima Kikka is also included which was built based on the ME-262.
The Kikka saw its first flight only days before the war ended (August 7th), so again,
this one is included for fun and not realism.
The other Japanese planes include the Nakajima B5N2 Kate, Kawanishi N1K2
Shidenkai, Mitsubishi J2M3 Jack, Nakajima Ki43 Hayabusa, Ki44 Tojo,
both versions of the Kawasaki K161 Tony, Nakajima Ki84 Hayate,
Kawasaki Ki100 Goshiki, Mitsubishi Ki46 Dinah,
and the Kyushu J7W1 Shiden which also never saw action.
They all have moving parts which is becoming a standard in CFS add-ons, but they have
added a neat addition to this product. When you bank left or right, the pilot's head turns
in the same direction. It's pretty cool when you're watching from the exterior, otherwise
you won't see it. A nice touch, I thought.
The aircraft handle very well. With a lot of add-on aircraft, you will find them very
touchy with your realism settings high. I did not experience that in Pacific Combat Pilot.
They have done a fine job of getting the "feel" of the aircraft right. Still there
are problems. The Corsair has a high-pitched "rattly" sound at high RPM. At
first I though maybe this was how the real thing sounded, so I started checking around. What
I found was the real Corsair has a deep throaty growl at high RPM, not the
"low-oil Chevy" sound I was hearing. It was rather annoying.
Overall, the sounds for the engines are horrible. The Corsair and Hellcat sound like they are in a wind tunnel. Engine start-ups
are good but once the engine wind up, they just do not sound or represent the real engine
sounds like they should. How do I know? I have been to enough airshows and have in
cockpit time to verify this. This in my opinion is a biggy. The loss in the immersion
factor is attributed to the annoying engine sounds. I found my self-turning my volume down
often.
On another note (pun intended), a cool immersion sound I noticed (whether this was planned or an accident, I don't know) but in a high-G turn,
it sounded like something rattled from one side of the cockpit to the other. Pretty cool.
Mission Overviews
There are two campaigns in the Pacific Combat Pilot add-on. The campaigns revolve
around the invasion of Saipan in June of 1944. There are 20 missions with 10
from each point of view: the American and Japanese. I am not sure if these missions are
historically accurate and found no reference in the manual.
Each mission takes you
from the point in time just prior to the invasion and proceeding to the arrival
and establishment of B-29's on Saipan. All of the missions seem to be well made and
range from Carrier strikes, intercepting incoming bombers to a little bit of
air to mud work against tanks and half tracks.
I found the variety of missions to choose from a nice touch. If you
do not want to fly the campaigns then each mission is available in the
Single Mission area of CFS.
One thing to remember though ,no amount of simulation can accurately recreate the
horror on both sides. Between the night "Banzia" attacks on the Marines and Soldiers,
to the vicious artillery battles that claimed many lives. The true cost may never be
known.
Flight Model, Sound and Graphics
All of the aircraft in Pacific Combat Pilot are well represented graphically as
well as the flight dynamics. All of the aircraft included fly differently which is the
way it is supposed to be. The AI for the game is very good. I don't know how they managed
that, but the AI seems to perform more orderly than usual. Rather strange. In fact the
gunners in the bombers are especially dangerous. I thought I was going to get an easy kill against a
Betty and the gunner waited until I was really close before they opened up. Before I
knew it, I was diving for my life and my engine was shot to pieces. Each aircraft have
a very nice cockpit but the functionality of each is limited.
Some cockpits are the similar for aircraft that are alike and some appear to be just modified
bitmaps to give you the appearance of a different cockpit. All in all they look very good.
With all said and done, "Pacific Combat Pilot" is a really nice addition
to my copy of Combat Flight Simulator. Even with the annoying engine sounds and the
lack of unique accurate cockpits, I still thoroughly enjoyed flying each of the aircraft
included as well as each of the missions. The add-on also managed to surprise me. How?
I pride myself in my vast knowledge of aircraft and aircraft types. I had never heard
of the Japanese Dinah, I did some research and found a few pictures of it. A truly
beautiful machine.
There are entirely too many aircraft in this product to display them all on this one page,
at least not without slowing the download into your browser to the point of screaming, so if
you would like to see the remainder of them, click here.
For more information and to order Pacific Combat Pilot visit The Associates web site.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
