Just when you thought you had completed all of your missions and your aircraft is festooned with enemy kill roundels, Just Flight Limited in the UK releases another one of it's add-ons for Combat Flight Simulator II.
The Korean Combat Pilot add-on introduces us to the first air war that was fought jet to jet. It also brings back some of the trusty war birds of W.W.II that were flown by other nations during the Korean Conflict. The aircraft that are available for combat in
this add-on are: the Boeing B-29 Superfortress; the F-51D Mustang; the F-80 Shooting Star; the F-86F Sabre; the Fairey Firefly; the Grumman F9F-5 Panther; the Hawker Sea Fury; the Ilyushin Il-10 Sturmovik, the MiG-15 "Fagot"; the Chance Vought F4U-5N Corsair; and the Yakovlev Yak-9.
A surprise aircraft in this add-on is the Bell H-13B Sioux helicopter of MASH fame. I say a surprise, since rarely do you find a helicopter included in a fixed wing simulator. This addition brings even more reality to the sim since this helo was a workhorse in the medivac role. The
aircraft are able to be loaded with the usual guns, cannons, and bombs as well as the addition of 6-8 rockets.
Now that we have these new aircraft to contend with, we're fortunate in that all of the command and controls from CFS2 are the same in this sim. Any extra or different commands are listed with each aircraft in the pilot's manual. The pilot's manual for this sim is
an easily read, simplistic 43 pages. Double that if you want to read the German version that continues after the staple fold. The manual gives a short background history of the conflict, detailing the highs and lows of the campaign. From there it gets right into the installation and
setup of the sim. This sim includes 8 American Missions, 2 British missions and 10 North Korean missions. These missions are similar to the original missions in CFS2 in that they include air-to-ground, air-to-air, and escort missions. Plus there is the added feature of medivacs with
the Bell helo. There are two campaigns included with this add-on, one on the United Nation's side and one from the North Korean aspect.
Your missions either originate from a land base or from a carrier deck. Seoul, Pyongyang or Kimpo are the starting points in Korea; and the USS Essex or Leyte, or HMS Unicorn are the carrier starting points.
The take-off sequences from the airfields are the same as in the original CFS2, however, the difference in climb rate is especially noticeable when flying the jets. It's important to get your gear and flaps up after take-off to avoid unnecessary self inflicted damage. The jets
actually want to take off by themselves once you reach rotation speed. I liked to pop off the runway, clean up the aircraft and "zoom" up after reaching the threshold. When selecting the B29, you have to maneuver to the runway first before taking off. The aircraft is parked
on the grass alongside the hangar line. Trying to apply take off power and align yourself up with the runway at the same time can have some pretty spectacular effects. That is if you call driving through the hanger and watching the resultant ball of flames spectacular.
There wasn't much noticeable difference in handling characteristics when the aircraft are fully loaded. Nor when you release ordnance. Perhaps the designers could have added that little "bump" one feels when a weapon is released.
This sim includes voice communication, both tower to plane and cockpit to cockpit. The sound of a jet winding up on start up is just like the real thing. With a quality sound card and speaker combination you can feel the vibrations in
the joystick. Of course, this is really noticeable with no one else around to tell you to turn it down. When passing head on with another jet, the "whoosh" from outside the cockpit is very realistic. It would certainly get your attention if you were looking the other way.
The excellent graphics are maintained in this sim. Flying low level gives detailed ground and building features and the carrier take off's are impressive as the "island" goes by prior to leaving the deck. The aerial combat graphics maintain their
authenticities as well, the shell bursts from flak and the resultant shrapnel in the air are a danger to contend with. Not only can it do damage to the aircraft skin, but also flying through it can ruin your day should a jet ingest some.
I found that the scenarios took a long time to load, some were over a minute long. While this doesn't sound like a long time, to an eager player it's forever. The gamer must also ensure that, where possible, everything
running in the background is turned off prior to loading the game. I was kicked out on several occasions when trying to skip long navigational legs, so I gave up on trying and flew them manually. The up side was that I gained more stick time, too bad we can't log it as actual time.
There were several other lock-ups that occurred. These were during extensive air combat maneuvers, taking on damage and trying to evade other aircraft. I don't know if this is a bug in the program or the computer not being able to process fast enough. Either way,
it was most annoying when you are in the thick of things.
When engaging several enemy aircraft, ensure you use your wingmen to attack other aircraft with you. Again the inter-cockpit chatter is helpful for maintaining the overall air picture. If it gets too wild and you have no hope of getting back to home base, you always have the option of bailing out and using
the nylon letdown system.
The bombing scenarios allow you to use the B-29 Superfortress. Flying a large multi-engine aircraft is something different in this add-on. The drawback to this aircraft was in the cockpit layout. The pilot is sitting on one side of the aircraft and the cockpit display blocks your outside visual references.
In the real world you would have peripheral vision and the ability to turn your head. I solved this problem by using the "F4" key on take off to eliminate the cockpit display and had an unobstructed view. One of the features of the sim is the ability to see the movement of aircraft parts. Wheels, flaps, tailhook and such. I
was unable to see the bomb bay opening or speed brake deployment feature in this sim. After dropping your ordnance, it is advised you view the results from the weapons point of view. It's hard, if not impossible, to invert this heavy aircraft to see the damage assessment.
The unique inclusion of the Bell helicopter gives you a chance to fly something different and perform a non-combative role. The extraction of wounded from behind the front lines was a nice break from flying into harms way. However, I found flying the helicopter was a little more challenging than just getting
off the ground and flying straight and level. The power levels have to be adjusted to get off the ground, maintain flight and get you back down safely. Once mastered, the mission can be accomplished as required.
Overall, I enjoyed the sim. It combined the great scenery, graphics and realism that are inherent with CFS2. It was frustrating to be kicked out during the heat of battle and having to start again, but that is sometimes the nature of some programs. I can only imagine what the outcome would be on a slower system.
These add-ons give gamers another reason to keep CFS2 on their system longer. There will undoubtedly be further releases from Just Flight and other independent software producers. In the mean time, you can head over to their website and pick up your copy of Korean Combat Pilot by clicking here.
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