Abacus Mission Combat Force

By Gustavo Mercado
25 March 2008

INTRO

This particular review marks a couple of firsts for me as a reviewer. It is my first review of a product made by Abacus, it is my first review that is not of an Aerosoft product, and it is my first review of a military mission pack, all previous analysis have been of commercial aviation add-ons.

I guess it was necessary to try out a military mission package to really get a feel for what the FSX mission generator can do. The answer is WOW. Playing around with this software at certain times I did not feel like I was using FSX, it actually felt like I was playing with a totally different product. I am a true natural big iron buff, which means until now I would not have purchased any add-on that would include flying military hardware. I can say without a doubt the change was refreshing and I don't regret it one bit.

I can also say without a doubt Ron Jeffers, Phil Castellanos and the whole team at Abacus have done a marvelous job with this product.

TECHNICAL STUFF

I got to review the boxed version of Mission Combat Force and I liked it very much. The packaging was A+ quality. After purchasing the product Abacus will send you a 521 mb installation CD in a very nice, well made DVD box. The package also brings a well made (but not great) instruction booklet, and a really nice catalog of other first class simulation products.

The disk brings two choices for installations, one in English and one in German. After that you are required to prompt your name and a product key which is printed on the front part of the DVD box. After entering required fields installation begins automatically and takes less than 5 minutes. All said and done the software will take 488 mb of your hard disk.

As with most mission add-ons that bring new scenery, first time loading FSX will take longer than usual while the scenery indexes are created. After that FSX resumes loading and you will get a new category in your missions menu named Mission Combat Force.

THE TOOLS

To get the job done in this mission pack you will get to fly one of the ugliest, oldest but rough and deadly weapons in the US Air Force arsenal: the Fairchild-Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II, or Warthog, or Tank Killer as it is commonly known. The A-10 entered service in the early 1970's and it has become such an important part of the US arsenal that it is still operational to this day. The A-10 was originally designed for ground support. It was the result of criticism the Air Force suffered for not giving importance to providing support for ground troops, so this was Fairchild - Republic's answer to the criticism.

The model offered by Abacus for this mission is right on the money. The real thing is a very simple, not nice looking aircraft; its digital counterpart fits the description to the dot. It comes in two formats, the grayish color used in the dessert, and the greener military used for common terrain operations.

The aircraft model is very easy to fly. The learning curve to mastering the A-10 in this mission pack is practically inexistent. The airplane handles exceptionally well on the ground and in the air. Its handling is remarkable at low altitudes with low and high speeds. From what I read about the actual aircraft it is not a fast airplane, and the engines are not nearly as responsive as other fighter jets. These characteristics are also modeled very well in the digital A-10. All in all I would say job well done with the aircraft.

The only down side I would say with the airplane is the cockpit model. It is a mixture of photoreal with digitally designed features. I think the developers could have put more attention to detail with the cockpit, and they could have included more aircraft systems to make it more real. But I guess we can't ask for everything.

THE MISSIONS

Let's get to business. The missions are very well made. The themes are varied from fighting drug cartels, to the war on terror, to going back in time to the cold war. All in all the package includes two training missions, and five other full missions with different levels of difficulty. Do not expect just to fly the A-10 to get your green check in this mission pack. Some of them include boats, some of them include walking around before you actually fly and blow things up. These types of features are the ones that blow your mind when you think about the capacities of FSX.

The training missions are OK. They are set at Nellis Air Force Base and consist of target practice. They are enough to get you in tune with the aircraft, but they do not blow your mind. Also for the ones who are not very familiar with simulators, and are trying mission packs for the first time, it might get a little complicated. They don't have many voice files to give you aid in training, and make you do most of the work while not explaining much. I would say they could have done a better job with the training missions but at the end of the day they do give you the necessary tools to do the rest of the missions.

THE TERRORIST PLOT

I chose this mission to describe in detail because it is a great mission to begin the mission pack with and lets you fly the A-10 without taking you to the limit of your (and the aircraft's) abilities.

The mission starts in the cockpit of the A-10 in a US air base in Japan. Your mission is to provide air cover for the G8 summit which is currently going on in Tokyo. You take off from the base and are enroute to do holding patterns around the summit, when you get a call from base to leave your assignment to do reconnaissance on a stranded boat about 50 nautical miles off the Tokyo harbor.

As you are getting close to the boat, you get a call from base and you find out that the stranded boat is a diversion to take you away from patrolling the summit. It turns out there are several zeppelins in the air and are firing rockets at the summit. You are instructed to turn around immediately and engage the zeppelins in the harbor. At this point the program assigns you 30 rockets to fire away at the zeppelins.

As you approach the bay you can visualize the zeppelins firing at the ground. Engaging them is not very hard once you mastered the plane's weapons systems. But finding them could probably be the hard thing in this case. Also time is a factor, there are about five of them and you have to take them down before they bring down the summit and kill the leaders of the eight richest nations in the world.

When you finally take them down and are thinking it's all over you get another twist of the story. The famous ship you were sent on reconnaissance for was actually the base from where the zeppelins were being remotely controlled. So now your mission is to clear the bay again and take out the ship that is about 50 nautical miles at sea.

At this point your weapons change from rockets to missiles. I did not see the ship firing at my plane, and the target is big and not moving much making it an easy shot. But you have got to make sure you do get it in the first or second attempt since the software only gives you two missiles. If you miss them both you are left with having to start the mission over or crashing your plane against the ship.

After sinking the ship the mission ends, and you have the choice of going back to base for trying to land the A-10 or ending the mission in the air. Of course I took the first choice since I had to feel how the airplane behaves for landing. Again the airplane handles great. The way the engines behave takes a little getting used to, but I was able to get a perfect landing on the first try. All said a very successful mission.

ALL SAID AND DONE

HIGHS - Two thumbs up for creativity in designing the missions. Great exterior model of the A-10, and great flight model. All missions are challenging and entertaining, with great sound effects, and great visual effects as well.

LOWS - The aircraft's cockpit was lacking. I would have liked to see more knobs and more buttons. Training missions were not a lot of fun; they could have more voice effects and more guidance.

THE VERDICT - Great work from Abacus. I don't normally like military simulations, but this mission pack was fun and well made. High quality all the way, from the packaging to the software. At a very modest below $30.00 price I think it is a good investment. I LIKE IT.

Test Setup

Microsoft Flight Simulator X (SP2)
Windows Vista
2.16 Dual Core II processor
4 GB RAM
526 MB Nvidia graphics accelerator

Gustavo Mercado
gusifer@gmail.com

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