lush
from the
revisionist summer spectacle starring dashing aviators Ben
and Josh, I recently had the chance to experience the latest add-on for
CFS2 from Flight One, The download version weighs in at a whopping 25 megabytes, so you might want to set it for an overnight download if you're still using a modem. Or you can get the boxed version. For your trouble, you get:
The installer worked as expected, which is to say that it was trouble-free and put everything right where it belonged quickly and efficiently.
O.D. green with early war USAAC insignia, including the red
"meatball" on the wing. Likewise, the panel is faithful to the
reference photos I was able to turn up. In a keeping with a welcome
trend, there is also an excellent virtual cockpit with working
gauges. This is all capped off with a magnificently rumbling engine,
courtesy of the Sultan of Sim Sonics himself, Mike Hambly.
Having never flown an actual P-40, I can't pretend to know how well the
flight model stacks up against the real thing. However, I can say that it
seems very accurate. Take-offs require a good deal of fore-pressure on the
stick in order to lift the tail off the ground near rotation speed,
otherwise you risk the ship rising and stalling before critical airspeed
has been reached. Once aloft, you immediately realize that lateral
movements of the stick will produce exaggerated results due to the
excellent roll capabilities, and you learn to treat it gently to avoid
snap rolls. Other than these caveats, the handling of this craft is fairly
agile, given that it's a pre-war design that was considered nearly
obsolete by 1941. It's not a fast machine by P-38/51 standards, but with a
top end of 352 mph, it's got more raw speed than your opponents will in
this add-on, even if they are more nimble. And then there's that fabulous
roll rate, which you quickly learn will be one of your strongest assets in
combat. Interestingly, the feel of this bird in flight is very different
than that of the other well-known CFS2 P-40 by Jorge Alsina and Joe
Amodea. I have a hunch that one of these flight models is under-tuned, I
just don't know which. And ultimately, it doesn't really matter. Both are
very entertaining to fly.
Overall, it's hard to fault the developers for choosing the P-40 as the primary Army fighter. It's a well known plane, and very useful for building missions for other theaters of the war. However, articles that I've read recently point to the fact that of the planes that managed to get aloft on the 7th, most were Curtiss P-36s. As trainers, they were equipped with a mere one .30 caliber machine gun in the nose as their only armament, no pilot armor and no self-sealing tanks. Overall, the fight wasn't even close to fair, and relying on this plane would probably have made the game's dogfights as much a slaughter as the real ones.
(crowded with rows of aircraft parked wingtip to wingtip to prevent
sabotage), Hickam Air Base near Honolulu, Pearl Harbor airstrip on Ford
Island, and of course Pearl Harbor itself. The harbor is complete with the
great gray giants lined up along "Battleship Row" in a faithful recreation
of the configuration that fateful day.The ships of Pearl Harbor are a fine example of one of the best aspects of this add-on, which is the balance achieved between realism and smoothness of game play. They could have gone into great detail re-creating the ships that were at anchorage in the harbor. Instead, the developers chose to use the stock CFS2 ships, with their greater frame rates. And it was a smart decision, too, because with so much happening in many of the missions, the battles would otherwise have become a slideshow on all but the mightiest of computers.
One of my complaints about this package is the decision not to place many
static scenery items on the provided airfields. After first going through
a number of missions and loving the scenery, I was very disappointed to do
a little free flight around the island, only to discover that the
airfields were devoid of anything but runways and trees. I sure would like
to have seen at least the buildings in that mode, and maybe even some of
the static aircraft. Likewise, Pearl Harbor is an empty expanse of water
if you're not flying missions.
Okay, I thought. If it's tough flying American missions because you're so
totally outgunned and outnumbered, then flying the Japanese missions
should be duck soup, right? Oh, so very wrong! My attempts at leading the
first wave of attackers against Wheeler was none too successful. Somehow,
though I had only myself and a wingman when flying for the Americans,
angry Yanks are everywhere when I'm Japanese. And don't even mention the
intense ack-ack when we get over Pearl Harbor itself! The action above
Battleship Row is quite intense, and is probably the most realistically
depicted element of this pack. It's quite difficult to stay alive as a
Japanese flyer, much less accomplish your other mission goals. Again, this
is not particularly true to what I've read on the subject of this battle,
but it makes for some outstanding game play. On a slightly down note, my
frame rates, which had been pretty good in most of the other missions in
this add-on, took quite a dive (no pun intended) when flying for the
Japanese over Pearl.
In addition to the eight "historical" missions included, there are also 4
fictional missions for each side. These range from rescuing one of the AI
PBYs included, to seeking revenge on the Japanese on December 8th for the
Americans. In addition to carving up Pearl itself, you also get to take
down a wayward patrol plane on the 6th, attack the carrier Enterprise, and
even go back for a third helping at the Pearl Harbor oil storage depot. I
really like this aspect... after all, if you're going to be able to relive
history, it's very empowering to also be able to re-create it!
Likes
 
|
Bill Womack
Designed and published by Flight 1 Software:
Published in Europe by Just Flight:
bw@spottedantelope.com
www.flight1.com
www.justflight.com