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Combat Flight Simulator II
by Jim "Twitch" TittleIt is too much to describe here, but rest assured that you will be well satisfied. It is quite reminiscent of Secret Weapons Of The Luftwaffe in the resulting created mission. It's taken ten years but is just about as good! All of the briefings and debriefings are set up to look like nicely illustrated comic book panel drawings. This is not to mean they look cheap. Thankfully, no film clips of the era were used to set up the history. You look at them once and then key through them or ignore them later anyway. The accompanying Preferences screens match the mood.
Stricken Betty
They're not Fischer-Price looking but rather, they attempt an appearance of a heavy, metal equipment panel. The Beta did not have all the career missions but expect a complete length of them when released as CFS has. Since the Beta has only seven American campaign missions, I can't report in depth on these. You will find the usual types of missions actually flown such as escort, intercept, combat air patrol, fighter sweep, anti-ship and ground pounding.
Microsoft has plenty of experience with scenery, what with MS Flight Simulator and its legions of scenery hackers. You can choose from many Pacific locations or in Quick Combat you can actually dial in the longitude and latitude of the location you want to fly over. To determine the accuracy of certain locations, I keyed in the islands off Indonesia and they were there, as was the coast of Los Angeles when I flew over the area. I was surprised that I did not find the Grand Canyon in Arizona and the Nubian Desert had mostly greenery. When flying combat, with Wake Island of 1942 accurately modeled below, leads you to think of Joe Foss and Saburo Sakai long ago.
Cockpits
Thunderstorm in N1K1
Once your ground crew straps you in you are set for a treat with the extensive controls. If you wish to fly fast and learn later you can leave most things on "automatic," as it were, and toy with them later. You can erase the front dash panel and go to HUD in combat if you prefer. It is identical to the good HUD in CFS. The HUD color is instantly changeable so you can get the proper contrast. It can also be switched to metric readouts.
Throttle and fuel management is fully adjustable with a hot key that brings up a good sized throttle assembly inset in the lower left of the screen. Propeller pitch is variable too and has all the controls. If you desire, you can open a rear-view screen in the upper left corner that looks port and starboard if you move the hat switch. In true MS tradition, all the correct gauges are in their proper places, as on the real aircraft and is completely legible in any screen resolution. Targeting is the same as CFS, with the enemy planes chosen bracketed in yellow with the pilot name and to the right in red.
On Quick Missions you'll see the aircraft type there. Of course they can toggle off once you gain experience at tracking. You also get the same CFS pilot name read outs to make it more personal. Your basic views are seen using the joystick hat. The Vulcan, split-finger, "live long and prosper" style salute can be invoked to hit the shift key and a number pad key for infinitely oblique view angles as well. The proper view to the rear is there depending on the individual aircraft. Looking to your six will either show the headrest on planes without all around vision or the correct vista with proper canopy frames included for those who complain about "real" in EAW.
Combat
Wingmen seem to do better than many sims in that they can independently go for it, while I fumbled around the new cockpit. They are very aggressive and you'll have to compete with them for kills until you are accustomed to the unfolding enemy ingress scenarios. Their direct commands are few but they make up for it in experience generally. You will meet three levels of A.I. enemies set by you in single missions or a surprise variety as you will in Campaign mode.
Check 6 or this will be you!
Make no mistake, you will not be able to unrealistically out turn Zeros in your Wildcat. You will need to use energy fighter tactics to stay alive. Ammo usage will take getting used to. Each simulator has a different feel for rounds expended while on the triggers. In the A6M2 the sixty rounds of 20mm go surprisingly fast even for an old hand like me who is sparing with ammo.
Don't expect to kill six planes on a mission when on full realism vs. aces. On my first Quick Mission against novices I took out two Corsairs, the second with a close up pounding or 7.7mms. On another, against aces in P-39Ds, I got one and my wingmen got two but my Zero's controls were damaged and made me easy prey. The damage is fully dynamic too with more extensive damage detail boxes incorporated.
A Betty dies over Timor
As mentioned in the E3 first look at B-17 II, you will see pieces come off relative to wherever you hit and the size of pieces will vary depending on what guns you are using. The damage will remain visible and on the receiving end you will feel it too. Since the damage is relative to the hits you may find control difficulties if you are hit in the control surfaces. Your engine, if hit, will surge the tachometer needle up and down. War emergency power is carried over from CFS thankfully.
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