Raising the Flight-Sim Bar

Flight Journal, Dec 2004

PACIFIC FIGHTERS * SAITEK X52 FLIGHT CONTROL SYSTEM * JOINT OPERATIONS: TYPHOON RISING

THE MISSION WAS TOUGH, BUT AS I TURNED final over the massive, deep-blue expanse of salty doom and dropped the landing gear of my stubby Grumman fighter, I knew that things were about to get a lot more challenging. In the distance, the USS Lexington was sailing away from me, trailing a foamy wake like a bride's train. Confirming that I had three green and that my hook was down and locked, I set the flaps to the landing position and trimmed the F6F for the approach.

I glanced at the badly shredded right aileron and the stream of precious avgas that was flowing behind me. The damage was courtesy of an annoyingly tenacious Imperial Japanese Navy A6M5 Zero and its nasty 20mm cannon somewhere over the beaches of Tarawa. I was coming in just a hair too high, but with little fuel remaining, this approach was do or die. I chopped the power to hard idle as the Grumman passed over the big ship's fantail; my better judgment had been sent packing by pure desperation. As the main wheels slammed into the deck, I braced for the sudden stop that would indicate that the arresting hook had found purchase on a cable. The blessed deceleration never came.

Jamming the throttle and propeller controller forward, I pulled the flaps up to the takeoff position and eased the nose back as the bow disappeared from underneath the cowl. But I had been slow-too slow! My Hellcat rolled sickeningly to the right and slammed hard into the choppy sea.

I leaned back in my desk chair, my heart was pounding as I watched the Lex churn into the top of my fallen steed. Although I hadn't actually crashed into the ocean, I was still soaked with sweat. As far as simulations go, it just doesn't get more realistic than this. Pacific Fighters, the newest member of the IL-2 Sturmovik Forgotten Battles/Aces Expansion Pack (FB/AEP) family of WW Il flight sims by Russian developer Oleg Maddox and Ubisoft, has expanded the franchise in a huge way. Prop-head fanatics who have bemoaned the lack of complex Pacific theater of operations simulations can now rejoice because Pacific Fighters features 12 new, historically accurate maps that depict the mid-Pacific and Far East populated with a huge selection of U.S., British and Japanese aircraft carriers and other task-force ships.

Ubisoft released Pacific Fighters in a format that allows it to be installed as a standalone flight simulation or as an add-on to FB/AEP. As a standalone, the dozens of highly detailed flyable aircraft from Grumman, Mitsubishi and Chance Vought will provide hundreds of hours of simulation fun. Those who demand more will want to go for the FB/AEP add-on option, which nets the hardcore WW II flight-sim fanatic more than 200 flyable aircraft from every theater of the conflict. The huge spread of aircraft and the robust multiplayer support inherent to the series will create some very interesting online scenarios. Me 262s versus F4U Corsairs, anyone?

With such a well-established pedigree, one can be sure that the incredible flight modeling, damage modeling and stunning graphics that made FB/AEP the benchmark combat flight sim have been carried over to Pacific Fighters. If Ubisoft follows its established practice, it's likely to continue to add more flyable aircraft with each successive patch. Choice, high quality and a beautiful Pacific island to strafe-what's not to like?