Pacific Combat Pilot

On the aircraft front, this is fundamantally a Japanese collection, with a few Allied planes (7 out of 27), though 2 wildly used Allied types are conspicuous by their absence (no P-38 Lightning and no B-24 Liberator, which were the most widely used Pacific fighter and bomber respectively in that theatre). The inclusion of a Mosquito in far East camaflage is a shock, but the mighty B-29 with working parts and impressive cockpit is pleasing.

It is the Japanese planes that steal the show, with ALMOST every type that was deployed (although no sea-planes are included). There are no less than 4 types of the infamous "Zero" fighter, and many of the later fighters that rarely saw action, due to the crippling of Japans resouces at the end of the war, too. There are some types used by the Kamikazes if that is your thing (Only in Flight Simulation, remembering that those squadrons sure don't have reunions!), with plenty of Jap and U.S.carriers to aim at or fly from.

There are campaigns too based on the taking of the Saipan Island, and here you can play for the Jap or U.S.forces, attacking or defending. This gives a massive amount of planes in the sky at one time, resulting in speed reduction for inferior PCs like mine. I will now reveal to the world my method of alleviating this: press "w" twice from the Cockpit view, then press "+" twice. This results in everything looking bigger, but it gives the impression of the whole screen being a gunsight and speed up the action.

The cockpits are the very best there is for CFS, and the Jap planes even carry Japanese labelling. The planes are highly detailed with many effective mottles camoflage patterns and animated surfaces. The bombers donÄt have bomb-sights so you need to judge from the cockpit when to release, but this is really the fault of CFS and most bombing attacks were made at very low level by the Japanese any way.

As for History, well there is a very brief outline of the war, and no REAL battles to fly as such, but realistic aircraft encounters can be evolved, as well as what ever you fancy as all the planes can be targets in the Quick Combat as well as them all being flyable (thank God).

It really turns CFS1 into a completely different package in a completely different type of warfare.