1-Dec-2004 With the obscurities of the Hungarian, Finnish, Danish and even Slovakian contributions to World War II nicely covered, Pacific Fighters gives Oleg Maddox and his team of flight sim-creating desk pilots a chance to stretch their muscles with a part of the war that's been somewhat better documented.
Not that they had much choice mind you. Aside from perhaps simulating Arthur Lowe and Clive Dunn taking to the skies of Warmington-Upon-Sea in a rickety glider built from matchsticks, there wasn't really much left in the way of WWII air combat for them to turn their attention to.
So, is this a sequel? An expansion pack? A separate entity in its own right? Ah, Comrade Maddox, you tease us so with your category-defying antics. Pacific Fighters is all of those things and none.
Flying Blind Here's the deal: you don't need any of the previous IL-2 titles to run Pacific Fighters - it's a standalone. However, if you do add it to IL-2: Forgotten Battles (or the Ace Expansion Pack) it acts as an upgrade, enhancing the existing mission content, aircraft choices and engine performance like some kind of game-improving fairy godmother; but without the risk of everything turning into a pumpkin just as the final slow dance of the night kicks in.
What's on offer is pretty much everything that happened in the Pacific theatre of war, from the Pearl Harbor attack to the battles for Iwo Jima and Guadalcanal. Good taste prevents things going as far as the horrifyingly ultimate ending to any war displayed at Hiroshima - there are some elements of what we laughingly call real life that are simply unacceptable fodder for so-called entertainment.
Everything else you'd expect from this rigorously authentic series is present and correct, from carrier take-offs and landings to Maddox's customary inclusion of lesser highlighted aircraft such as the Japanese Vals to the US air force's A-20 bombers. All are exquisitely detailed and, even though the game engine has undergone some tweaking, it's still recognisably the IL-2 code and it's still remarkable how good it looks after all this time.
No Encores However, there's definitely something lacking in Pacific Fighters, as though the box labelled 'magic sparkle' was running a bit low this time round. It's as solid, competent and thrill-packed as the previous entries in Maddox Games' single-handed assault on the flight genre, it just doesn't really do anything that we haven't seen before. Nothing major at least. Sure, we haven't been able to land on aircraft carriers or fly Japanese aircraft in the series until now, but on a fundamental level there's nothing here that grabs you by the lapels and shakes you into submission.
It can be argued that this is little more than a stopgap, a vanity project for Maddox and his team before the substantially different Battle Of Britain project arrives next year. An exercise in completism if you will.
If you haven't jumped into the IL-2 arena before, you now have two excellent entry points (this and Forgotten Battles). Satisfaction is guaranteed either way, but you certainly won't need both. Unless you're as into completion as Oleg Maddox appears to be.
PC Zone Staff
// Overview
Verdict
Still good, but nothing really new
Uppers
Looks as good as ever Authentic flight modelling It's still as good as IL-2
Downers
The novelty's wearing off now Poor accessibility Feels strangely unpolished
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Looks as good as ever
