Pacific Ocean Scene
So now we have the latest addition to the stable which this time focuses on the American and Japanese battling it out across the vastness of the Pacific Ocean. With previous releases in the IL2 series, each new game was really just an update or add-on for an already established title, whereas PF marks a major departure for the series in that for the majority of the game everything is carrier based. Not a huge difference, you'd think, but when you have a quarter of the normal runway to take off on and the whole damn thing is moving, suddenly things become a tad more interesting…. But I'm getting ahead of myself, let's back peddle and have a look at everything else eh?
Now, installing the game gives you three options. You can install it as a standalone product and just play PF, or you can install it over FB and AEP, or do both. The advantage of installing over is that you get all the planes in FB+AEP as well as the new ones in PF. Install it as a standalone and all you get is what's in PF, even if you have FB+AEP elsewhere on your drive.
This is where the first of your problems arise. Different types of install aren't compatible with each other. Not really a huge problem if you're a long term player as you're bound to have the others anyway. But what if you're a new player? PF is a standalone game with the flight engine, damage modelling et al all there and not needing FB+AEP to fly. I guess the thinking behind this is to attract new players or perhaps appeal to a larger market. The snag is that the vast majority of online players already have FB+AEP and will use the install over option to give them access to all the planes. So if you go out and buy this as your first flight sim, you can't fly against anyone other than those who have done a PF only install…. And as more planes are available from a dual install, not many people will be flying PF on its own. At the time of writing, out of 70 or so servers, only ONE is running pure stand alone PF with the others being a mix of FB+PF or FB+AEP.
So the point here is that if you're thinking of getting into the game and taking part in the big online wars that they fly, you're still going to have to go out and buy Forgotten Battles and Aces anyway, and that's after having paid for PF as a full price game too.
Ok, so we'll put that gripe to one side and let's have a look at what we've got with PF as a stand alone game.