Combat Air Patrol 2 Impressions

[JudgeDredd]

ok - I've got an hour and 30 minutes into this and I think that qualifies me to warn inform you all

It's early access as you all know - so what I post here is taking that into account.

Setting up
Controls
What a freakin' nightmare. It detected and reported by X52 Pro and said so on the screen but the controls were mapped to an Xbox controller. So I went through and changed them. That took some time and they reset when the game crashed (later)
They don't always work either - F1 is tied to the cockpit view and also the weapon view but it never actually went to the weapon view. Also, for some reason, some keys simply could not be used. I had no idea why...the couple I tried that couldn't be mapped didn't seem to be mapped to anything else

Graphics
Again - nightmare. These also reset on restart and also crashed at one point whilst setting up. Options are pretty limited and they started out on the lowest. TBH though, I'm not entirely sure I noticed a huge difference when I switched them all up - but I could be being harsh here.

TrackIR
I gave it a brief try to check out the capability and it was incredibly sensitive to the profile I had setup for DCS so I didn't go back to it. That was the end of looking round the cockpit because I couldn't be bothered to map keys to look about and the mouse wouldn't work as a view panner.


Gameplay
Graphics
Pretty poor tbh. Everything has a god awful dark wash over it. Your aircraft is "acceptable" as are some of the other 3D objects - but overall, very disappointed. Of course, I suppose that was to be expected as the videos showed - but I had hoped they were older
The ground is poor and the cities/populated areas are not great. Very samey

Sound
Almost a case of "what sound". Very little immersion from a sound perspective. I have volume 100% and music off and still I can hardly hear a thing. Speakers aren't all the way up - but they are up more than for other games. What is there is pretty meh.

Flight Feedback
Non existent. No visual sensations. No immersion. The flight model itself is ok...nothing to shout home about. Actually iirc similar to Strike Fighters.

Tutorials
For the Take Off tutorial you are told in the briefing what you are doing but it's essentially set your flaps, nozzles, take off, get to 3000ft. You are able to change the weapon loadout and fuel state...but again, it's all basic stuff and implemented in a basic manner.
The first couple of times I took the Take Off tutorial, I was presented with a list in the top right when I did something right...like Close Canopy...the list displayed top right and Close Canopy went green. Same with Setting flaps. However, it wasn't clear what things you had to do and the list only popped up briefly.

So - they called themselves tutorials, but imo they were lacking instruction and direction.

Also - subsequent times I took the Take Off tutorial, the list at the top right did not show for some reason.

Campaign
The one time I tried it I was looking at the map....about 1 or 2 minutes in, I apparently failed! 
I got out of the campaign.


Overall
I would liken this (in flight model) to Strike Fighters in that it's pretty simplistic. In fact, I'd say it was at least a step below that...though I haven't played Strike Fighters for some years - but I remember it being too simplistic for me and the graphics reminded me of some late 90's early 2000 game with really bland looking ridiculous hills...I'm trying to think of the Iraq special forces game - a bit like that.

I did manage to take off a couple of times and flew around for a short while. I even managed to drop some bombs on a ship (friendly)...just for a look. Explosions, sound, visual effects were all poor.

I was hoping for something solid here but unfortunately what I saw was a flight sim for youngsters on a console.

As a flight sim fan I was hoping for something else, something more. But I feel I wasted 90 minutes. I won't be rushing back but I will keep my eye on it in the hope something happens to make it at least a bit more of a sim.

It's not that I want "study sim"...I'm all for a simplistic flight experience...but a bit like DCS Flaming Cliffs 3 is as lite as I'd like to go - and this is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay off that mark.

Also - don't think the fact it's a Harrier will rescue it - it won't. It just really didn't feel like a Harrier...it was just quite a bland plane with VSTOL capability.

This was on an early access game and it was only 90 minutes. Someone may find an option that I missed for graphics or sound or TrackIR sensitivity or whatever - so go easy on your replies if you think this is the best thing since MS Flight Simulator 2.

Also bear in mind I didn't get a huge amount of playtime and didn't try other weapons, avionics or proper combat (the 90 minutes was mainly setting up and crashing on take off)....but what I did get to play did not fire my belly in the slightest to go back.

 

[Asid]

Maybe you need to purchase the "Gameplay" DLC... 

Keep us updated please. Hopefully it will improve a lot.

Thanks for taking the time to make this post.

Regards

[JudgeDredd]

NP Asid - but I've actually, for the first time EVER, asked for a refund from Steam.

I know this is early access - btu I've played some early access games over the years and they have been years ahead of this. Given what was being marketed I can't see this meeting those goals anytime soon.

When it's complete and it meets what was being marketed, I would spend double what I spent today - but today was a waste of £22...so a refund has been requested.

[JudgeDredd]

Some unsuccessful take offs and one successful 9with crash)

 

[Asid]

Early bath.... 

What you spending the refund on?

Thx for the video

[JudgeDredd]

Don't know yet. I've bought what was coming out that I was even remotely interested in.

I might leave it in my wallet for a year or two and put it towards this when it's upgraded to post 2015 standards 

[JudgeDredd]

I have decided I'm going to buy this again...give it a chance and hope the game is developed even close to what was marketed.

It's early access and so I now have a starting point to judge future developments. Hopefully the dev uses the money to build on this and make it more than what it currently is.

[Asid]

Hopefully the devs will listen.

This is a regular occurrence. "Early access", etc....At least we have the refund option.

[Frankie]

Preview here:
http://www.aerosociety.com/News/Insight-Blog/4684/PREVIEW-Combat-Air-Patrol-2

First impressions video:

[Frankie]

Combat Air Patrol 2 v813.8 - Unofficial progress report

 

Things are looking up with this military flight simulator in 2018, compared to the early days of 2016. Early access on Steam at https://store.steampowered.com/app/347170/Combat_Air_Patrol_2_Military_Flight_Simulator/

See also:

and
 

Regards
Frankie Kam