OK, by now it's pretty much official: Flanker 2.0 has THE flight model for combat sims. Shoot an ILS approach through solid overcast with one engine shedding parts of the finest socialist workmanship and tell me different. Complete sim nirvana. Those who don't agree with me will be shot and sent to Siberia- or perhaps the other way around!

Oops. Maybe I've been playing F2 too much.

As I was saying- you've heard about the truly amazing FM, the steep learning curve, and how avionics coolant is best enjoyed on ice with a beer chaser. There hasn't, however, been a whole lot about the F2 Mission Editor.

I think there's a pretty huge disconnect here. When the point comes up about the fact that F2 doesn't have a dynamic force v. force campaign system like the capitalist tool Falcon sim does, the defending argument has usually been "Yeah, but at least it works. Sniff." Ooooh- there's a zinger. I'm avoiding this persistent, pointless little pissing contest- this simmer prefers to take the overpass. Let's take this one on now- I really like both, OK?

OK, let's get the system stuff out of the way:

• Pentium III 500MHz OC'd to 533
• 196MB RAM
• Voodoo3 3000
• A Big Plastic Box with Blinking Lights
• Thingies That Go Whirr

F2's lack of a dynamic ground environment has soured some on this sim - for the most part people who haven't flown it or even held the box in their hands - and that is unfortunate. I must admit that I was a bit down about that, initially. It is true; land units don't and can't move (unless you count the AAA turrets tracking your complacent ass - they move just fine, thank you very much).

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Once you start prying into the Mission Editor, however, the static ground units irk you less and less. The AI, both bandit and good guy, is both motivated and formidable. The catalog of stuff you can blow up and that can shoot you down is downright extensive. Besides- this ain't Panzer Commander- this here's a pilot sim.

Learning how to use the Mission Editor is almost required in a sim like F2 in order to get more than a couple of weeks of fun out of it. There are only so many canned missions and only one branching campaign, but in using the ME you can stretch out the freshness of the sim until The Next Big Thing comes along. So get over it- let's go beat on this Mission Editor thing and see what falls out, shall we?

The Scenario

Before you can build your little corner of hell, you'll have to dream up a scenario. Who's shooting at whom, and over what? Are you one of those guys (like myself) who can lose all enjoyment for a movie because the Japanese "Zeroes" are really T-6 Texans? OK, so maybe it's only me. Anyway- the details have to ring at least semi-authentic for me to really enjoy a movie or, indeed, a simulation.

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