First Look: Yankee Air Pirate 2
by Chuck "PFunk" Bellows and Tom "20mm" Hayden

http://www.simhq.com/_air12/air_399a.html

Good article. I have played WOE and WOI. It might be time to tackle Vietnam.

Nice article.

The people who have been active in the Vietnam war are becoming older and thus a bit more rare. So when one decent chap (Zerocinco) & friends take their time to tell their stories using a flightsim it is a rare treat, one that (without sounding pathetic) we should be quite pleased about.

i read the article and am ready to buy YAP2 but the only question that wasn't answered for me was what exactly is on the cd. are there any missions included?

"We were entranced looking at the instrument panel of the Rhino."

Whats a "Rhino?"

Nickname for an F-4 Phantom, leftwing.

ok, thanks, I thought that was the super hornet. (television ya know).

Well, that's right too, so for once TV was right. The guy from JAG landed an F-14 from the RIO's seat the one time I watched that show though, so don't cut TV too much slack.

Yes, missions are included in the base CD-ROM.

ok, thanks!

All 100 missions?

No, the starter set of missions that come with the base files.

still no real missions based MP though (coop), right? i imagine they could nto add that. just the 'quick fly' type of coop?

Nice review - YAP1 was easily the best Vietnam sim by a million miles and this looks even better - not least the ability to get the original CD - and a better install procedure - many congrats to all involved!!

good stuff i dont like to buy stuff like this but sure pushes me that way. Just wish TK would get a good MP programmer there with him

Well, like I said down in the YAP2 Developer's Forum (check it out!), Third Wire has Wings Over Vietnam available via download for $19.99. Amazon has it via CD for $17.99. GoGamer doesn't have it. That's just for WOV. So for a few bucks more, you get YAP 2, the original set, bonus missions and training missions and the WOV CD. Doesn't sound too bad.

Moses,

Just out of curiousity, what do you mean by "stuff like this". Like I said, just out of curiosity.

CB

Will purchase once i get my dang desktop back up. Thanks for the review, would love to see more screenshots though.

I'm a Big WWII Flight Sim guy. Long time ago EAW, then CFS1, CFS2. Six years with IL2 series...looking forward to Maddox:1C's SOW:BofB

I lived Vietnam...RC-135's, EC-121's, EC-47's, RC-130's, U2R's (long story on that last one, but you get the idea). LOTs of buddies who flew USAF 105's, F4's,O-2's, Sandy's, etc

Is this YAP2 the Best FlightSim package for Vietnam era, and generally how does it compare to IL2 Series in terms of Flight Modeling, Damage-modeling (ground fire/SAM near-misses, etc), Graphics, general Realism, etc ?

First I would say that this article Pfunk and I did was a "Preview: First Look", not a review. Pfunk's working on the review, so expect to see that in the near future.

Is YAP2 the best package for the Vietnam era? I would say yes, it is. I played quite a bit of YAP1 and it was good, but YAP2 is better still. Very immersive. You really get into a mission and what you're supposed to do. The effects, graphics, sounds, A2A refueling, carrier action are all top notch. It's story telling at its best.

Compare to IL2? Not a fair question since the Third Wire series (and Wings Over Vietnam upon which YAP2 is based) are just flat different. Each has things that people like.

If you really lived Vietnam, the air war over Vietnam, I'd say you cannot go wrong with YAP2.

Good luck, whatever you decide.