The first thing about "Campaign Cartographer 2" (CC2) is it is feature-rich. It can do just about anything. It's also art-rich, and has perhaps the most complete map icon set I've encountered.
That said, when I use software tools, one measure of the user interface and ease of use is to start without reading the manual, to see how far I get. Well, I got about 3 minutes into it before I had to read the manual, just to draw a simple 'fractal' land mass (i.e. land mass with scraggly edges).
So this entire review is going to be a love/hate relationship with CC2. I love the things it can do, but I don't love using it. So ultimately (for those who like to know the end early), my recommendation is that this is a tool best suited for publishers and freelancers who wish to produce the best quality maps; I am less likely to recommend it to GMs in general.
Okay, on to the cool stuff. For a full list of what it can do, go to Profantasy.com. It can make landmasses, water, lay icons, do terrain, make layers, have secret encapsulated GM information, and just about everything you want a map tool to do.
The interface is clean, and you see results instantly. I found the tool sets a little confusing to figure out, and there's a tendency for clicking on one tool (say, terrains) to unset another selection (say, the 'fractal landmass' brush), leading me to a bit of hunt-and-click in learning. Keyboard commands are also required for many operations; this is, I suspect, a trade-off between "do everything" and "make it visual".
One nice ability with fractal terrains and such-- the most common usage of a starting map being laying down terrain-- is the flexibility. You can just click and try a dozen coastlines or borders before committing, all with quick cycle times. So for exploring and design, this is excellent.
In comparison with its main competitor, "Fractal Mapper" from NBOS.com, well, CC2 has more features and in particular, more icons (art). They also offer additional icons and art on their website, a very classy move and one that is much appreciated. However, they are not as easy to use, and are more expensive; some add-ons, also (like "Realm Overseer 3D", reviewed on this site, that allows 'walking' through the map) cost more, making the total package fairly pricey.
Good program, but not great. Expensive, but feature rich. Probably the best bet for publishers expecting to use it in-house a lot. Tough call for GMs, though-- if you have the time, could be worth mastering, or you might want to check out the alternatives first. It's always tough to review products I got for free, and to me the ultimate measure is "would I have bought this, knowing what I know now." Disliking manuals, I'd have to say "probably not".
So, with the usability issue balanced against the full feature set, I'd have to say CC works best for publishers and freelancers willing to endure the steep learning curve to get highly polished results. Note that ProFantasy specifically states you can publish results of CC2, and in general their web support is very strong. For the dedicated GM or gamer, though, I'd say CC2 is a little costly and tricky to start with, so you should definitely try the free demo version from their site first.
CC2 is available direct from their website, and the demo is also available from CNet. They (like most gaming s/w) is not listed on Amazon, but is available at RPGShop.com and likely other online vendors.
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(Due to spamming, old forum discussions are no linked.)