~MS Flight Sim 5.0

Review of Microsoft's Flight Sim 5 (CD Version)
By George Kelley

I must admit to having some distrust of Microsoft. Maybe this stems 
from envy of Bill Gates! or maybe it is because I have been around 
long enough to remember the problems that his all new Operating 
System (MSDOS V2.0!) gave me.

Having said that, the new version of Flight Sim is visually stunning 
if you have the hardware to run it.  
Forget what it say's on the box about needing a 386SX/4 Meg of ram.
This is a resource hungry brute! You won't get much change out of a 
486DX2/66 and 8 Meg of ram. if you want all the fancy options 
switched on - and let's face it, that's what you want!

If you do have the necessary what you get is THE most realistic 
flight sim yet. Photo realistic instrument panels - customizable 
visibility - authentic flight sounds - enhanced weather conditions 
- 3D cloud cover etc.


~So, to the nitty gritty - how does it play?

If you have never flown a flight sim before, and I use the term 
'flown' because after a very short time it does seem like flying, 
READ THE MANUAL!.  I would suggest that you begin by using the 
Flight Instruction option. 

This will give helpful? on-screen comments to guide you through the 
rudiments of getting your plane, a choice between a Sopwith Camel, 
a Cessna, a Learjet  and a Sailplane, airborne. Flying around is 
quite easy if you remember that it is like flying a real plane, so 
light and gentle on those controls, and give them time to react in 
the slower planes.

However, landing is another thing. If I had to pay for all the 
planes that I have crashed, ditched into the sea or ploughed into 
skyscrapers, I would need to win the lottery every week!

Don't despair though, help is at hand - you can use the Land-Me 
option and have your on board instructor take the controls for you 
and ( usually ) get you out of a sticky spot and onto the runway.

Flight Sim 5 comes with a VERY comprehensive manual - read it to get
the best out of FS5, and re-read it often. Included in the manual is
information about the planes themselves, and this information is 
taken from real life.

It appears as though this is very accurate as to real life and the 
planes fly according to real limits. For example the Learjet will 
break up if you try to exceed Mach 1 in a power dive.

There is also some useful information on the airports included in 
the flight scenarios, although I would have welcomed a comprehensive
guide to navigation, which wasn't included.

The flight areas cover New York and the East Coast, Chicago and 
surrounding areas, Southern California including Los Angeles, San 
Francisco and The Golden Gate Bridge, Seattle, Paris and Munich. 

I have discovered that there is also included on the CD a program 
which will convert FS4 scenery files to FS5 format. The only beef 
that I have with FS5 is the limited number of planes included in 
the initial package. I would have liked to try and land a Jumbo Jet
at JFK at midnight in a blizzard.  The blizzard, JFK and midnight 
are possible, but the Jumbo isn't.

You can fly pre-set scenarios, and can arrange your own. You can 
have FS5 go into Auto-Pilot for Real Time Flight, or you can speed 
up the boring bit of flying between U.S. cities and switch into 
real time for the approach and landing.


~Conclusions.

The lack of included planes apart this is a very good simulator. 
I could see people learning the basics of flying on something like 
this.  With a proper control yoke this is as near as I am going to 
get to the real thing. If you like Flight Sims this is the one to 
buy.


~Rating.

8/10


Copyright (c) 1995 Eurowave Leisure Ltd.