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Cheet Sheets 1996 October
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2SIM5.TXT
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1995-10-07
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~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.