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PC - Windows : X-Plane Reviews
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Below are user reviews of X-Plane and on the right are links to professionally written reviews.
The summary of review scores shows the distribution of scores given by the professional reviewers for X-Plane.
Column height indicates the number of reviews with a score within the range shown at the bottom of the column.
Higher scores (columns further towards the right) are better.
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User Reviews (1 - 11 of 29)
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Unfinished product?
1
Rating: 1,
Useful: 8 / 15
Date: February 28, 2001
Author: Amazon User
If you are tired of paying a lot of money for a software that does not work without a lot of your own help, then buy some other flight simulator. I am trying to give a fair review of this product although I am rather frustrated. Here is my personal experience with this program: I installed the software and found the interface to be rather inept and unprofessional when compared to other games and simulators. The game didn't run at first. It required me to go their website (X-Plane.com) to trouble shoot the problem. I'd say that the low quality of their website is a good representation of their software. I get the impression that some kid has been designing this software during breaks in his computer classes. I then downloaded the updated drivers for my video card. The game partially works now. If there is one highlight, it would be it's flight realism. I must admit that the simulator seems to move much closer to real time. The frame rate seems higher than the Microsoft FS2000. Landing the plane is more challenging and certain aspects of the actual fight appears to be much more like flying a real plane. I like the sounds coming from the radio. Gives the sim a little extra flavor. I guess that this adds to my frustration because I really want to use this simulator. However, I'm unable to use all the features of my flight yoke or new Force Feedback joystick. So now I must fly the friendly skies via my keyboard. How many Cesnas actually have a keyboard in them to operate the rudders and a mouse for the throttle?
Eventually I'm sure I'll work this problem out, but should not need to. I then attempted to download the latest version of the simulator from their makeshift website. The only ftp site that worked seems to be the one that someone put up in their Purdue.edu account. After downloading the 68 meg file on my 56k modem I find that it won't work on my computer at all. I'm still waiting for their technical support to reply to my message. I stopped holding my breath as he might be taking his midterm exams right now... I wish X-Plane had a larger staff of programmers. It has a lot of potential but appears to be a work in progress. I'd expect these results if I was beta testing the software, not in the version that is available on the store shelves. It certainly has not been a user friendly simulator. I hope I never fly a plane that has 1/16 of the problems as this sim. The above is just the opinion of a person who is getting rather tired of the poor quality of software being sold. The software companies seem to be the only ones who are not held responsible for the lack of quality in their products. They should be held accountable for the all the wasted time they cause in selling unproven products that do not run properly. -I prefer the MS simulator for it's user interface, better graphics, huge datbase of airports and cities, and control panels. To be fair, FS2000 has bugs in it too. But not nearly the same as X-Plane. -I prefer X-Planes actual flight realism due to it's high frame rate and communication sounds. However, in my opinion it's not worth the price they are charging. They should owe me a little for all my effort in making it work. I hope his midterm exams end soon...
X-plane V5.52-V5.99
1
Rating: 1,
Useful: 5 / 5
Date: December 19, 2004
Author: Amazon User
My wife bought it for me because I am a pilot and I enjoy flight simulations, but mostly the flight simulation games. We gave $30 for X-plane V5 but you can get this version now either for free or for under $10 if you look around. Really it's not worth anything so please do not run right out and buy it. At least try the downloadable demo first.
X-plane isn't a game, it's a flight sim program. A flight sim and a flight sim game are two completely different things. In a flight sim you just "fly" your computerized airplane from one airport to another. If you think that's incredibly boring you are right. In a flight sim game you get to blow things up, and others get to shoot you down, so there's never a dull moment in a real flight sim game.
I installed X-plane V5, I had nothing but problems with it. The graphics are bad. The flight model isn't realistic. I laughed when I read someone else's "good" review of the product and they said "It's so smooth!" Yes it is and the kind of smoothness that it has is not realistic. Graphic scenery viewers are smooth to; they have no character at all. Real airplanes have character.
The joystick on X-plane V5 allows for two joysticks but only allows for 3 functions and they were programmed wrong. I've only got one joystick on this computer yet the default in the X-plane sim was for joystick 2?
The airplanes do everything they can to turn upside down, I took screenshots of the F-22 that literally flipped over on the runway and took off down the side of the runway upside down, all without me ever touching the controls.
The graphics inside and outside of the airplanes and the terrain are without question among the very worst I've ever seen. The control panel is nothing but basic computer graphics thrown on the screen in a rectangle with a tiny window above so you can see out. Apparently there's an option that allows the user to change the graphics if they know how to create their own graphics.
Airplanes all fly by the principles of aerodynamics, but every type of airplane has a unique feeling and characteristics all of its own. In X-plane V5 each time you change aircraft it changes your control panel. It changes your speed and stall settings, but all the airplanes have exactly the same problem. They have no feeling to them at all.
Tired and not thinking clearly, I decided I should get the latest patches for X-plane. I went to the X-plane website and in my fatigue I missed the small link to the older files. The FAQ's were no help so I sent a message to the author, Austin Meyer who promptly sent me a rude message to let me know I was a stupid idiot and there was nothing wrong with his software. In three different messages he let me know I was a stupid idiot. Yes I am, I should never have allowed my wife to buy his software.
A software vender or author should never insult their customers for any reason. I was astounded at the great effort he went to to insult me. Don't make the same mistake I made with this software.
They say X-plane is better than MS Flight sim, I'm confident they paid the guy to say that so they could write it on the box. I have tested MS Flight sim 95 and 2000 and I can tell you X-plane is not better than MS Flight Sim. Being a pilot with a brother who is a flight instructor I can tell you that you will not find X-plane in his school, but you will find MS Flight Sims.
Anyone who wants to read the full review and see the graphics can do so on the old Independent Software Consultants website at Http://www.dream-link.org/ISC Just go to the simulation games and then to flight sims.
Could of done better!
1
Rating: 1,
Useful: 0 / 3
Date: May 14, 2001
Author: Amazon User
I got the game at the stare it looked pretty cool with the Nasa sapce shuttle reentry,but when i installed it the frame rates were very low I couldnt get off the ground,Plus my computer is 700 mhz ,128 mb ram ,amd processor, and still went slow!, i recommend buy this game if u have a really fast computer otherwise go with Microsft Flight sim 2000 ,the game is awesome exept less planes, better frame rates, no atc!
computer bugs
2
Rating: 2,
Useful: 3 / 4
Date: February 05, 2001
Author: Amazon User
I recently purchased the latest version of this software. My initial impression of the sim was very favorable. When I tried to exit the program my PC (Dell PIII 933, nvidia TNT2 graphics card)consistently froze. After getting no response from the technical service either by phone or email I finally called the designer. The standard response was the video driver was not correct even though it is the one they recommend. As of now I am still not able to get the program to run well. My advice to any considering this purchase is if the program runs well, great, but if it does not do not expect alot of help from the manufacturer.
Game is too ugly and buggy
2
Rating: 2,
Useful: 3 / 5
Date: August 07, 2001
Author: Amazon User
I will admit that graphics are pretty important for me and I am quite excited about the upcoming Flight Simulator 2002 which looks like it is going to have ground breaking graphics. In contrast, X-Plane features graphics that are undeniably stuck in 1995. The terrain models are horrible up close and far away and the instrument panels are very low color 2d monstrosities. If graphics are important to you too, then don't even think about playing this game without first downloading the demo. As for talk about the flight model being realistic -- I find that the planes are easier to fly in X-Plane than in MSFS2000 which I also find more boring.
Hmmm....
2
Rating: 2,
Useful: 2 / 4
Date: July 15, 2004
Author: Amazon User
well, I have to admit..I DO NOT OWN THE GAME. but from the demo it wasn't very impressive. I own a whole bunch of flight sim stuff-Ch yoke, pedals-the works. When I started the demo I got these random alerts about the problems my computer was having but it said it could fix them. I plugged in my yoke and pedals expecting that the game would recognize them (considering that it did say to go to CH's website for sticks and yokes). I push the throttle...nothing happens. ? well, ok and I went to the settings and finally set up all the controls after about 30 minutes of frustration. (THE DARN THING DIDN"T COME WITH A READ ME OR ANYTHING..IT LEFT ME ALL ON MY OWN WITS) well, now that I set my controls (only half of them because half the controls weren't even on the list of controls. For a matter fo fact, the game only lets you look left and right, the rest is panning. It didn't recognize the hat switch of flipper switches for gears so I couldn't lower or raise gears. very frusterating. Well, then I thought: I've heard all this rage about the shuttle re-entry, let's try it! I go into the menu to shuttle approach and click it. It loads, and puts me in space..cool! All of a sudden an alert pops up saying space isn't in the demo. HUH? but it loaded me in here and im now stuck in this one screen and it glitches my comp. sigh Now I have to restart...oh well..I told myself: alright one more try...after about 2 minutes another darn alret pops up: "I have not recognized the 7.0 X plane CD so I am going to disable the joystick"...What the HECK? disable the stick? Well now I can't fly at all so I just went back to playing fs 2002 which is vastly more intelligent and fun. When I first used fs 2002 I recognized my yoke and pedals in the equipement tab. X Plane (even though it advertises CH products) doesn't even bother to recognize my yoke or pedals. So, maybe if I owned the game and had a manual it would make more sense...but if a demo is supposed to attract a buyer this sure did a terrible job of it, I'm not motivated to buy it AT ALL.
Great Sim, But Flawed
3
Rating: 3,
Useful: 10 / 12
Date: January 11, 2001
Author: Amazon User
This is a terrific flight simulator, but it has some serious flaws. Because the world is modeled as flat, long flights do not function properly. Distant bearings are often not correct, one can't fly over the dateline, and worst of all, the ground shakes violently after significant distances are flown. In addition, though the flight model is vastly better than most sims, there are problems in the flight model that prevent acrobatic manuvers in planes that should should be able to handel them (loops don't work well at all). Finaly, the scenery is bland and although there are tools to improve it, the tools are themselves quite limited. There is hope, though, because Laminar Research is constantly adding to and fixing X-Plane. Perhaps a round world and acrobatics are in X-Plane's future. Only the developer knows for sure.
Can't fly w/o the manual.......
3
Rating: 3,
Useful: 3 / 3
Date: April 06, 2001
Author: Amazon User
I have owned this flight sim for about 6 months now. My biggest complaint is that the user's manual included is all technical about how to make and create planes and not on flying. Also limited info on how to use buttons at top of flight sim while flying. If you were a novice on flying, you would be lost. I learned by trial and error. It also helped that I also have MS Flight Sim 2000, so I could at least fly. Customer support is lacking, seems like its run by IQ's of 200 at age 7. If they are going to update, they need to make avail discs for backup as downloads do not work most of the time.
BIG LET DOWN
3
Rating: 3,
Useful: 3 / 9
Date: April 06, 2002
Author: Amazon User
I STARTED OFF WITH FS 98 THEN I GOT FS 2000 AND LATELY BOUGHT FS 2002.NOW I MADE A MISTAKE AND BOUGHT X PLANE WHICH IS RUBBISH COMPARED WITH FS 2002. THE GRAPHICS AND SCENERY ETC IN FS 20002 ARE FAR SUPERIOR TO X PLANE. AS FAR AS I AM CONCERNED X PLANE DOES NOT GET OFF THE GROUND. IF YOU BUY ONLY ONE FLIGHT SIM GET THE BEST MICROSOFT FLIGHT SIM 2002 WHY SETTLE FOR AN INFERIOR VERSION.CHECK THE DEMOS AND SEE FOR YOURSELF.
A Brilliant Flight Sim!
4
Rating: 4,
Useful: 12 / 14
Date: May 30, 2001
Author: Amazon User
This is probably the best flight sim out there! First, the good points: 1)The flight models are brilliant, and a lot more realistic than Microsoft FS 2000. As a pilot myself, I can quite easily tell the difference between good and bad flight models. 2)Great frame rates. I have a Pentium 4 1.5GHz with 256Meg RAM, and the game runs totally smooth. I get about 60FPS in X-Plane, and about 30FPS in MSFS2000. 3)Updates come regularly, and can be downloaded directly from the website for FREE! Each update adds new features and planes. 4)One of the best weather engines out there! Download real weather, or create your own. The thunderstorms are brilliant, and microbursts are modelled well. The snow drifting across the runway is great!The Bad Points: 1)The flat terrain. This makes the world look all the same. The only redeeming factor for the world is that most airports are modelled. How many people have heard of a little private airfield called Yearby? 2)The panels aren't as complex as the ones in MSFS, but are still functional.
All in all, a great flight sim, but download the demo version from the website first.
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