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Disappointing lack of advancement

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: February 11, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I found Flight Simulator 2002 to be, frankly, disappointing but I recognise that disappointment as an outgrowth of my very high expectations.
In general, my primary disappointment was with the incremental nature of change to the product from the last iteration I purchased (Fligh Simulator 98). Frankly, I was terribly spoilt by the realism of the aircraft instruments depicted in FLY!- a big plus for an otherwise resource-intensive game with a clunky interface. Therefore, when I played FS2002, I was disappointed to find more or less the same unrealistic panel setups as FS98- considering the standard FLY! had set, and considering that clever design could make such displays optional for those users who would rather not deal with them, I expected Microsoft to follow suit a lot more aggressively than they did.
Generally speaking, the Microsoft Flight Simulator has never been particularly tight in terms of interface and that is more evident in FS2002 than FS98. One manifestation of this is the tendency to reload all data every time certain changes of state occur- adjusting simulator time, reducing simulation rate from 8x normal down to 4x normal. Another is inconsistent aircraft behavior with respect to flight characteristics- especially when depicting flight outside of the normal "envelope" for a given type- especially in the detection of stall conditions for the larger types.
The map system is horrid. Microsoft has opted for an electronic chart style with no depictions of topography or landmarks whatever. But, more significantly, the map interface is more clunky and they did away with (or I have not found the interface for) finding information about airports based on a name search. Getting information about distant airports can be especially arduous since one must scroll around the map 'till it is found.
The 3D secenery is a significant improvement over that presented in FS98, though it is still somewhat bland. Terrain realism in non-core areas (i.e. not around the major cities such as New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, etc) is poor, but there is only so much that can be crammed on CD's. One great improvement for me is that depiction of the visibility of airports and airport lighting (especially VASIS lights) are improved not in terms of being easier to see, but in terms of there being a more natural and gradual transition to visibility as one nears them- airports are not nearly as bad at "popping in" as in Flight Simulators 4,5, and 98.

great flight simulator

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: June 15, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I remember playing the original flight simulator on the Apple II computer. I'm amazed at how far this software has come. Granted, not much has changed since Flight Simulator 98, but this is a better product.

If you are thinking of taking flight lessons, this software can help you learn and save money along the way, especially if you are aiming for an instrument rating later on. For individuals who don't know much about flight, there are introductory and interactive lessons to step you through learning how to fly. You also have the opportunity to take a test. Pass and you can get a certificate of achievement.

The sceneries are not very realistic, with the exception of well-traveled routes or well-known landmarks (or the major airports). Most of the scenery is auto generated and populated at runtime. If you want realism, you'll have to purchase a 3rd party add-on or develop your own scenery (not a very well documented or easy thing to do).

Surprisingly, the ATC is realistic in an idealistic kind of way. Downloadable real-time weather is a great feature. The multiplayer function is basically useless.

You really need a joystick (or yoke). Controlling the aircraft with only the keyboard is a sadistic experience. Flying the helicopter without a joystick (only keyboard) would be almost impossible.

In summary, it's a great game, but I would wait for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004, which will be out next month.

A Promise Kept........!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: October 25, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I finally have it!! It is so relieving to see frame rates and extraordinary scenery work hand in hand. After FS2000, which was a blunder, Microsoft has kept their word. I don't have a high end machine, but am getting 25 to 35 fps which seems to be more than enough considering I have everything the display settings just about tweaked to full. I won't bore you with details already described in reviews, but will tell you that it takes a full 2GB to install everything. Changing aircraft, location or weather or anything else you can see visually, takes seconds longer than the previous version, but not overly so. Three are only four new aircraft and panels, and the other nine or so are from FS2000, such as the B737-400, B777 and Mooney Bravo. ATC is pretty simplistic in design and operatability. The left and right and oblique views are not what they used to be, but more virtual in design. The panels are the same quality, but I didn't expect them to knock my socks off.
Now the good news. Scenery that I'm used to paying for is now the default scenery, only better. VFR flying will be - just that.. to include trees, thousands of building, elevation changes in every direction of any large city. The virtual cockpit makes taxiing and touch and go's a snap, as you can look left and right, up and down, backwards and down. Instruments are active inside the virtual cockpit, to include control column, throttle and radio stack in what seems to be based on EA's Janes F/A-18. Switchology is not possible in this mode - only keyboard and joystick commands here.
Aircraft and Dynamic Scenery are tear jerkily phenomenal! The B747 is par with Phoenix's 747, if I can use that name here. The quality and quantity of runways, airport terminals, taxiways, buildings and terrain are so beautiful, you can't help but glance at your frame rates which are not affected because of the new CFS2 engineering that went into this project. Dedicated flight simmers will be happy with this, because I'm one too! Although we all still have the limp from the pain that FS2000 was, we are going to get better with FS2002. Trust me and take the plunge. Flight Simulator 2002 will be refreshing and well worth it.

It's a game, not a flight simulator

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: December 30, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I bought because I am a student pilot. My comments are only about the C172 and C182 because these are the only aircraft I have real life experience with. I do not feel these aircraft behave in a completely realistic manner, especially regarding trim, p-factor, coordinated turns, and taxiing. I also bought a CH yoke and pedals. The pedals are handy on the ground but nearly useless in the air and aren't really worth having. The OnTop demo which came w/my CH yoke seems more faithful to the aircraft, and I intend to buy a copy. MS FlightSim isn't all bad. There is an astonishing amount of visual detail and it did help practicing my radio navigation. My point is merely that it is a game first and not really a training system.

I'm glad I upgraded - totally worth it

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: April 15, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I loved FS 2000 and it brought hours of fun...Then I saw a demo of the new version at CompUSA and I couldn't believe how much better the graphics was! FS2k was good but the scenery was rather simplistic, but the new version brought the looks to a totally new level -- and this alone is worth the price!

Looks are not the only aspect that vastly improved. As the other reviewers pointed out, the framerate is also much better -- something many gamers used to criticize FS2k about. I run the program on a PIII-733 with Windows 2000 and an old nVidia card, but I'm definitely getting smoother graphics and gameplay than in FS2k. I haven't tweaked the settings yet, but I'm very satisfied with the framerate.

After a week of heavy play I haven't had a crash -- so I'm hoping this baby is solid. My experience in the FS2k community tells me that most crashes (esp. the BSOD type) are driver-related. This program is very demanding of system resources, so make sure you have the latest video and controller drivers as well quit potentially conflicting programs and unplug potentially conflicting devices. (My old USB scanner caused crashes in FS2k until I unplugged it.)

In short, this is definitely the best flight sim ever made. Wonde what MS has in its bags next for this great series...

Best MS Flight Sim version ever

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: January 03, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I recently bought an XP 2.0GHz P4 w/256 Ram and loaded FlightSim 2000 thinking I would get great performance. The result was horrible choppiness. After reading some online reviews I bought FlightSim 2002 Pro, started it up, and quickly realized that I had come across the best FlightSim that MS has ever come up with. The scenery looks better than I've ever seen and the frame rates are the best that I've ever gotten. And the new ATC is great. Can't recommend this product highly enough.

Nice!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 23 / 47
Date: September 15, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Ok, so my first rewiew was quite bad. Only five out of 11 liked it. But hey, now i remember mentioning this to you. Oh yeah, the game has a new autogen technology that appears to be quite exciting. Almost every land will have 3-d modeled offices, houses, schools, public libraries, colleges and even trees appear on this new game. We start off with the main point of this game which is: WHY MICROSOFT DID IT? very simple answer really. They did it for the sake of plane lovers. As a matter of fact, they did it for everyone just incase you wanna be a pilot in your future career! though i dont think anyone will be a pilot now a days as they got bored of flying in microsoft flight simulator 2000. This game's most importance is you know how to take-off and land but not how to see these beautiful scenaries 'cause that's the passenger's job not yours. But although my opinion is correct, microsoft was still kind enough to offer us a new technology that has just came out one year after fs2000. And that's the AutoGen technology. I think it stands for Automatic Generator which automatically generates fields farmlands, offices, trees, houses and even school yards for all i care. Now after the tradegy of air france's concorde crash in the early year, microsoft decided to take away the concorde 'till it's back in business. I dont think people cared about it on fs2000. Anyways, new planes came out such as cessna grand caravan which i remember i went on it once!! A new livery was made for planes such as 777-300 and a new plane just arrived and well, you've guessed it, the mighty 747-400. That's all i gotta say about planes. What else? oh yeah, airports. OK, this time we're talking BiG! With air traffic control, you're not alone in the sky so better take permission for landing or else, you might collide with another plane. Also, you could even go to options and click zero planes in the airport if you want to. But between me and you, just fligh with atc. Anyways, you also see jetways, and buildings in full detail. One good example is chicago o'hare intl. Now people, we're gonna talk about weather forecast! change it if you want to! you can download real life weather around the world very easily thanks to micro people and you could costumize your weather with: height, length, and maybe rain capacity. Rain capacity is the one i'm not sUrE about!! Oh, well with the sounds it's even more realistic! who want's to press q and not hear any noise from the engine? whoever does that is seriously crazy. Why do you think we have ears? we have them to listen to planes, rain and thunder!!!! So as my advice, buy this five star game. Actually, ten star game. Yep, ten stars. I'm not crazy, i'm saying the truth

The Best Sequel!!!!!!!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: November 01, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Most of the time, sequels are 1000% worse than the orginal, and this is a expection! Flight Simulator 2002 is a different kind of game, it improves everytime. From Flight Simulator 2000 to 2002, you can see it's a big difference!!! The grahics are improved, the sound is much better, and the gameplay is more exciting. I saw the special effects on Combat Flight Simulator 2, it was spectalor! Microsoft games are mostly educational and espically unique, so buy this game to be honest, NOT to be sorry!!

Visually great, not well tuned

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: December 01, 2005
Author: Amazon User

The features, flight model, planes, scene database, and configuration/settings interface is quite good. It's fun to fly.

It doesn't seem like the software is particularly well tuned for performance (frame rate is critical for flight simulation). The frame rates are quite low even with good hardware. I was using a 2 Ghz AMD machine, Win 2K, and a GeForce Ti 4200. At the time this was a very good CPU, good OS (for games), and a fairly good gfx card.

Great!! But where's the manual?

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: December 29, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Just got FS2k2 for Christmas and overall it has been great. The graphics are excellent and I have already logged many hours trying out the various aircraft. My only real complaint is the lack of a proper printed manual. I don't know about everyone else, but I really hate having to read a manual on a computer, especially when you just need to look up something quickly while in the middle of game play. As a result, I spent half a day printing the manual and putting in a 3 ring binder.

I have also had some minor gameplay issues and choppiness that I have not yet been able to tweak out. I am running it in a brand new Dell 1.6 ghz system with a Hercules 3D Prophet 4500 64mg AGP card and 256mg of RAM. It seems like this would be more than enough machine, but nothing I do seems to eliminate the occasional choppiness.

Overall, an excellent game that would be even better with a real manual.

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