Rating: 
Summary: Awesome, but SLLLLLOOOOOWWWW
Review: This version of the Microsoft Flight Simulator program is easily the most advanced, graphically and sound effects pleasing ever made for the PC. Airports are accurately rendered, coastlines are not "block" drawn, but look like they are in real life, the engine sounds more real than they do in FS 98. You can even see a sunset when you fly, and with the highest resolution, it really looks neat. The truth is, however, you MUST have the fastest computer in the market to run this thing effectively. I have a 266 speed computer, and I have to turn all the graphics bells and whistles and scenery detail to the lowest setting or I can't land. The frame rate is just too slow, and I was all over the place on the approach! With all the stuff available for download on the internet, you can get scenery just as good, sound effects that come close to the real thing, and any plane imaginable and do just as well with FS98, save some money, and actually be able to fly it with some semblance of control, as the frame rate will be quick enough for you to be able to make those snap control movements needed to land accurately. If you have a fast enough computer (should be 500 speed or more) with graphics accelerator cards, you would do well with this sim. If not, stick to FS 98.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent, but...
Review: The scenery is out of this world, and the choice of aricraft is phenominal! The treatment of clouds is nothing short of spectacular. The real-world weather feature is enough to justofy the cost alone. However, you better be using a top-of-the-line machine, or it won't work well. I use a PIII and can barely get the frame rate above 18, expecially near airports or mountains.
Rating: 
Summary: The best as far!
Review: Best civilian flightsim on the market, no doubt. If only Microsoft would finally implement ATC and improve the cockpits to the new standard set in Fly! /also, the outside airplane ground shadows were removed, missing them a lot/. The game is extremely hardware hungry, and it should be clear that the visuals and framerate are great only on the high end systems. Not sure, but the game might be unsuitable for anything under P300 /64MB and 16MB 3d video...The Microsoft released, shortly after the game came out, the patch addressing the slow framerates and other minor bugs. It helped a bit. Run on PII400/128MB, GeForce256DDR 32MB video, Windows98SE
Rating:
Summary: Great!
Review: It doesn't get much better than this! But be sure you have an up to date system, I would say the minimum setup would be a Pentium 3 w/ 128 MB RAM and a graphics accelerator. To speed up loading and install you should also probably have 7200 RPM hard drive or higher. Even though it puts a lot of demand on your system, overall it is great.
Rating:
Summary: Excelent, but do you have the speed?
Review: When I bought this game I got cought up in it for a week. People are complaining that it didn't run good on there system. Thats because they have a PII processor. PCGAMER magazine said that if you have anything worse than PIII 450 128mb ram than it won't work good. That is true it works grat on a PIII but the game is not optimxed for PII. I have a PIII 600 128megs of ram and the best graphics board and I installed the 300mb Compact install and it worked fine. The MSFS2000 Pro edition is worth the extra buck. The extra aircraft are -Beech King Air- 2 engine turboprop. -Concorde- Mach 2 SST(Super Sonic Transport). -777 300- 2 engine jet transport. -Moony Bravo- 1 prop speed craft In this game you can for the fist time (in 17 years of MSFS) fly from city to city in GPS mode. Pros-Great game, excellent aircraft. Cons-Need joystick, Bad sys. requirements Bottom line-Best non military flight sim if you have the speed.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent! but one problem thats sort of annoying...
Review: This is the best flight simulator Microsoft has ever produced, there no doubt about that... Excellent graphics, new features such as GPS navigation, more airports worldwide, better weather system, and easier to use. There is a downside to all this I think the consumer should know. The speed of the game is NOTICABLY slower compared with MS FlightSim 98 and below... Very glitchy all-around. I could not seem to speed it up (usually averages around 20 frames per sec) even with setting the detail settings lower. To put it in perspective, I have a PII 400mhz computer with 192mb of ram and a 16mb 3dfx Voodoo 3d accelerator card. I even bought the accelerator card to see if it would speed it up... it barely does! I am recommending anyone who wants to buy this program and likes a fast, non-glitchy game to be aware that if your computer has a processor below 300mhz, you will not like what you see... Microsoft says that you must have a 166mhz minimum! HA! You wouldn't even be able to fly the graphics would be so slow. To recap, If you want the game to run smoothly, you should atleast have a 300mhz PII system with atleast 32mb of ram and I would recommend getting some kind of video accelerator card (if you dont already have one, and if your serious about performance). If you just want to play and don't really care about the slow speed, go with Microsoft's recommendation about having a 166mhz processor system or higher. It will be very slow but will work. Overall, this is a very good game and would recommend for anyone! Also makes a great gift.
Rating: 
Summary: I'm going Back to FS98
Review: I was about to purchase FS98 when I heard about FS2k and waited for the "as real as it gets" edition. I am so disappointed in FS2K that I returned it to the store and bought FS98. Don't get me wrong, the graphics, planes, etc on FS2K are out of this world, but you need a system capable of running the Space Shuttle to run the thing. My system meets all requirments for FS2K, but what I have is a slide show, not a sim. For the average amatuer user, its not worth the extra money to upgrade your system for a flight sim. Chances are you'll be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: I have an ASUS Motherboard and a Diamond Stealth video driver with a 3D accelerator, and it runs GREAT! I have a 15" Monitor with the screen res set to 800x600, with fullscreen mode set to 640x480. I am getting framerates no different from 98 (9 to 15 fps). A Pentium III Really helps; a firend of mine has a PIII, ASUS board, and a 32MB Video card. He gets framerates in the mid-40s. It does help, although my framerates aren't at all unflyable. If you stay out of the daredevil stuff, I would consider 3 fps unflyable. Actually, when I am in non-fullscreen mode, I get framereates ranging from 1.5 to 5 fps.
Rating:
Summary: Very Nice!
Review: I recently installed FS2000 Pro and am blown away! The graphics are smooth and detailed. The flight instruction makes getting up to speed fun and easy. It is fun not only for professional pilots, but for rookies (like me). I am running this on a 500 mhz Pentium3 with 128MB RAM and a 16MB 3DFX Voodoo 2000 video card with a Flat Panel Monitor. I suspect that some of the mixed reviews on frame rate may be related to the different video cards used. If you have a newer processor and plenty of RAM, I highly recommend FS2000.
Rating:
Summary: IFR flight in flight sim 2000 Pro
Review: I hold a commercial multi-engine instrument rating; my CFI expired after 3 renewals in 1981. I have not activly flow in many years. the first game I purchased with my PIII 500MHZ was flight sim 98. I enjoyed that but did not really get the sensation of actual IFR flight. In flight sim 2000 pro; I have been able to set up my old airports and IFR approachs with the actual avionics settings. I have found ILS/DME approachs VERY REAlISTIC. I would throughly recommend this simulator to any pilot who is looking to sharpen their Instrument skills in their own living room. Great Job Microsoft!
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