Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004: A Century of Flight

Rating:
Summary: Learn to fly any class of plane for about $20.00
Review:
But you should spend another $20 on a good joystick also. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 will teach you how to fly a number of real planes. Let me put it to you this way - if you are on a plane and the airhostess asks suddenly over the intercom "Can anyone fly a plane?" and if the answer is - "No one here can", then your next best bet is to go with whoever has the most flight time with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004... and its all thanks to John and Martha King of King's Air school and Rod Machado, your flight instructor who feature in a couple of hours worth of scripted tutorial videos that play in the games menu and describe everything that could ever possibly want to learn about flying a plane. When you are done with that then you can start reading the couple of thousand pages of documentation that range anywhere from using digital GPS tracking systems to flying with damaged equipment. Let us be clear here for a moment - if you get into it, then you are in it for the long term and will almost certainly save yourself tens of thousands of dollars in real flight lessons because when you go up for real you will know nearly all of it except for actually doing it.

For $20 you are on your way to joining the best and cheapest flight school there is and really the tutorials are the Gem of the box, not to mention the fact that a round the world trip is possible with this simulator, including real-time weather events. I have the latest 256mb Radeon Graphics card and even it has trouble rendering everything on full detail so this game will certainly last a very long time. The 512mb card generation should be able to cope with everything.

As a note there are classic trips you can take like missions - for example the Wright Brothers first flight. There are also plenty of mods and addons for it if you search the internet.

This is a great and educational Simulator. If you like flying then what are you waiting for? It is massive improvement on previous versions of this sim (it has a couple of thousand airports to choose from). There is nothing else even remotely like it.

Rating:
Summary: Get it if you are a pilot or aspiring pilot!
Review: As an aspiring pilot I find Flight Simulator 2004 to be a great way to chill out after a hard day at work. The scenery is incredible, and it's hard to beat the realism. This isn't really a game, so if you're thinking about getting Flight Simulator 2004 and trying to beat the top score or save the princess, forget it. Sure, there is a learning curve just as there is with flying a real plane, but it's worth it if you're at all interested in flying. Tip - start with the Lear Jet, it is one of the easier planes to get the hang of. When you get tired of the planes and scenery that come with the simulator you can pick up more at sites like fs2004.com and avsim.com. All in all this "game" is highly worth the time and money if you're into flying, or would like to get into flying!

Rating:
Summary: Wow.... wow
Review: I am a retired pilot that has been flying for 32 years, and I can compare this game to the real thing. The first plane I flew was the Boeing 737, and I was shocked right when I saw it parked. When I took off, I forgot I was in my computer room, and not in the plane. I enjoyed the real world weather, meaning that you can take a picture from the internet, and fly in the weather that is really happening. I wouldn't recommend any other flight sim, other than another microsoft one. The Flight Simulator 2002 is very good, that has graphics quite equal to these. The only thing much differant between these games are the planes you can fly. But if your a huge flight sim fan like I am.. BUY THIS GAME!

Rating:
Summary: Exellent flightsim - one of the best sims on the market
Review: I am in love with avaiation, and therefore FS has become a part of my computing experience. I purchased FS 1998, and though it was a tolerable product, I in no way felt that it was a great simulation of flight. It just didn't have the look and feel of flight. However, I was blown away by the progress made in FS 2002. Though the clouds were not always realistic (modeling gave them a two-dimension look that was disconcerting to say the least), I thought that the overall experience was pretty good.
I saw FS 2004, and I thought it was probably mot much of an improvement based on reviews I had read. Let me just say that the first reviews I read were wrong. FS 2004 is a major improvement over FS 2002, and it stands as a all-time gret product for aviation buffs like me.

Improvements:

1. Weather: for the first time, flying on FS2004 simulates almost perfectly the experience of actually flying. Clouds have the mist look when you fly through them. The weather systems seem to generate randomly, just as in the non-virtual world. Also, I like the weather themes that can generate snow conditions, thunderstorms, and fair weather with high altitude stratocumulus clouds. In short, the weather is a fantastic approximation of reality. FS 2004 truly represents a quantum leap in simulations. (although IL-2 still has the best clouds).

2. ATC: FS2002 had the feel of real ATC but with some stupid problems. For example, if you fly using IFR (insturment flight rules), and you failed to reach your assigned altitude, the ATC would terminate their services (what the heck is that about?). If you wanted to fly at a different altitude you couldn't. Also, you couldn't change you IFR route, or change from VFR (visual) to IFR in flight. FS2004 makes those changes. For the first time you can change your altitude, you can change your route, and you can switch between IFR and VFR. Yea!.
Another big improvement is the ATC feel itself. For the first time, I actually feel as though I am flying in a populated world. Lots of traffic at big airports, just like in reality. Fly into San Francisco International, and you may just see airplanes lined up to land. This is a big improvement.

3. GPS: In FS2002, the GPS was very basic and frustratingly difficult to use. It was based on a second generation handheld, and consequently, there were few features. The GPS in FS2004 ahs lots of features, is far easier to use because of a new interface window that you can access in flight (see above), and you can switch to terrain features and in-flight messages. It is a more realistic approximation of a GPS device you would use in flight.

4. The World: FS2004 adds signs at airport runways so you can see where your going! It also adds more features to the world around you, such as construction cranes, and different buildings not seen in previous models of FS. Although I have noticed a new "Chick-fil-a" looking restaurant, I can state definitively that no such place exists in San Diego, CA next to the Lindbergh field runway. However, the scenery looks a lot better than FS2002. Little details really add up and make flying in FS2004 much better. The airports really look great. Denver Int'l looks very realistic now, as does Seattle-Tacoma. ( I would rate more but I just havent had the chance to fly all over to world yet!)

5. Computer: For some reason, FS2004 sees to run better on my machine than did FS2002. No "slide shows" (bad framerate) that I have found yet, and the computer seems to run better with FS2002. I like this very much. I haven't added to many third-party add-ons with FS2004 yet, but it just seems to function better than does FS2002, so perhaps FS2002 had some unresolved framerate problems.

6. Open architecture: In general, MSFS has open architecture which allows aviation geeks like me to add-on scenery, and hundreds of planes, general, military and specific airlines as well. Most of the products and downloads I have found are excellent and work well with FS2004.

Complaints:
Given how I feel about this product, I have very few complaints.
I wish the ground textures were better. However, you can either download or purchase products that have photo-realistic scenery, so you can really fly though England of Southern California and really recognize the ground.

Also, I wish the aiports had more realistic aircraft in them. Sometimes flying through LAX, I realize that Cessna would probably not be at that airport. I have even taken off from major airports with DC-3's lined up for takeoff - what is this the 1940's?
However, these are minor problems, and overall Microsoft FS2004 is an excellent product and is well worth a purchase.



Rating:
Summary: Horrible
Review: I bought this for my husband for Christmas. When installed the game locked up the entire harddrive of the computer. We were not able to save anything from the C drive. I would not recommend this to anyone.

Rating:
Summary: Buldings are not 3D!!!!
Review: I bought this game because I love simulation games and I thought that this game could be realistic but most of the buildings are not 3D so if you care how the earth looks like less than 500 feet don't buy this game.. I could recommend the IL2 because it has much more planes and the buildings are all 3D and it's as real as this game ... Although the places you can fly is very much in this game and the planes are looking great...so if you love flying low and want some action in the simulation don't buy this game..

Rating:
Summary: Good Sim, But Remember the "Sim" Part!
Review: I have been using flight simulators since MS Flight Simulator 4.0, and have more diverse experience than only Microsoft's offering to call upon. While any simulator can be made quite realistic with the latest hardware and enough money, it is important to note that Microsoft's offering is no different - you cannot, as they say, make a silk purse out of a pig's ear. This means that if you're running an underpowered system, you will not be able to run the simulation optimally.

Published system requirements:
* Pentium 450 or greater processor
* 64 MB RAM for 98/Me, 128 MB RAM for 2000/XP
* 8 MB/3-D with DirectX 7.0 or later videocard
* 1.8 GB hard drive space

My recommendation:
* P4 2.x GHz processor; the faster, the better
* 512MB RAM, with ideally 1GB under the hood
* 128MB / 256MB AGP video card that pushes TONS of pixels - the more, the better
* At least 5GB free hard drive space - You'll want to do a full install, and that comes in just under 3GB (2.88GB, I think)

I run on:
* P4 3.0GHz processor
* 1GB RAM
* Windows XP PRO (SP1)
* 256MB 8xAGP GeForce 5700 series NVidia video card
* Sidewinder joystick (soon to go, thanks to some pedals and a yoke I ordered!)
* On-board surround sound processor

The software itself is practically infinitely extendable, with software and hardware add-ons supported. A quick look around in the flightsim community will support my assertion that the software is CHEAP compared to what can be done to augment it. Add-on packages are available to augment FS2004's admitidedly weak "ground mesh" mapping - flying through Norway's waterways and coasts with the default scenery is nothing next to the real thing, and pales in comparison to some of the add-on packages (both for photo-texturing and mesh-building) out there. But of course, these things cost money (sometimes), as does building and maintaining a system that can fully take advantage of the software.

This is a SIMULATOR, remember - a dozen years ago something like this with a set of pedals and yoke would have been a BIG deal and far out of the reach of the home consumer. Now, as the bar of admission lowers, it is important to realize just how MANY numbers are being crunched every second (most of those in graphics routines), and spec a system appropriately. It might not be a multi-million dollar prospect to own any longer, but to adaquately run the simulator and get something "real" out of it, it is certainly not unheard of to run multi-head (throwing many monitors onto a machine) for a partial panoramic view - but, of course, realism comes at its price.

(same text as is found in my review on the "tin box" version of FS2004)

Rating:
Summary: Missed opportunities
Review: I usually fly military sims (Falcon 4.0, LOMAC, Forgotten Battles), and I was really looking forward to try a "peaceful" one for a change. I was a bit disappointed. I can't really judge on the flight models (although the Wright Flyer is a tad too easy to fly compared to the dedicated Wright Flyer sim, that can be purchased online), but the planes felt good engough (with the exeption of helicopters).
Cons.
Graphics. Well, that's something that should have been improved. In 2004 no sim should be having the clumsy 2D-3D cockpit views; the Il-2 came out in 2001 and it had perfect, photorealistic virtual cockpit!!! Three long years ago!!
The surroundings are the other problematic part: you actually have to buy the photorealistic USA if you want to see "real" scenery. And how about the rest of the world? Again; it's 2004. Take a look at LOMAC's (or Il-2's for that matter) terrain, cities, etc! In the Forgotten Battles, you can actually fly around in Leningrad, and find every house, every bridge in its place! In FS2004 they didn't model even New York accurately!
Traffic: you also have to buy an aftermarket-software to have "live" airports, with moving vehicles, etc.
Airplanes: true enough, you can download airplanes from the web, but it's still very frustrating to see only American-made planes given with the game. I'd like to see an Airbus shipped with the sim! The world is actually bigger than the North-American continent, you know!
How long does it take for Microsoft to get to the same level as the smaller publishers in these fields?
Pros: excellent tutorials and lessons... that's something that every sim is missing on the market.
Very flexible, many additional planes, sceneries, etc can be purchesed, downloaded or created for it.


Rating:
Summary: Flight Simulator
Review: I would really recommend this game, BUT I would buy Flight simulator 2002 because it has way more addons... take this from a 678 hour commercial airline pilot and an 8 year flightsim fan...

Rating:
Summary: BEST game of all time!!!
Review: I'm fourteen and greatly interested in flight as a future career. So when I got FS 2004 for Christmas, I was thrilled, and hoped that it would help me study before I began taking courses. It was my first FS game, and the sleek, simple menues gave a very good first impression. The Learning Center provides a ton of information on pretty much everything to do with flight, and the Historical Flights section is very interesting. I couldn't wait to start flying. And here's where Microsoft's old problem turns-up--cool and flashy on the outside, not so good once you get to know it. To make this easier to explain, I've divided the remainder of the review into several sections, each discussing an important aspect of the game:

Flight:
I've never actually flown a real airplane before, so I can't compare FS flight to flying in real life. I was quite impressed, however, and the cockpits looked reasonably realistic. Take-off, landing and all the other manuevers associated with flying are pretty much the same in the game, and ATC is excellent and makes the entire experience feel realistic. For new-comers who don't yet know how to work with the radio, FS has an 'automated tuning' feature, which enables you to simply choose the desired frequency off a list.

Realism:
The amount of realism in the game largely depends on what options you set in the Settings menue. However, for the most realistic flying experience, I recommend setting everything to hard, so that the airplane will actually crash if it hits the ground at an inappropriate angle, instead of just bouncing off it. 'Hard' settings will also enable collisions with buildings and other aircraft, although due to the inaccuracy of object boundaries, sometimes a plane will 'crash' even though it hasn't even touched the object--one of the many flaws found in the game. However, novices can choose the 'Easy' settings which will disable all this. Now comes the downside to FS realism. Two things; First, the crashes themselves are utterly stupid and unrealistic. I mean, when an airplane collides with a mountain at 200kph, it doesn't just freeze and remain intact. I expect to see at least some signs of damage--broken windshield, severed wings, charred ground, etc. I know this isn't a combat game, but even so, no damage at all, just the words CRASH on the screen is pretty disappointing. Then there's the second problem--graphics.

Graphics:
The graphics in Microsoft Flight simulator are totally and utterly terrible! I've got a 2004 model computer, with a RADEON 7000 IGP graphics card which enables me to have the diplay at the 'High' settings option (Ultra-high is the max.). And still, the buildings and water are horrendous. The ocean looks like its been moulded, and houses and trees are blurry and inaccurate, more like a child drew them. The ground itself is just flat and boring, with a smudgy green surface that's supposed to resemble grass. Airport surfaces are ok, with individual cement tiles slightly visible, but still a far stretch from real life. From afar, mountains, valleys and cities look stunning, but the closer you get, the less so.

Weather:
Ahh, yes, what Microsoft bragged about most in this game--the weather features. Let me start off by saying that the clouds do look good. They're 3D, (as opposed to the 2D clouds present in old FS games)and actually move with time. That's about it. Snow and rain look good within the cockpit, but once you shift to the outside view, rain becomes hardly visible and more like flimsy lines, or in the case of snow, isolated flakes. I've flown through clouds before in real life (in the passengers seat), so I have a good idea of what it's like. In the game, as you move from clear sky to cloud, instead of there being a gradual progression with the cloud becoming more and more dense, the screen just goes from being clear to cloudy in one second. The same goes for fog. And if you're hoping for any of the dramatic 'flying above a sea of clouds', you'll be disappointed--what looks like a completely overcast sky from bellow turns into boring, isolated clumps of cloud the closer you get to cloud level.

General:
I think I've covered most of the important aspects of the game. The only other thing worth mentioning is the flying lessons. Allthough these are a fun and good way to learn, you're intructer keeps failing you if you don't do exactly as told and ends the lesson. This can get extreamly annoying, especially if you're having trouble with something, and then don't even get the chance to figure out how to correct your mistakes. Overall, though, it's a fun game and a good way to learn flying. But as I said, Microsoft looks good on the cover, but the deeper you dig, the crummier it gets. At times the game can feel totally patched together, and by God, if you don't have a fast computer, the constant freezing will drive you nuts. Buy this game if you want to learn how to fly without pouring over books, but unless you have the best computer on the market, don't expect to get mind-blowing graphics. It's this and all the minor flaws, especially the 'patched-together' feeling of the game that end-up degrading the fun and overall value of this game.