User Rating: 8.6 | Microsoft Flight Simulator 9 PC
If you’re new to flight simulations and want the best civilian aircraft simulator available, then buy this – it really is that good. If however you have Flight Simulator 2002 and are wondering whether or not to spend your hard earned cash on Microsoft’s latest release, I would have to say the this version is more of a ‘polish’ of FS2002 rather than a full blown upgrade. The graphics are certainly a lot crisper and benefit from better textures, and the weather system has been completely overhauled to be more realistic, both in flight and in looks. There is a new selection of legendary prop aircraft added to the list of planes available, though I doubt these aircraft will be used much after their initial novelty has worn off. Since FS2000 this game has really been optimized well – on my Athlon 1.7Ghz PC with a GeForce 4 4400 I can run it with all graphics maxed and still maintain a decent smooth framerate. The key to running these kind of programs well is in the processor speed and the memory, so if you’re running anything less than a 1Ghz and 256Mb of RAM it really is worth upgrading to make the most of this simulator. BOTTOM LINE: If you’re a casual flight sim gamer and already own FS2002, save your money until FS2006 undoubtedly gets its release. However, if you’re new to the genre or are a hard-core sim enthusiast then you owe it to yourself to get this wonderful piece of software.
