Take To The Skies In 2002
Written: Oct 30 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Excellent flight modelling, extensive airport selection, fantastic Air Traffic Control Option.
Cons: Elevation maps still substandard. High resolution modes give major performance hit. Not enough aircraft types.
The Bottom Line: If you love planes and are a serious flight or simulation enthusiast, this program is for you. If you are looking for a simple arcade experience, keep looking.
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| anthonycogs's Full Review: Microsoft Flight Simulator 2002 Professional for W... |
System Requirements :
PII 300 MHZ or better CPU
64 MB of RAM
8 MB 3D Video Card
650 MB of HD space
DirectX 8.0a
Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP
Keyboard, Mouse, Joystick
Internet connection for Multiplayer
Test System
PIII 450 MHZ
384 MB of RAM
16 MB ATI All-In-Wonder 128
20 GB IBM Deskstar GXP HD
DirectX 8.0a
Tested on Win98 and Win2000
Logitech Wingman Extreme
56K AOpen Winmodem
I have slogged through a number of Microsoft Flight Simulators over the last few years. With MSFS98 and MSFS2000, I was hoping for a marked improvement. And while I did appreciate the advances in graphics, AI, customization, and overall immersion, the simulations have always left me feeling somewhat empty. I was hoping that MSFS2002 would change that feeling. Unfortunately, it has not.
Graphics
MSFS2002 presents a fantastic selection of regions and airports. Over 21,000 all over the world. I live in Caledon Ontario, and we have a tiny flying club in a city called Brampton just nearby. It is represented in MSFS2002. Not just that, but McLaughlin Road and King Street, the intersection on the Northwest corner of the airfield, is there as well. I was astounded.
From that airport, I took off in a Cessna and proceeded to fly over Caledon, realizing that the dark patches of pseudo-town represented Orangeville, Bolton, and Caledon East, all tiny little blips on the Canadian landscape. Recreated here, though in true Spartan fashion. I turned towards Toronto, and 5 or so minutes later I was flying over the Boeing plant and over Lester B. Pearson International Airport. 5 minutes after that, I was over the Skydome.
The unfortunate part of this story is that the graphics still fall short of modelling real-world terrain. Toronto and its surrounding areas are located on a geographical region known as the Niagara Escarpment. As you fly North from Lake Ontario, the topography changes, and you get rolling hills and a general upsweep of the landform. You wouldn't tell from this program. MSFS2002 seems to interpret 2 types of landforms : Mountainous and Flat. It's unfortunate really, since topography can be one of the most fascinating things about flying in the first place (really, how many times have you looked out of a plane window and said "Wow, look at that featureless expanse of land down there"?). And then, to see buildings pop out onto that scenery like sticks on a chessboard sometimes takes away from the experience.
My recommendation : Start in Venice, Italy and fly to Paris, France. It takes you right over the Alps, which MSFS2002 models VERY well. It is one of the best flights I have done so far.
Flight Planning
I am a frequent traveller to Europe, and the next thing I tried was a Toronto to Paris non-stop on a 747-400, a flight I have taken a half-dozen times, though this was the first time I ever flew myself! I entered my Departure airport and Destination airport (Lester B. Pearson and Charles De Gaulle, respectively) and proceeded to take off. 7 hours later, I was in Paris, crashing onto the runway at CDG, since I have yet to master the intricacies of landing a Jumbo Jet. And believe me, I actually mean 7 hours! I flew to Paris in realtime, wondering just how I was able to overcome the boredom (and my natural fear of flying) all those times before. Worry not, you can set the program to compress time as fast as your computer can handle.
Before I began the above flight, I was given the option of selecting my plane, the paint scheme, and call-sign. There are only about 16 planes to choose from, however, and you are limited to a few (and in some cases only one) paint schemes. I was also given the option of downloading real-world weather data into the program, which I did. It was raining in Toronto that day, and I must admit, taking off in the exact weather that I could see out of my window was very immersive as well as very impressive. It completely added to my experience.
I was given the option of flying on instruments or using GPS. I opted for the latter, since I am nowhere near the skill level to fly on instruments alone (but I'm learning). With GPS, the flight essentially becomes a series of left or right turns to keep your plane on the line indicated on the GPS window. I highly recommend this mode for beginners like myself.
All through my trip, I was able to keep in touch with local Air Traffic centres, who would give me contact data, and give me the option of landing at any given time. I was tempted to land at Reyjkavik, but decided against it. Too bad you can't have a virtual conversation with the ATCs. It can get pretty lonely on those trans-atlantic routes.
My largest complaint with MSFS2002 lies in the plane selection. 16 planes? In the Professional edition? COME ON!!! Last time we at least got the Concorde. Not this time. How about an Airbus? A Lockheed L-1011? An MD-80? That's not too much to ask. In any case, we will probably be able to purchase expansion sets later, which is fine, but in my opinion, a product labeled Professional, and at this price point, should contain more extras than this. For die-hard hobbyists, there is an included aircraft modeller. I personally found it to be unintuitive and complex, but that could just be me.
As far as existing aircraft models, BEWARE! Yes, you can download aircraft types from servers all over the world, but most are only compatible with MSFS2000 or 98. You can import them into 2002, but strange things happen : flaps don't work, gear doesn't retract, the cockpit doesn't have any usable buttons. In fact, I was only able to steer, release brakes, and increase/decrease the throttle. Not ideal. Also, an Antonov 225 transport was grossly misprepresented in scale while flying. So, bad proportions and lack of control keep me from recommending this option, until MSFS2002 specific models start appearing.
Views
To look around your flight-simulated world, the program provides the ability to view your Cockpit, a Virtual Cockpit, a Tower view, and a Spot Plane view.
The Cockpit view is the one you will use most often, as all of your instruments are here. You may use other views extensively, but you will always find yourself returning to this view. You can use keyboard commands to access your gear, beacon and landing lights, fuel crossover, etc. Or you can actually click on the control on the dash and it flips to the on or off position. The feel of realism is here, yet the program's cockpits still can't touch Flight Unlimited or Fly! If your joystick has a hat switch, you can easily access useful left or right views, downward views (which can be useful if you have a windowed floor, as some planes here do), an upward view which gives you a look at your upper instruments (or up through your canopy, again depending on the plane), as well as a backwards view which, in most cases, gives you a critical view of your upholstered seat. More views would have been useful. I also feel that if you are able to see an instrument in another view, you should be able to use it, too (much like Falcon 4.0). Not here.
The Virtual Cockpit is a seemingly interesting view. It switches to a 3D rendered cockpit allowing you almost 360 degrees of virtual rotation to see what your control area looks like. However, since your controls don't function while in this admittedly pretty view, it becomes no more than a 30-second novelty. Moreover, for some reason certain planes don't support this view... I wonder why? In any case, it should be stated that the published material promoting MSFS2002 lauds the "Virtual Cockpit With Working Controls". Mine don't work, though that could be a limitation of my system, not the program.
The Tower view is questionable. Except for takeoffs, approaches, and flybys, what's the point. Not to mention the fact that if you take off and fly straight away, your plane changes to a finite size, and then it doesn't matter whether you are 30 or 3000 miles out, the view from the tower is exactly the same. Useful, huh?
My favourite view is the Spot Plane view. Rendered in 3D, this view allows you to see your plane from the outside, against the sky and terrain. You can use your hat switch to cycle fully around the plane to any angle. MSFS2002 really shines when rendering this view. It is a very profound feeling to activate autopilot, then circle your plane until the setting sun is at your tail. Watch it set, then cycle around to watch the moon rise. Very cool. Both bodies also cast their glows or shadows on the water and terrain, if you've enabled that option. This view is definitely a lot of fun. Again though, control is important, and for that you will eventually have to return to the cockpit.
There is also a fantastic view called Top Down, which focuses on your plane (a crosshair) against relief-accurate world terrain maps. You can set the view from mere metres to thousands of miles up. I use it at about 3,000 miles up, where I get a fantastic view of rivers, lakes, and mountains. On my system, the scroll was so fine that you could barely notice it. With the crosshair option off, I could swear I was looking out a plane window!
MSFS2002 also allows you to open any of these views as windows in your cockpit. Bear in mind though, you take a sizeable performance hit in doing so. I would only recommend utilizing this admittedly welcome feature on high end systems only.
Bear in mind that there are some refresh issues when playing MSFS2002. Large areas of terrain are loaded for you, however, you will eventually fly to the edge of that map, and a new one needs to be loaded. If you are flying in realtime, you may not even notice. However, if you are flying at compressed speeds, you may notice that you suddenly run out of sky or earth. A bit distracting to say the least. One very good reason for lots of extra RAM.
Systems
When dealing with a program like MSFS2002, there are two certainties : floating point operations are a given, and RAM is always desirable. The first point refers the calculations and extrapolation of data that a computer performs when doing complex jobs like expressing a 3-dimensional world (and all of its associated elements like clouds and rainfall) on your screen, such as is found in MSFS2002. Traditionally, such programs required you to have a cutting edge system in order to reap the full experience. MSFS2002's system requirements are quite modest, but as any hardcore gamer will tell you, minimum requirements don't mean squat. I, however, will tell you that on my machine (specs listed above) which is not a cutting edge system, the game ran remarkably well.
What do I mean by "remarkably well"? 800X600 resolution, 32-bit colour depth, with all effects turned on and to maximum. Using MSFS2002's built-in frame rate analyzer, I am getting 28 fps, not bad at all. I admit however, that some of the prettier effects like contrails and visible air traffic are usually missing on my system. Hey, you can'w win 'em all. At least it runs smoothly!
This brings me to point number 2 : RAM. As you can see from my system specs, my machine has a lot of RAM on it. This, along with a post-installation defrag of my drive, has helped me to achieve some great results on my humble machine. With 512 MB of SDRAM retailing for about $100 Canadian or $60 USD, there is no excuse for not giving your system a glut of RAM to feast on (check your motherboard specs first, of course). MSFS2002 can take full advantage of lots of memory, being able to load large texture maps and more scenery into the system with fewer disk accesses. All of this means a smoother, more stable flying experience in MSFS2002.
As far as system specs go, let me finish by saying that MSFS2002 should really scream on any system 1GHZ or faster with at least 256 MB of RAM. If, however, like me, you are stuck with some older technology, don't worry about it. The game runs great on a PIII 450 at least. If some other readers have different system specifications, it might be a great idea to post your own results to give our readers more information about Suggested versus Actual system requirements.
It is, however, safe to say that your MSFS2002 experience will increase with 1) a faster processor, 2) lots of RAM, 3) a good 32 or 64 MB video card, and 4) a 7200 RPM drive. In my opinion though, I am glad Microsoft has produced a product that doesn't exclude us poor saps who haven't upgraded to P4 technology yet.
I ran the game in Windows 98 and Windows 2000. In both cases, rock solid performance with nearly identical framerates, which I admit surprised me. My feeling is that Microsoft probably realized a good section of their audience could potentially be running Windows 2000 in their offices (lunchtime can be a great time to take a flight!).
This is a very well behaved game, though I do not recommend running it at 640X480 resolution, as it looks hideous. For my system, any resolution above 800X600 gave me an unacceptable performance hit. If you have a higher end system, though, go for it!
Documentation
Okay, we've talked about all of the fun stuff. Now let's get down to brass tacks. You won't be able to fully enjoy the experience of MSFS2002 unless you know how to take off, fly, and land a plane. To do this properly, you need to read the manuals. There are lots of them, and they are long.
The box comes with a decent booklet outlining, in very general terms, some of the more important features of the game. All other technical manuals are contained within the program itself, and you need Adobe Acrobat in order to access them. If you want to print them out, you may do so. My advice : Do so! Flying is an overtly complex task, and you truly need to have printed documentation next to you as you fly. It is important that you familiarize yourself with the basic planes first, and then move up to the complicated beasts.
One thing that I can honestly say about MSFS2002 : This is not an arcade game. This is a simulation in every sense of the word. As I have told many of my friends in the past, Flight Simulator is not so much a game as it is a hobby. And you need to be prepared to invest the amount of time it will take you to properly use the program.
Don't forget, this software can actually be used by Student Pilots as credits towards flight time! It's a training tool more than anything else, and the learning curve matches that fact. (For those of you who actually are student pilots and want to learn more about the educational elements of MSFS, contact your local flying school).
If you are looking for a quick and dirty flight experience, I would suggest you look elsewhere (Microsoft's Crimson Skies is a great title for arcade buffs).
The Bottom Line
MSFS2002 is a great flight simulator. It allows precise control of aircraft and their associated support systems. Terrain modelling is good, though there will probably always be room for improvement. It will run on most systems out there today (though in SLIGHTLY limited fashion), which is a great bonus.
There should be more planes. The available views could be more refined and useful. And it would be nice if cities could be modelled in even greater detail. And I am also saddened that my system resources don't allow for all of the really cool effects like tire smoke on landing and high-altitude contrails to be visible. Time for a more powerful machine, I guess.
Is this a wish-list? You bet it is!
If you are an arcade enthusiast, I cannot recommend MSFS2002. If you are a flight enthusiast, I can recommend it almost completely. The best thing I can do is split the difference, and say that MSFS2002 gets a 3 out of 5 from me. It's a lot of fun, but not for everybody.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
anthonycogs
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Member: Anthony Cogliano
Location: Caledon East, Ontario, Canada
Reviews written: 3
Trusted by: 0 members
About Me:
Toronto-based writer and film-maker, and a student of all things Cinematic.
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