Product Details
 | Microsoft Flight Simulator X Standard DVD |
| List Price: | $19.99 |
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Product Description
Flight Simulator X Standard Win32 English North America DVD Box. Includes 17 Airplanes, 16 Detailed Airports, 28 Cities, and 40 Structured missions.Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #3730 in Video Games
- Brand: Microsoft
- Model: JH7-00044
- Released on: 2006-10-17
- ESRB Rating: Everyone
- Platform: Windows XP
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 1.25" h x 5.50" w x 7.75" l, .45 pounds
Features
- ENG NA DVD BOX DVD
Customer Reviews
From a "Not-Hardcore-Gamer" View
Let me get something of my
chest first. I have noticed a lot of bad feedback on reviewers who give
higher ratings to products that are developed by Microsoft. So just to
make it clear - I am not reviewing Microsoft, I'm reviewing the
simulator.
So.. how fun is this game? Well it's your system that
can actually answer this question. This game is amazing from my point of
view. I have used everything, from FS98 to latest X-Plane.. and nothing
is as good as this.
The Good:
- Stunning graphics. This
is the most beautiful game I have ever played. From the water effects to
shadows from the plane.. every effect and particle is breathtaking.
-
Gameplay. It is an amazing gameplay, indeed. You can now fly in any
seat you like, control literally any view of the airplane, most of the
cockpit controls work and function the way they are supposed to. The
weather system is amazing.
- Multiplayer. This one speaks for
itself: FUN FUN FUN. It is very entertaining since you get to see people
from all over the world. However, there are few cons.. like the Bad ATC
guys who often mislead you and cause you to crash etc. It was foggy, so
I depended on A/P. I was told to turn 074R, which I did. I heard the
ILS Frequency so I put it on APP but ultimately, I was put into wrong
direction and as much as APP fought to align me to the right direction
(while keeping up with sped and altitude) i still landed in the ocean..
and of course crashed (since you're not able to actually land on water
in this game). Of course, there are plenty of pefect ATC's out there but
even with few that are not as good it's still VERY fun to play. Try it
and see for yourself.
The Bad:
- ATC. ATC has not changed
much from FS2004 other than a new "window" that it displays in. Still no
ability to declare an emergency which is sort of a disappoint since you
ARE able to set engines to fail or to run out of fuel (or both). So..
if your engines die out on you don't you think you deserve a right to
report the situation to ATC? LOL
- Crash dynamics. If you're
hoping to be able to crash your plane into a mountain and see a giant
explosion and earthquakes then I have to disappoint you. While I almost
never crash in Flight Sims I still wish there were better crashing
dynamics to make it more realistic. For example, if I land heavily on my
nose I'd love to see my plane's nose gear to fail and act like it would
in physics.
Also, why can't we have the ability to land on
water? Boeing 737 CAN do that (if propely executed). Here, no matter
what amazing pilot you are.. as soon as you touch the water - you crash.
Oh well. It's a very small thing but I wish it was improved a bit.
The
Ugly:
- System requirements. I agree with what many reviewers
said - this game depends more on CPU than it does on video card. This
game will most likely NOT work at the Max settings if you have a
brand-name PC (eMachines, HP, Dell).
When I first installed the
game I had AMD Sempron 3300 (2.01GHz); 2GB DDR, Radeon X1650 Pro with
512MB. I ran the CanYouRunIT tool from System Requirements Lab.. the
report said that I exceed RECOMMENDED requirements and should have a
great experience with the game. I didn't really believe that since I
have a 3rd class CPU but I played FS2004 and HL2 on the HIGHEST settings
with absolutely NO lags so I thought it would work fine.
I was..
wrong. The game was not playable unless I set all of the aircraft,
transport and texture settings to Minnimum Low. It lagged horribly on my
native resolution of 1680x1050 32 which I had to put into 1440x900
16bit.
I purchased a new video card which is Geforce GTX 8800
with 740mb of RAM and can now play without any lags on my native
resolution with settings set to Medium High but still not maxed out.
Why? Because this game needs CPU. In this case, the CPU is the heart not
the video card. If you buy it make sure to get the SP1 for this ASAP..
there are few performance updates which could be crucial if your video
card or CPU isn't the best.
So to wrap up - I highly recommend
this simulator to any Aerolover as myself. But make sure you have a GOOD
CPU and card. If you have them you'll find yourself spending hours and
hours flying above gorgeous landscapes, commmunicating with people all
over the world, surviving a dead engine and/or faulty mechanics and
generally having fun. This amazing software is both entertaining and
educational.
"BEWARE" before you buy the
"STANDARD" Version of FSX
Let me start this review by
saying that FSX is really a great product with much growth potential for
future development. I have been using Flight Sim from the early days of
the Commodore 64. I have purchased every version since it was created.
Every version starts a bit rough but between updated patches and some
tweaking it performs beautifully.
Each version is usually a year or
so ahead of existing hardware, which basically means that you will not
be able to achieve the maximum performance with your one-year-old
computer even if you think you got a great system. If you search the
flight sim forums you will read how even those with gaming machines
complain about not enough frame rates or hi resolution scenery or
stutters during flying. Here is what I have:
Microsoft® Windows
Vista(tm) Home Premium
System Manufacturer Dell Inc.
System Model
Inspiron 531
Processor AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor
4400+, 2310 Mhz, 2
Total Physical Memory 2,045.88 MB
Available
Physical Memory 1.33 GB
Total Virtual Memory 4.21 GB
Available
Virtual Memory 3.53 GB
Page File Space 2.29 GB
Video Card NVIDIA
GeForce 6200 LE
SATA 260 Gig Hard Drive
If I set all display
sliders to Medium High I get very smooth frame rates of 20-25 FPS with
very nice scenery resolution. If I put all sliders to Ultra High my
machine almost comes to a stand still. This really is normal for Flight
Sim. So unless you have a computer twice as powerful as mine do not
expect maximum performance from this sim. At that level it would be like
you were flying in the real world.
.....................
You
might ask if I am so satisfied with FSX why do I give it only 3 stars.
Allow
me to explain as best I can. Microsoft has done something that I find a
bit upsetting. I have been playing with adding scenery and aircraft to
Flight Sim for years. I have Flight Simulator Design Studio Ver 3.5 and
EZ-Scenery both programs I paid for and that was OK since they are great
programs for enhancing the scenery in Flight Sim. I also use lots of
other freeware utilizes to help in modeling scenery. All these programs
rely on a set of Microsoft development tools called SDK. You really do
not need to know what the details of these are other than you need them
on your computer to use all these other modeling programs. Up until now
these tools SDK were free from Microsoft except with FSX. I purchased
the "STANDARD" version with out even considering this issue of obtaining
the SDK tools for FSX; I just assumed the "DELUXE" version was more
expensive because it had more Aircraft and more Airports with greater
detail. Infact if you read what the difference id between the two that
is exactly the impression you get.
I installed the STANDARD version
with no problem than started to use my other software for adding and
modifying scenery and lo and behold. The programs asked where FSX SDK
tools were.
Well I did not know so I researched the subject and was
told it was on Disk one and had to be installed separately. So I looked
on disk one and no SDK tools. Than I found out it ONLY COME ON THE
DELUXE VERSION.
No problem I said, just go to Microsoft's web site
and download the FSX SDK just like I have done with previous versions.
Now I find out that you cannot get this set of tools unless you buy the
"DELUXE" version. So no what. I now need to get the DELUXE VERSION. You
can download the PATCH for SDK but not the original set of tools.
If
you do plan on modeling and modifying the scenery of FSX DO NOT BUY THE
STANDARD VERSION. If any one out there can show me I am in error please
do. But so far I have found 12 incidences of other persons buying the
STANDARD version and finding out they should have bought the "DELUXE"
version because they needed the FSX SDK for their other designing
software.
Personally I think this is one big rip off from Microsoft
but I did buy the DELUXE version even though I had initially purchased
the STANDARD version and will use FSX because it is in fact a good
product. Because I think this was a deliberated deception to force users
to buy the deluxe version instead of the standard version I can only
give three stars.
An Excellent
Addition to the Series
Microsoft Flight Simulator X
is the tenth editon to the Flight Simulator franchise, and it certainly
delivers. Like previous installments, FSX puts you in the cockpit as a
pilot for any number of aircraft, including Boeing 747s and the LearJet
45. New this year, however, is an Airbus A321 and an AirCreation Trike
Ultralight (think of a waterski with wings and wheels attached). Flight
Simulator 2004 had many commemorative aircraft for the one hundredth
anniversary of flight, but these are gone for FSX. I wasn't really
bothered by the removal, although some will be disappointed that you
can't recreate the Wright Brothers' Kittyhawk flight anymore.
Graphics-wise,
Flight Simulator X is a great improvement over Flight Simulator 2004.
You may now see animals on the ground and traffic on major highways,
depending on the age and quality of your graphics card. Make sure you
have a DVD-ROM drive, because FSX is a gigantic game and takes up two
DVDs. In comparison, FS2004 took up the equivalent of about half of a
single-sided DVD.
One can make almost any decision they want in
Flight Simulator X, from using the provided Air Traffic Control feature
to choosing to make your experience as realistic as possible. Veteran FS
gamers will feel instantly at home with FSX, mostly because the general
look and feel remains untouched. Its only flaw is that it is not fully
enjoyable unless you spend an extra twenty dollars or so for a joystick.
Even so, you can still use a keyboard and mouse to control the plane.
As a side note, the deluxe DVD is not much of an improvement over the
standard version. Really, the only added feature is more aircraft.
Since
it also is compatible with Windows Vista (provided you have met all of
the requirements), I recommend that you go out and buy it today for
yourself or an aspiring pilot.
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