An Ok simulation (not a game) (Microsoft Flight Sim 2004 (PC))

Member Name: Jamescpalmer

Product:	Microsoft Flight Sim 2004 (PC)
Date:	27/10/03 (195 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good Graphics, Realastic, Good for pilots

Disadvantages: Sound, Exictment, Sound

Reviewing a Microsoft flight simulator is always a tricky affair. Not because of the merely reasonable graphics, or the below-par sound effects, but because it isn't a game in the true sense of the word.
Before all the flight sim aficionados start complaining, let's look at the facts. A game needs an objective. In the majority of flight sims, this objective is to blow something up and return to base to collect points or promotion. But FS2004 doesn't have an objective or a challenge. It's flying purely for the sake of flying.

As its title suggests, this latest version commemorates the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers' first flight from Kitty Hawk airfield. And believe it or not, the Wright Flyer is one of the aircraft available - despite the fact that it only flew for a few seconds - along with other famous classics such as The Spirit of St Louis.

But there are some glaring omissions. No Concorde. No Tri-Star. No De Havilland Comet, the world's first transatlantic jet. In fact, looking at FS2004, you'd think aircraft development stopped in the 1930s and restarted in the 1970s. Cynics might conclude that this is a deliberate ploy to make an add-on pack a necessity. Time will tell.

Graphically, FS2004 is good, but IL-2 Sturmovik has surpassed it. The young pretender is pushing boundaries in the technical department too, and that's not a good thing for Microsoft, which prides itself on Flight Simulator being 'As real as it gets'.

This is very boring but it is worth £40 for the graphics

Summary: