Ultra Realism (X-Plane (PC))

Member Name: DocDan3

Product:	X-Plane (PC)
Date:	10/07/09 (91 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fun, Realistic Physics, Potentially, Good Graphics, Online Play, Downloads

Disadvantages: Requires Good Computer

X-Plane is a flight simulator available for both PCs and Macs. Although it's not as popular as the Microsoft Flight Simulator series, X-Plane is said to have better physics than Microsoft Flight Simulator but lesser graphics. If you are looking for an accurate flight simulator as opposed to a fun game where you fly jets, I would highly recommend X-Plane. It has all the features that other simulators have including different planes, downloadable planes, downloadable scenery, flight plans, autopilot, missions, scenarios and an enormous fully detailed world to fly around.

The latest version of X-Plane - version 9 comes in a rather large box containing 6 DVDs. The first one must be in your computer to play the game, or the game will run as the demo version and you will lose control after a short while. You must install all of the 6 DVDs for full scenery however you can pick and choose which scenery you wish to install by highlighting squares on a world map. This saves memory if you only want to fly around Europe for example, and the installer will require you to insert certain discs for the installation. Each disc may take up to 30 minutes to install, but once it's done, it's saved onto your memory. You will require 60GB of hard drive to install all the scenery, which is a lot for such a game. The game requires Mac OSX v. 10.3 or later as well as a G4/G5 or Intel processor at 1GHz. You also need 1GB RAM of system memory and a video card of at least 64MB are recommended. I would suggest having the best video card possible such as 256MB, as this will give much better graphics, which will not be depleted to upkeep the game speed. If you have a good, modern computer, then you should have no problem running this game at a fast speed.

The box contains an instruction manual with the basics as well as the controls, which can be altered in the game menus. You can fly with a joystick and throttle, but if you lack these, you can use your keyboard and mouse to control the planes. Although this is a lot less realistic and somewhat harder to control, it is practical and enables you to play the game without buying expensive equipment. In the Aircraft menu, you can choose your Aircraft and configure things such as weight and fuel. There is also a Location menu, where you can select a Global Airport to start from, view the planet map and even choose to fly on Mars with the special space planes included in the game. Under Environment, you can adjust the weather and date and time. You can get weather updates online using an internet connection to your current position - this will give you real time weather including wind, precipitation, turbulence, temperature, sea conditions and other air conditions. The whole weather system is very good and accurate. With microbursts and wind shear conditions available, you can challenge yourself in this flight simulator. You have the ability to fail over 35 aircraft systems individually or randomly too. You can configure the most detailed of settings within the game as well as choose camera angles and even record videos using quicktime.

There are various websites out there such as x-plane.com, which enable you to download aircrafts, scenery, aircraft skins, objects and many more features to improve and customise your game. Things to improve graphics such as realistic skies and shorelines are just a couple of the hundreds of examples available for download over the Internet. There are so many different planes you can fly from single-engine fixed-wing props to multi-engine jets, gliders, helicopters, spacecraft, private jets and enormous commercial airliners.

On top of the basic flight simulator, the game includes two other great tools: the Plane-Maker and World-Maker. You can create your very own planes from scratch using the Plane-Maker. This is a great feature if you want to create by hand a plane which is not yet currently available to download or not already in the game. With World-Maker, you can create your very own scenery to be positioned on the world map. All of your creations can then be uploaded to sites online to be shared with communities.

There are a few scenarios, similar to Microsoft Flight Simulator's 'missions'. These include fighting forest fires with air-dropped fire retardants and landing helicopters on offshore oil rigs. You can also try out formation-flying and being dropped from a plane in your glider to glide right down to an air field - the possibilities are endless. Inside each aircraft, you are able to view full controls in the cockpit and you can even edit these using the Plane-Maker application. Everything that you will find in a real plane is available to put into a cockpit and it can be positioned exactly as wished for ultimate realism.

Overall, this game is really fun to play but is also a serious flight simulator for those pilots or wannabe pilots. With an online server available for this game, you can even fly online at organised events, created through online community sites. If not, you will see other aircrafts flying within the game when you switch this option on. The game is ultra realistic and very easy to get used to. The controls are good and the physics and dynamics are unbelievable. The graphics can be superb if you have a good computer but the graphics will lack unless you have a good enough video card and fast enough computer. I would highly recommend buying this game for around £30.00 on amazon.co.uk.

Thanks for reading,

Dan ©

Summary: A great flight simulator for both PC and Mac