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If you already have a copy of the original game there's really no need to spring for this version. The extras it comes with, including the best add-on, Sky! Special Edition, which dramatically enhances the realism of clouds and weather effects in the game, are freely available on the Internet.
The real changes we had hoped to see, like a damage model, are sadly missing from this release. Crashing a plane doesn't result in little pieces scattered from hell to breakfast. The poorly piloted craft instead tumbles around the landscape like a thrown tin toy with nary a scratch to be seen. We've actually caromed off the tops and sides of skyscrapers, ricocheting our Hawker business jet through downtown Chicago like a runaway bullet, and emerged on the other side of town unscathed. Novices will like this rough-and-tumble approach, but serious pilots will miss out on having to pay for their mistakes.
Unfortunate as it is that Fly!2K does not live up to its realistic boasts, it is still a good game. We were awestruck by the attention to detail displayed in the airplane panels--some have more switches and dials than an entire season of Star Trek reruns. There are thousands of airports to fly into and out of, although the majority of the scenery between them is an eyesore. We really liked the fully functioning KLN-89 global positioning system, installed in most of the aircraft, designed to act just like the real-life item. There's a lot of stuff packed on Fly!2K's three CD-ROMs that could benefit nearly any aspiring pilot who doesn't take the designer's claim--"if reality had a patent, we'd own it"--too seriously. --T. Byrl Baker
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fly 2K: A Pilot's View,
By John D. Vesper (Tulsa, Ok United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Fly!2k (CD-ROM)
Fly! 2K is the most recent development of the original Fly! In creating it, the developers have tried to increase the realism beyond the commendable level of the original product, and for the most part they have succeeded. As a bonus, more aircraft models are available as well.Be forewarned: This program is a resource hog! A full install will take up an astounding 1.6 GIGABYTES of disk space. It also needs a video card of at least 16mb or, better yet 32mb. I would also recommend at least 128 megs of memory for adequate play. My system had the disk space and memory, but not the video. As a result frame rates, while adequate at altitude, become very slow during landings, which has on occasion resulted in massive overcontrolling on final. I do view this as a limitation of the computer, and not of the game. You have a choice of which screen you wish to view first, choosing from flight planning, environment, and aircraft setup. Flight planning allows you to choose start and endpoints from all US airports (Imported directly from the FAA database) and navaids (ditto), and at least the major airports worldwide. You can choose to fly direct, via gps, or using the more mundane vor's and ADF stations. Next you can go to the aircraft setup, where you can choose from Cessna Skyhawk, Piper Malibu, Piper Navajo, Beech KingAir and a Hawker-Siddley Bizjet. From there you can set weight by adding and removing passengers, changing the weight of each, and by setting the amount of baggage in each available compartment. Fuel volume is also adjustable. A nice touch not found on some sims is actual air traffic control, including atis, FSS, clearance delivery, ground (which will display arrow markings on the pavement to guide you where you need to go), tower, approach/departure, and centers for ifr. It's all there, and reasonably realistic, except for the fact that they seem to ignore the wind settings (which are, accurate from atis) and frequently guide you into a takeoff or landing with the wind behind you. They seem to have a default runway and direction, and ATC chooses this regardless of winds. (not good) The environment setup page allows you to either set up the environment by hand (same settings world wide) or import metar's from the FAA/NOAA. When setting by hand you can set wind speed and direction, temp, barometer setting, visibility, precipitation type and intensity and the height and thickness of up to 3 cloud layers. A very nice touch. With the exception of 5 urban areas, the scenery below you is composed of generic overlays, which are used for various terrain types: Urban, suburban, rural, etc taken from landsat satellite imagery. This causes the scenery, while quite realistic, to become very repetitive. This program is definitely for flying, not sightseeing. Even in the more detailed areas major landmarks are not particularly accurate, and are missing all together in smaller towns (Example: Michigan Stadium, seating 110,000+/- is nowhere to be seen in the town of Ann Arbor). Rather disappointing. The Instrument panel on the other hand is an absolute delight. The panels are rendered with absolute authenticity, and they are appropriate to the aircraft being flown. Instruments, radios, and navigational aids all work just like the real item. For a program of this type, this is in my opinion a major plus. Flight dynamics are all in all pretty good, however the inherent stability of some planes is pretty much missing. I have a lot of hours in Cessna Skyhawks and I can guarantee that they are as stable as a concrete slab on a flat surface (and about as maneuverable). The skyhawk in this sim is quite unstable, particualarly in pitch. (At this point, I should point out that I am using a joystick, not a yoke, which I am informed is a lot more stable.) With practice, I am able to trim it out after a while, and maintain altitude within about 100 feet of target. Now the bad news: The Skyhawk is the stable one! The Piper Malibu is a little less stable, but can again be held to about 100 feet +/- in level flight. Pitch trim is also somewhat sensitive. Using a 1% (the minimum) change in trim will cause a noticable change in vertical speed. Moving on to the Navajo, and even heavier BeechCraft KingAir, these ones are even less stable. A single click of pitch will take you from +500 feet per minute climb to -1000 feet per minute dive....WAY too sensitive. It is equally hard (impossible) to maintain altitude using throttle: enough change in throttle settings to be detected results in major swings in vertical speed. Stability settings in the setup screens for pitch, roll and yaw would be greatly appreciated. Airport representations are pretty good, with major airports having accurate depictions of the ramps, taxiways and runways. Buildings are either quite rudimentary, or missing entirely however. Minor airport have no taxiways. One final gripe: Some airports simply aren't where they should be. Boston Logan is 5 miles inland, rather than right on the harbor, and Mackinac Island (Michigan) is located 5 miles inland on the mainland. The island itself is still there, but shows no airport, or town, for that matter. All in all, however, this is a credible attempt at a simulation of the experience of piloting an actual aircraft. One does need to remember that the point of this sim is flying, not sightseeing, however. The 3d simulations are good with the proper equipment, and most of the experience is there. Yes, I am looking forward to the next version, Fly II, which is due out later this year.
18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Best Flight Sim! Better than FS2000,
By Paul Arellano "Last Days on Earth" (VA, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Fly!2k (CD-ROM)
Finally, a flight sim that's able to unseat the dominant FS series in the flight sim market. Fly 2K! is the updated version of Fly!. This game was designed to cater to flight sim enthusiasts and not to gamers like what FS2000 was designed for. You may get frustrated with the controls of the plane, and you might even say it's buggy. But in truth, the game is now stable thanks to TRI's dedication to patching and releasing an updated version of the game. FLy 2K! comes with several neat add-ons like Roger Wilco support, INFOMETAR to download actual weather patterns of the day, a scenery utility from HowintheWorld software called Sky! which completely overhauls the cloud details of the sim. Flight dynamics are very real. If you got used to how easy FS2000's dynamics are , you'll be suprised just how difficult it is to fly a plane. The sim requires a good background knowledge of flight dynamics. The reality of flying the modelled planes could be very unforgiving at times. My only gripe about this game is that you cant crash yourself. The plane will just bounce off the ground and continue flying which then brings my stars a tad lower. Also, I've been having problems calibrating my USB Flight Sim yoke with this game. Graphics are beautiful. There are a lot of free downloadable utilities so you can add more life into the scenery. Look for a free utility called Ground Control-www.howintheworld.com. You'll be amazed at how it'll transform the flight graphics to real life terrain. Although, there are just two third party add-on planes for this game so far, nevertheless, these add-ons raised the realism level of the game even higher, an add-on from PMDG for a 757 series and from Wilco Publishing for a 737 series. Overall: get this game. You'll love it.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Panels. Good game.,
By A Customer
This review is from: Fly!2k (CD-ROM)
This game has the best and most realistic panels of any other flight sim game on the market. Every switch, dial, etc.,.. is THERE. And the panels are crisp, colorful and clear. The problem is.....scenery.... I think the makers held back on scenery in order to improve framerates. If this is what they planned, they succeeded, this game runs very smoothly. So if you want to feel like you're in a real cockpit, absolutely no other game comes close. The developers obviously worked very hard on that. NOw don't get me wrong, most of the scenery is acceptable, if a little "flat." Some of the city scenery is actually quite good, but overall, if you like to look at scenery, and if you want to see past 20 miles, and you are expecting detailed airports, you may not like what you see. Look at it this way; flight realism in this game is top notch, so get those other games for scenery, and get this one to learn how to fly an airplane as realistically as a home computer expericence can allow. You can always buy scenery as an add-on for this game, something that is now available. Oh yeah, I hear people complain that they've bought this game for 8 year old Tommy and he didn't like it. This is a true flight simulation experience, and not so much a game, so little kids probably won't take to it! 2115|R3VZKZ6PVE26FJ;2115|RQU3OVQ9W1XHC;2115|RX88J2WS1K0E9;
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