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Move over Microsoft

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 15 / 16
Date: December 16, 2000
Author: Amazon User

You think that Microsoft is the only one to make a flight sim? Think again hotshot! X-Plane is the most impressive flight sim I've flown. The realizm level in the game is simple amazing. The best part is that if it's an airport in the continental US and many places abroad it's in this game. Ever heard of Dixon Municipal Airport or Palwaukee Airport in Illinois? Didn't think so, but they are right by my house and I can flight out of them! Hwo cool is that? some graphics are a bit sketchy but the focus of the game isn't that. Plus you can create ground objects. Now you can fly into your house. Mars, you can fly there to. The game alows you to create airplanes of your design, you want a liquid rocket fuel jet engine on you 747, now you can! You create it and the game tells you how it would fly. I can't express the fun I have with this game in words, where else can you fly the spacce shuttle?

Best flightsim available

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 13 / 13
Date: December 22, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I have owned this sim for over a year now (it is only now available in stores and online, outside the developer's site). It is realistic and constantly being upgraded, free, for owners. Excellent graphics and real flight characteristics make it best the rest, I reccomend to any serious pilot, or anyone interested in a quality sim. Plus you know that you are not supporting a giant conglomerate. Laminar Research's X-Plane it an excellent buy, even at twice the price.

A Brilliant Flight Sim!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 12 / 14
Date: May 30, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This is probably the best flight sim out there! First, the good points: 1)The flight models are brilliant, and a lot more realistic than Microsoft FS 2000. As a pilot myself, I can quite easily tell the difference between good and bad flight models. 2)Great frame rates. I have a Pentium 4 1.5GHz with 256Meg RAM, and the game runs totally smooth. I get about 60FPS in X-Plane, and about 30FPS in MSFS2000. 3)Updates come regularly, and can be downloaded directly from the website for FREE! Each update adds new features and planes. 4)One of the best weather engines out there! Download real weather, or create your own. The thunderstorms are brilliant, and microbursts are modelled well. The snow drifting across the runway is great!

The Bad Points: 1)The flat terrain. This makes the world look all the same. The only redeeming factor for the world is that most airports are modelled. How many people have heard of a little private airfield called Yearby? 2)The panels aren't as complex as the ones in MSFS, but are still functional.

All in all, a great flight sim, but download the demo version from the website first.

Great Sim, But Flawed

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 10 / 12
Date: January 11, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This is a terrific flight simulator, but it has some serious flaws. Because the world is modeled as flat, long flights do not function properly. Distant bearings are often not correct, one can't fly over the dateline, and worst of all, the ground shakes violently after significant distances are flown. In addition, though the flight model is vastly better than most sims, there are problems in the flight model that prevent acrobatic manuvers in planes that should should be able to handel them (loops don't work well at all). Finaly, the scenery is bland and although there are tools to improve it, the tools are themselves quite limited. There is hope, though, because Laminar Research is constantly adding to and fixing X-Plane. Perhaps a round world and acrobatics are in X-Plane's future. Only the developer knows for sure.

X-Plane - The Best Feeling Of Civilian Flight

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 12
Date: January 20, 2001
Author: Amazon User

After a bit of research I finally got around to purchasing X-Plane. My first impressions? The best civilian flight simulator on the market today. Yep, looks good and even more importantly feels good. I have no excuse why I waited so long to pick up this outstanding flight simulator. Wafting snow drifts blowing across the runway, rain, lightning, it out performs Microsoft's Flight Simulator line in every way. While this baby has sold for $200 and then was at $79 very recently, I picked up my copy for under $40, and now you can too. If you are a civilian flight sim fan and have gotten enjoyment from Microsoft's Flight Simulator Line, Flight Unlimited or Fly!, you owe it to yourself to check out this constantly improved (and you can download the updates for free from the xplane website, not have to pay for Xplane 2000 etc. like all the other major players). Frame rate is fluid, and a variety of user made aircraft and scenery textures are available for download, just like the other guys. So why haven't you heard more about it? Because you have been blitzed by mega ad campaigns from the other sim players.Get Xplane now, you can fly the world with this one too, but in a much more realistic fashion. Highly recommended!

Good promise, with room for improvement

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: February 14, 2001
Author: Amazon User

William Philips's review is pretty accurate. The flight model is absolutely incredible, with the exception of the acrobatics handling (stall modeling is also bit off). I mostly use X-Plane for flying larger jet airliners where acrobatics aren't (usually) an issue. The feeling of mass with the big jets is wonderful.

Another major plus is the ultra-smooth framerates. I usually get around 8-12 FPS with FS2000, whereas I'm in the 30+ range with X-Plane - this is on a p3-850 with a GeForce2. Of course, the terrain model in FS2000 is substantially better than that in X-Plane and accounts for some of the frame rate difference, making it better for low-altitude IFR flight.

The weather modeling is quite good, better than FS2000, although the actual cloud textures aren't as nice. Flying through thunderstorms at night with lightning illuminating the cockpit and surrounding clouds is fantastic.

All in all, a good sim, which is both better and worse than FS2000. It has the potential to be the greatest sim of all time, and is certainly heading in that direction. My MAJOR gripe is the flat-earth model, which severely affects instrument navigation. Given that the other major sims (FS2000, Fly) use a round earth, this is a SERIOUS limitation.

However, this is not enough to make me regret purchasing the sim. In a sense, you're buying the chance to participate in the development of a sim-for-simmers, and this is pretty unique among software developers.

Real Planes, Real Physics, Real Fun

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: July 28, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I have played a lot a flight sims... it's part of my job. I do work for this little company called Laminar Research which just happens to market a little game called X-Plane. I can't say much for Young's Modulous (yet) but as far as X-Plane goes, I can tell you that it is the very best flight simulator available and here's why: It wasn't designed for Joe who wants to play a flight simulator game- it was designed for people who actually fly airplanes- for people who like real physics- for people who want to fly in REAL TIME weather and take off from their home airport. Austin Meyer, the designer of this game, is a genious- a one man team (plus myself, the puny graphics guy) who single handedly programs the amount of stress of every single section of the airplane. Amazing programing. What gripes could you have? Graphics slightly less than par?... All versions include FREE upgrades and patches and thousands of other planes have been modeled by various fans. Give X-Plane a shot! Trust me. Amazing company, ladies and gentlemen. He gives his very own technical support.) Real Planes, Real Physics, Real Fun. X-Plane. Go for it.

X-Plane shhhh don't tell Bill

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: August 20, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I bought FS2000 and was immediately sorry that I did. I own a powerful computer with a very decent video graphics card (Diamond Viper V770 ultra) it's not a Maxtrox but it is very good. I found playing FS2000 a nighmare in refresh hell. I really wanted to find a good flight sim to just tool around in and help me out when I finally deside to bite the bullet and get my ticket. I bought X-plane after looking at some hardcore flight sim pages that were full of X-plane downloads and extras. I was AMAZED, beautifully smooth graphics, realistic sound and controls, voice simulated ATC, REALTIME weather downloaded automatically every 10 minutes (with downloaded software off X-plane site for free) and Planes- Planes- and more PLANES! Not only did the software come with everything you would ever want to try to fly, but you can download literally hundreds more off the net...FOR FREE! You can make or modify your own (although it is pretty technical and I have not tried yet, I will let the wizards do it) Oh...and one more thing... When I bought FS2000, do you think that I can upgrade to FS2002 for free (not unless pigs fly... I have not seen that one in a sim yet) The next major release of X-Plane is FREE!! The reason that I am writing this review right now is because I came to Amazon to buy my dad a copy for his birthday... He is not easy to buy for (nor easily impressed) I think that I have got this one right on the money!

X-plane V5.52-V5.99

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: December 19, 2004
Author: Amazon User

My wife bought it for me because I am a pilot and I enjoy flight simulations, but mostly the flight simulation games. We gave $30 for X-plane V5 but you can get this version now either for free or for under $10 if you look around. Really it's not worth anything so please do not run right out and buy it. At least try the downloadable demo first.

X-plane isn't a game, it's a flight sim program. A flight sim and a flight sim game are two completely different things. In a flight sim you just "fly" your computerized airplane from one airport to another. If you think that's incredibly boring you are right. In a flight sim game you get to blow things up, and others get to shoot you down, so there's never a dull moment in a real flight sim game.

I installed X-plane V5, I had nothing but problems with it. The graphics are bad. The flight model isn't realistic. I laughed when I read someone else's "good" review of the product and they said "It's so smooth!" Yes it is and the kind of smoothness that it has is not realistic. Graphic scenery viewers are smooth to; they have no character at all. Real airplanes have character.

The joystick on X-plane V5 allows for two joysticks but only allows for 3 functions and they were programmed wrong. I've only got one joystick on this computer yet the default in the X-plane sim was for joystick 2?

The airplanes do everything they can to turn upside down, I took screenshots of the F-22 that literally flipped over on the runway and took off down the side of the runway upside down, all without me ever touching the controls.

The graphics inside and outside of the airplanes and the terrain are without question among the very worst I've ever seen. The control panel is nothing but basic computer graphics thrown on the screen in a rectangle with a tiny window above so you can see out. Apparently there's an option that allows the user to change the graphics if they know how to create their own graphics.

Airplanes all fly by the principles of aerodynamics, but every type of airplane has a unique feeling and characteristics all of its own. In X-plane V5 each time you change aircraft it changes your control panel. It changes your speed and stall settings, but all the airplanes have exactly the same problem. They have no feeling to them at all.

Tired and not thinking clearly, I decided I should get the latest patches for X-plane. I went to the X-plane website and in my fatigue I missed the small link to the older files. The FAQ's were no help so I sent a message to the author, Austin Meyer who promptly sent me a rude message to let me know I was a stupid idiot and there was nothing wrong with his software. In three different messages he let me know I was a stupid idiot. Yes I am, I should never have allowed my wife to buy his software.

A software vender or author should never insult their customers for any reason. I was astounded at the great effort he went to to insult me. Don't make the same mistake I made with this software.

They say X-plane is better than MS Flight sim, I'm confident they paid the guy to say that so they could write it on the box. I have tested MS Flight sim 95 and 2000 and I can tell you X-plane is not better than MS Flight Sim. Being a pilot with a brother who is a flight instructor I can tell you that you will not find X-plane in his school, but you will find MS Flight Sims.

Anyone who wants to read the full review and see the graphics can do so on the old Independent Software Consultants website at Http://www.dream-link.org/ISC Just go to the simulation games and then to flight sims.

Laminar Reasearch vs. Microsoft

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: March 31, 2001
Author: Amazon User

X-Plane Is much better that Flight simulator. The Rendering of graphinc and frame rates is so good. I have a 750 MHZ Celoron Proccesser with 64 MB ram + 11MB Graphics Memory. X-plane runs almost perfect. Free Updates too make this a good buy.

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