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"Vicarious existence is a ... waste of time"

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 10 / 17
Date: April 26, 2002
Author: Amazon User

INTRO: The main aspect of this game I have a problem with is the graphics. In particular, the terrain at low altitude needs much more work. For example, the shadows that are cast from the skyscrapers are much too dark, they look like little black holes [albeit square ones].

QUESTION: If your brain has the ability to store & access roughly 80 Terabytes of information, then how many zeroes and ones do you need to effectively map the world?
ANSWER: Waaay more than the number contained on these three CD-ROMs.

GROUND SCENERY: The first airport I took off from was Sydney. Don't expect a level of detail where you see Novotell or anything close to that sort of realism while you're rolling down the taxiway. Don't expect to see "Sheremetovo 2" written in cyrillic on the terminal building at Moscow airport. Don't think you'll be able to fly past your local city recognising all these landmarks either. At most, expect two or three recognisable structures per city. Even with all the graphics settings at maximum, look closely and all you'll see is rendered textures and polygonal bitmaps.

CLOUD GENERATION: So what do I like about FS2002? I love the clouds. They can appear very white and wispy, or they can seem dark and stormy. The clouds are fantastic! Even so, there is one thing missing with the "cloud modelling" which would make them even more realistic. You can generate virtual clouds that look absolutely true to life, but they simply cannot produce a sunset. If a cloud moves in front of a setting sun, it only looks like a thick smoke/fog/smog with a very feeble sun trying to penetrate through it. There is absolutley no "silver lining" effect - now that would really be something to behold: a virtual sunset!

ARTIFICIAL REALITY: One youngster commented that when you hit the ground, the plane doesn't even break up or anything. When I read his review, I thought "Yeah, but he's a kid - what does he know?" But I think for a simulator that claims on the front of the box: "Flight Simulator 2002 As Real As It Gets", it is a rather misleading statement. You can dive straight into the ground at over mach 1, and the plane will merely stick in to the ground with the nose and fuselage "buried" up to the leading edges of the main wings - with no impact crater or explosion! Is that as real as it gets? I sure hope not. Can a 747-400 /really/ fly upside-down or perform 30,000 foot loop-the-loops? I have absolutely no idea, but it sure was fun executing these manoeuvres!!.

FINAL OPINIONS: I simply can't believe they market this game as a game - they should sell this strictly to pilots (in duty-free shops at airports worldwide) - there is simply not enough action or suspense for the average gamer. On the other hand, if you are a pilot, or you'd like to be a pilot, or you're an aviation fanatic, then I can sincerely recommend this.
I realised after playing for the first time, that I could have actually booked a *real* 1.5 hour flight for the price of this game. I was extremely disappointed at first, but occasionally I've grown to enjoy the "game" for what it is (a simulator). ..

Noteworthy Improvements but One BIG Problem

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: October 29, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I have to say that this sim is a great deal improved from the 2000 version. It has greater environmental detail, The Air Traffic Control interaction is a worthy improvement, and among many other things, the flight dynamics have been improved. And, even though I have a 450 Mhz Pentium 3 with 192 Mg's of RAM, it still runs very well on my computer...it only becomes the infamous slide show when I set the sound and display to the highest levels.
The big "BUT" is that the skins on the airplanes are all messed up. Sometimes the colors are in the opposite phases, sometimes they are all shuffled up (the faces of the pilots are on the tail and the engine skins are on the sides of the fuselage), and sometimes they are on the wrong planes(the Landmark Airlines skin for the 777 will be on the Cessna Seaplane and it won't even fit).
I'm hoping for all my fellow simmers that this is a problem with my computer, not with the program. I suppose if it is, then MS will make a patch for it.

Great Realism, But lacks the "Game" Part

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: August 12, 2002
Author: Amazon User

First off, this is a Great Game. If you are truly interested in aviation then you might want to look in to this game. I am Interested in Flight simulators, but the problem is, is that there are not a lot of "fun" aspects of the game. You dont shoot down any aircraft, like in war flight sims. All you do is fly. Simply Fly. You can cut engine power, to add a twist, but thats it. dont get me wrong, the game is good, its fun to fly but you just cany expect much more.

Some of the good things are the realism. Its simply as close as you get. There are so many airports, you can fly to your homeotwn, if its New York City, or some small town in kentucky. You also have the opportunity to fly a wide variety of aircraft. Some of us might be able to fly small Cesnus, but i doubt that many will ever be able to fly a fully loaded Boeing 777.

In Conclusiion: If your intrested in aviation, not just flying a P-51 and nockin off 109's but interested in flying small aircraft(or large), than this is the game for you. I am glad that I bought this game. I dont play it all the time, but its a nice game to play and you can test your skill and learn alot. Its all how interested you are.

best simulator yet

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: November 21, 2001
Author: Amazon User

wow, that was my first reaction when I played the game for the first time. This game is perfect. The best thing about the game, besides the graphics, is the atc. No matter where you are, the atc always informs you and gives you directions. I also love the artificial inteligence they put in now the sky's are crowded.
This is the best simulator yet. I would reccomend this to any one.

Clear for Take-off!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: August 16, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I played this game at a relative's house, and I liked it so much that I want to get it for myself!

I started out just creating flights and crashing the plane (there are no crash graphics, which was a bummer for me, the plane could hit the ground with the nose, but then just pop back up and skid on it's landing gear! The planes wouldn't sink in water either!), but then I started 'learning' how to fly the plane! That was where I got hooked on the game. "Learning" how to fly was a lot of fun, it was like you were really flying with an instructor in the cockpit with you (well, it is a SIMULATOR)!

Next, the graphics are very good, and the sound effects are very realistic! The physics of flying are also great and so are the weather physics! I recommend buying this sim, but only if say you want to fly realistically. If you don't, just buy some other game (such as a fighter pilots game).

The detail is amazing

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: January 02, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game the day before New Year's Eve, and I'm still amazed at the detail. In Vegas, George Carlin is headlining at Bally's and the Bellagio fountains are in full swing. The entire Los Angeles area from a high altitude looks EXACTLY what it looks like in real life (I fly over it frequently). Actually, that goes for every city. Even taking off from a small, non-descript island in the Philippines, all of the surrounding island geography is correct. Simply amazing.

A Giant Step Up from FS 1998

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: December 29, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I've used FS 98 for several years and wanted to have improved graphics and realism. I'm a casual user, not a gamer. FS 2002 graphics are very good. Realism is improved with more ground detail, air traffic control and better flight characteristics.

I use a basic joystick and flight characteristics are smooth. Landing, for example, are easier in FS 2002.

Overall, a great casual user game but, with the Ground School and other learning capabilities, FS 2002, can accomodate the avid flyer as well.

A great deal with the MS $20.00 rebate thru August, 2005. Just find the rebate form and keep your receipt.

Fly, Baby Fly

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 20
Date: February 05, 2005
Author: Amazon User

You all know, great game, great graphics, etc. This review is THE CONS.
1.Sometimes you can't move your plane as soon as you start and you have to restart the flight because in 2 seconds, the engine broke down.
2. Many geographical errors. The Statue of Liberty isn't there. Microsoft put to much work in details.
3. LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGG load times.

great sim for P4 owners.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: June 21, 2004
Author: Amazon User

You wake up at the controls of a small airplane. You're engine is already humming, but the plane isn't moving - must be those parking brakes. You're parked at the back of a runway of a small airfield with just one runway. Off in the distance, a huge dark tower looms, piercing the sky. What could just be the start of a Steven King novel or an episode of "Twilight Zone" is just the latest and prettiest edition of Microsoft Flight Simulator. Those who've flown older versions of MSFS will know what to expect - better graphics and sound, a database of airports and airspace, more included aircraft, better looking aircraft for those you can add-on (using 3rd party files) and a customizable editor that allows you to choose where, when and how you will go, and what color 747 or F-16 will get you there. FS2002 also continues MS's tradition of incorporating features of 3rd party add-on software offered on older versions of FS. FS2002 comes with a speaking interactive ATC (though others had "added" ATC years ago) to go along with all of those verbal lessons (FS2002, like FS2000, comes with a speaking flight instructor, though the new one seems as prone to getting hung-up as the old one). The tweaked graphics engine seems to allow for more realistic texturing of airplanes (from the glossy finish of a freshly built Mustang to the flat black of an SR-71), and more acceptable realistic movement of animated flight-control surfaces, flaps and landing gear. In addition to exteriors, panels and flight models, add-on aircraft now have "effects" (contrails, afterburner). Ground texture is also improved over FS2000, making for much more convincing low-level flight. Instead of the stiff blue of the water in older versions of FS, rivers, seas and oceans have waves in FS2002, probably to highlight the inclusion of seaplanes.One annoying detail - long load times. This is compounded by the fact that you can only change one aspect of a flight at a time (time of day, location, weather), requiring the program to reload the flight each time.While nothing will rock your socks off in FS2002, it's a solid and enjoyable sim that allows itself to be pretty much what the individual user wants it to - from an entry-level sim to a challenging one. I ran this program smoothly on my P4 (2ghz) w/WinXP & a Geforece3 card. I had planned to hold off on FS2002 since I already had FS2000, but I'm glad I got it nevertheless.

WHAT ABOUT FS2004? Since upgrading my graphics card to a GeForce FX (PCI), I've added FS2004 to my system. It's a fairly decent performer with better weather generation. However, performance on my system required conservative settings, making the older FS2002 a pretty strong alternative to the newer game.

Not for dog-fighters. It is for pilots.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: October 31, 2005
Author: Amazon User

With patches and add-ons, this game can take you to "great heights" and gives you beatiful views. it is resource intensive, so check you computer config with the minimum requirements. otherwise you will be seeing frame progressions and long load times. also you need a joystick to enjoy this game to the fullest.
buy this if you are interested in learning how to fly (the terminologies and techniques). if you are looking for something like F22 of F18 dog-fights, this game just dosent have that speed and crash realisms.

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