Microsoft Flight Simulator 2000 Professional
by Microsoft

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Product Summary

• PC Gamer (1-year)

Video Game Reviews of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2000 Professional

Customer Review: A Very Average Flight Simulation
Summary: 3 Stars

You can also try to earn the various liscences that real-world pilots can. For instance, you can try to earn an ATP (Airline Transport Pilot) Certificate by flying a 737 around, performing various maneuvers. It is fairly fun, and will keep your interest for a while. Once you get the hang of flying the planes though, the tests become easy, and present little challenge. Until you master them, however, they will keep you busy.

The game also gives you the GPS coordinates for most of the famous landmarks, so you don't have to fly around looking for them yourself. I used that tactic on several occasions, just jumping to the area I wanted.

As with any flying game, landing is a real challenge. In general, it will take you a little while to master the art of landing, but that's only day time approaches. Night time landings are a whole different story. Just finding the runway is often a challenge, although radar helps a lot. Still, until you learn to use radar to the best of your ability, you'll pretty much rely on your sight to tell you where things are.

I think that what I was expecting from this game was something akin to a storytelling game, in which you took the role of a young pilot's live, and completed various tests until you finally get the "Ok" to fly, then flying to various places (as a real-world pilot would) for money, until you retired, and bought more airplanes. Of course, that isn't the way the game is, and it is one of the reasons why, after you master the game, you have no reason to re-play it. You can pretty much fly anywhere you want at the beginning of the game, and so there's no reason to even attempt some of the various license tests, unless you're really desperate for something new to try.

Therefore, the gameplay is very average. I think that if this game had more "adventures", and/or had more things to do in multi-player, it would have recieved a five in this area. As it stands, however, it needs a lot more re-play value before it is considered an "excellent" flight sim.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2000 Pro is a very average game. It's controls are very good, it's graphics are awesome (but the price you pay for that is a lot of slowdown), and the re-play value is minimal. You can also play it on Microsoft's Zone .... but I didn't even try that, simply because of the fact that, if I'm having this much slowdown in the single player game, the multi-player game will probably not even work for me. Not only that, I really don't see how flying commercial aircraft would be really fun with other people. What would you do, race someone from New York to Paris? I think that the real hard-core flight simmers might like the the idea of racing your buddy like that, but for me, it really doesn't have that much potential. However, the game, played in single player, is fairly fun. I enjoyed flying around New York City, seeing the Statue of Liberty, and the various other sites. As far as I know, Microsoft hasn't released a patch to delete the World Trade Towers from the game, so they're still there.

The manual is very well designed, and will tell you how to fly your plane with little fuss. Lessons are included in the game as well. However, I found it hard to find some of them...as in, you have to navigate through several of the in-game menus before you actually find anything. However, you really need to read the manual before you go flying, unless you turn the realism settings on low.

There are also several of what this game calls "adventures". Basically, what they are, are pre-developed flights with a certian objective. For instance, in one "adventure" your prop plane runs out of fuel out in the middle of the ocean. You get permission to land on an air-craft carrier that just happens to be patrolling the area. You then have to land your plane, with no engine power, on the deck. Very innovative. In another "adventure" you have to fly under the Russians radar in Red Square to try to land your plane. Supposedly, if you don't fly under the radar, they will target you, and shoot you down. However, I have never had that happen to me, no matter where I flew my plane.

You can also create your own movies. However, I found this fairly confusing, and really didn't get into it much. It has potential though. Imagine flying over Paris at night in a Concorde...then watching what your plane did. Since you have a cockpit view, you really can't see the outside of your plane...so with a movie, you would get to do that. Movies also have the potential to be cool if you are interested in airplane aerobatics.

In case it needs to be said, I would HIGHLY recommend playing this game with a joystick. I can't remember if it actually says that a joystick is required on the back of the game's box, but regardless, If you want this game, you really should buy a joystick. I can't imagine playing this game with a key-board and mouse.

Overall, I would recommend this game to hard-core flight simmers who want to absolute most realistic thing they can get their hands on, and don't mind some slowdown. To people that want to fly, but want something to do while they're up there, I would steer them away from this game, and insted direct them toward a combat flight simulation.

Description of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2000 Professional

Flight Simulator 2000 Professional features all the new planes and cities of the standard edition with two additional aircraft--the Mooney Bravo and Raytheon King Air 350--and six additional detailed cities--Boston, Washington D.C., Seattle, Berlin, Tokyo, and Rome. Along with the new planes and cities, FS 2000 Professional Edition also includes two additional high-resolution, extra-large IFR-flight instrument panels. Perhaps the most creative additions, however, are the flight dynamics and instrument-panel editor that allow gifted designers to create their own flight conditions and plane interiors.

Best of all, Flight Simulator 2000 Professional Edition's flight model feels just right, and each plane performs according to specifications. FS 2000 Professional Edition is fully compatible with Flight Simulator 98's aircraft, scenery, and adventures. Along with all the enhancements, the game includes a hefty 300-plus-page manual to provide tips and strategies for both novices and aviation veterans. --Doug Radcliffe

Pros:

• Realistic flight modeling
• Detailed, easy-to-use manual
• Brilliant terrain, plane, and instrument-panel graphics

• High system requirements

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