simmerhead 0 Posted March 2, 2012 Report Share Posted March 2, 2012 I think the SimHQ review hit some nails on the head: http://www.simhq.com/_air14/air_525a.html Link to post Share on other sites
mutley 4,487 Posted March 3, 2012 Report Share Posted March 3, 2012 I agree, that's a pretty fair and accurate appraisal from a flight simmer who is looking for an advanced modern simulation of the real thing. I don't ever remember a new product launch causing such a stir, its all good for the industry whatever your viewpoint. Link to post Share on other sites
brett 2,284 Posted March 3, 2012 Report Share Posted March 3, 2012 Just read all those reviews...ouch. Even the good ones that maintained seperation of sim and game didn't sound convincing enough to make me run down to the store(?) and pick up a copy. Unless this game gets some legs under it or it's gonna end up as a dead demo. Link to post Share on other sites
simmerhead 0 Posted March 3, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2012 It's worth downloading to test it. It's a free demo after all. You might like it. I tried hard to have fun but the gameplay was boring and the aircraft even more so... Maybe the next DLC will improve things, but for now I've logged out of my LIVE account. Have downloaded the Outerra demo instead to play with this weekend. Link to post Share on other sites
stu7708 244 Posted March 5, 2012 Report Share Posted March 5, 2012 A very good review, and it sums up my feelings for Flight after Beta testing and a quick look at the RTM version (flying using my mouse at work ) pretty good... But if I could I would like to add one thing to this part Finally, everything that you should be able to see when you look out the window is right there. And rendered in beautiful detail. Yes, everything is there with one big exception, other traffic! In my mind, the only area where Flight "wins" over defalut FSX is in the graphics department, both with regards to the quality of the scenery and in the lighting and shadows department. Link to post Share on other sites
simmerhead 0 Posted March 5, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 5, 2012 Yes, everything is there with one big exception, other traffic! In my mind, the only area where Flight "wins" over defalut FSX is in the graphics department, both with regards to the quality of the scenery and in the lighting and shadows department. Well put. Removing the living world makes for a post armageddon feel to the whole Flight experience. Graphics are better in some areas, but worse in others. The city textures are still very blurry and has hard edged transitions towards wilderness/rual textures. My second annoyance is with the building textures which are very drab. Everything is too grey. Thirdly I'd like to see some micro mesh and vegetation to make the world from ground level look more realistic. It's flat and blurry - just like in FSX. Lighting and shadows, coastlines and cliff textures are the biggest improvement in my opinion. But Flight looks poor compared to ORBX stuff, and hoplessly outdated compared to Outerra or other modern games. Link to post Share on other sites
Sabre 28 Posted March 5, 2012 Report Share Posted March 5, 2012 One of the biggest downsides of Flight for me is the potential lack of choice moving forward. Even if they address the things which are causing the flight simming community to be so critical (all well documented) it's the locking down of the addons I don't like. I understand why Microsoft would do it - money. However I like choice in life, I like to be able to choose, where to eat, where to drink, where to go etc, etc In FS terms, yes I buy aircraft from A2A, Carenado, I buy scenery from Orbx, Aerosoft, but the key for me is I buy what I like, whether its for the quality or the price. I look at what's on offer and whether I believe it's worth the money and buy or not as the case may be. The ability to make my virtual flying experience what I want is a big attraction. It's highly unlikely any flight simmer in the world has exactly the same set-up with the same aircraft, the same scenery, etc, etc For the foreseeable future the freedom of choice has been removed by Microsoft. This is of course their perogative, they have invested their money into making Flight and they've seen how much third party developers have made out of addons for FSX and its predecessors. They clearly want to maximise their profits, I just can't see me help them do it without significant change in approach. Flight simming for me is a much longer term investment than any gaming purchase. I expect to get a few weeks, maybe a month or so out of a game. For a flight sim I'd be looking at getting a couple of years out of it. Just my thoughts, maybe I'm not being realistic and granted I have invested heavily in FSX (plus related addons). It may be I'm just more interested in sims rather than games - Flight is a game and despite the various mutterings I really don't see it ever developing into a sim. I've seen communities try for years to convert games into simulations but I can't recall any success. Time will tell of course. Link to post Share on other sites
brett 2,284 Posted March 5, 2012 Report Share Posted March 5, 2012 I've seen communities try for years to convert games into a simulations but I can't recall any success. Time will tell of course. You are so right, in fact (Believe it or not) I think I just saw MS's own Joshua Howard flying in FSX this morning. He saw me and tried to take off quickly, but I snapped a pic. Link to post Share on other sites
allardjd 1,853 Posted March 6, 2012 Report Share Posted March 6, 2012 I doubt if he knows how to fly... I'll bet he's a marketing major. John Link to post Share on other sites
M31 0 Posted March 6, 2012 Report Share Posted March 6, 2012 The Sim HQ review is a good and fair review, there is one certain famous civil aviation sim site who's review is nothing but praise, no fault found whatsoever ... Hmmm to that Just spent another hour or so tonight on Flight, got myself up to level 10 so that I could unlock the Hawaii Photo Book mission The sim menu says estimated time to finish this one is 1 hour, but I've read that is with skipping towards the next point of interest, without doing this it will apparently take about 4 hours and you will need to re-fuel to complete it ... I think this mission will be the acid test for MS flight for me and it should certainly highlight the better scenic points of interest of MS's Hawaii, but I must admit, I'm enjoying it more than I thought I would ... I'm not saying its ever going to replace FSX and my chosen add-ons set up how I like it, but if I forget its not FS 11 and even forget its from MS, its not too bad for a flight game and a diversion from hard core flight simming. Then again, having said its a game I'm actually finding parts of it very challenging ... I dont know what you are supposed to do to get a maximum 500 score for soft landing? I can get 400 + most times but thats when I imagine I'm landing on a runway of eggs and I dont want to break the shells! the centerline and side skid stuff they score you on I usually do fine with ... for sure, with the Stearman (especially) landings on small airstrips are fun challenges to get right. One other small point I like about MS Flight is that no matter what you do, free flight, mission or challange ... each aircraft stays in the same state you finished it the last time ... I dont mean if you crashed it its a wreck, but it calculates how much fuel you use each time, so eventually you are going to have to refuel even if all you do is fly through hoops. PS: I think its fair to say, the Sim HQ staff wont be on the hot list of MS's future prefered contacts ... I think its fair to say Avsim will. I'm glad we are neutral. Link to post Share on other sites
rabbitc 0 Posted March 8, 2012 Report Share Posted March 8, 2012 "So you can't simulate flying-as-transportation in Flight, and you can't replicate flying-as-fun either. So what's the point? You got me." Spot on. Link to post Share on other sites
Daveebee 0 Posted March 10, 2012 Report Share Posted March 10, 2012 Call me an old cynic if you want but I read an article on Avsim earlier and it made me smile. If you listen very carefully you can almost imagine tha you can hear the sound of money changing hands.........my what a cynic I am Link to post Share on other sites
M31 0 Posted March 11, 2012 Report Share Posted March 11, 2012 Call me an old cynic if you want but I read an article on Avsim earlier and it made me smile. If you listen very carefully you can almost imagine tha you can hear the sound of money changing hands.........my what a cynic I am They mostly prefer positive comments about MS Flight there for some reason, surprised that one lasted Seriously. I've had some more thoughts about MS Flight recently, it was odd that all they showed upon official demonstrations was X Box 360 controllers ..and this in turn lead many to think it would be a dual PC/Xbox platform game too, there is a reason they did that, there is a reason everything happens ... but I don't think MS Flight will go to X-Box ... I think the reason MS Showed its new _PC game using just MS X-Box 360 game controllers is that's the only game controller they can sell just now for the PC, they used to do some pretty decent force feedback joysticks ( I have one just for RoF) but it seems to me after Bill Gates open attitude and love of Flight Sim, that its all a closed shop now that he's out. If you look at how Track IR is out (a third party developer) SDK is out, we have know flakeyness with even the best known Saitek and other controllers they don't want to talk about on beta forums, its obvious a new guy at the top at MS is looking at potential lost sales ... and thinking, these people are making money from us ... its pure bloody greed, and selfish too. I dunno. Link to post Share on other sites
brett 2,284 Posted March 11, 2012 Report Share Posted March 11, 2012 I won't even read the Avsim Flight forum anymore. I like to hear both sides of a story, not just what they feel is appropriate. There are some new posters there that I would almost swear are plants from MS the way they shoo aside any bad comments and talk against minor flaws of the game or opinions about comparisons between Flight and FSX. After all, even MS calls it a flight simulator. Everyone should be heard, pro or con. JMcynicalO Link to post Share on other sites
M31 0 Posted March 11, 2012 Report Share Posted March 11, 2012 I won't even read the Avsim Flight forum anymore. I like to hear both sides of a story, not just what they feel is appropriate. There are some new posters there that I would almost swear are plants from MS the way they shoo aside any bad comments and talk against minor flaws of the game or opinions about comparisons between Flight and FSX. After all, even MS calls it a flight simulator. Everyone should be heard, pro or con. JMcynicalO I can tell you that the poster there with a certain Rock band trio name and numbers from Canada is almost certainly from sort of MS Division and lives in Seattle ... I know him quite well and he's always worked for Microsoft. EDIT: this wiki article about Microsoft is quite revealing ... The company has been in numerous lawsuits by several governments and other companies for unlawful monopolistic practices. In 2004, the European Union found Microsoft guilty in a highly publicized anti-trust case. Additionally, Microsoft's EULA for some of its programs is often criticized as being too restrictive as well as being against open source software. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft Its the last bit there about Microsoft being against Open source I find interesting with the way they have changed towards their new Flight Game ... nobody's getting a look in ! No change there. Link to post Share on other sites
simmerhead 0 Posted March 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2012 And now long time flight simmer and real world King Air Pilot Chris Frishmuth puts Flight under the loupe: http://simhq.com/_air14/air_518a.html Link to post Share on other sites
ddavid 149 Posted March 13, 2012 Report Share Posted March 13, 2012 Now that's a well balanced Review - Thanks for the link. Cheers - Dai. Link to post Share on other sites
M31 0 Posted March 13, 2012 Report Share Posted March 13, 2012 Chris Frishmuth's review is the best honest review of MS Flight yet IMHO, some of his comments like the poor mission engine in MS Flight that is supposed to be aimed at Gamers was far richer in FSX that if only some gamers that MS Flight are supposed to have attracted from nowhere could see, might get them seeing a far better Simulation with FSX in the first place? ... I'd honestly made those thoughts too in a post here a week or so ago in a first thoughts thread ... the voice acting was more diverse and much richer in FSX missions too IMHO. Its still early *honeymoon* time for for MS Flight though, there will be a lot more people get bored of it quickly after me, especially after that review ... cant believe what one long term civil aviation site does to stop criticism of it ... its bordering on religion ... and I'll stop hinting and knocking other flight sim sites right there, its not fair ... I'd not be happy if I saw this site knocked elsewhere. I do have respect for Chris Frishmuth's reviews though, he's an accomplished pilot and writes reviews on PC Pilot magazine that I always enjoy. Edit: Ether this is Chris's preview of PC Pilot magazines review or PC Pilot don't want this honesty either in the face of Microsoft? They were always a bit lenient on reviews in my honest opinion. I guess for some places its harder to stand up against Microsoft? Link to post Share on other sites
simmerhead 0 Posted March 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 14, 2012 Yep, I think it was fair and balanced. The video review was good as well and it's nice to hear an experienced pilot discuss some of the flight dynamics, although he doesn't have type ratings for the included aircraft. Yep, Flight positivism is becoming a religion in certain circles, but who am I to judge. I've never been a fan of popular culture and with few exeptions never understood the appeal of fashion, popular music and Hollywood movies. I'd rather watch paint dry... Link to post Share on other sites
ScruffyDuck 0 Posted March 14, 2012 Report Share Posted March 14, 2012 My take is that Flight is becoming more accepted. The general mood does seem to have shifted towards acceptance. As always there are some converts who have become fanatics and there are some who were in the hate camp who have moved to a more extreme position. Now though that group looks like it has moved on to other things. Flight is not perfect, it is not FS11, but it does have a market. There are some things about it that are better than FSX (performance and graphics coming to mind) however it is not trying to do as much as FSX might with AI, ATC and so on. Flight was not still born (as predicted by many); it will not bankrupt MS, and is quite a healthy baby. Whether it prospers and grows long term is largely down to how MS proceed from here..... Link to post Share on other sites
simmerhead 0 Posted March 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 14, 2012 I too have a feeling that Flight isn't DOA. Usually when I don't like something it becomes a huge success One thing is that MS didn't give us FS11, but what dissapointed me the most is the lack of structured and fun gameplay. Link to post Share on other sites
M31 0 Posted March 18, 2012 Report Share Posted March 18, 2012 I just think its sad we've so easly accepted Flight this way ... mark my words its been with hardly a murmer in the grand scheme of things. We've lost Bill Gates influence on this series forever now, its over to cash cows .... will my Saitek Toe Break axis ever work with MS Flight or will they release Alaska first.? Link to post Share on other sites
brett 2,284 Posted March 18, 2012 Report Share Posted March 18, 2012 Is that a rhetorical question? Link to post Share on other sites
simmerhead 0 Posted March 18, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2012 will my Saitek Toe Break axis ever work with MS Flight or will they release Alaska first.? No, they're too busy making the "monkey playing guitar and singing the banana in pyjamas song" mission... One can't be bothered with things like peripherals, after all a mouse and keyboard is all you need to expereince the sensation of flight! Link to post Share on other sites
allardjd 1,853 Posted March 18, 2012 Report Share Posted March 18, 2012 Or a game pad... Real gamers can't be bothered with all those confusing letters and numbers on the keyboard. John Link to post Share on other sites
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