OT: Flying simulators...

Flight Sim 2004, the only decent thing microsoft have ever produced. Off the shelf, the graphics are pretty lame but the flight characteristics are very realistic. To get the most out of it you need to add on scenery though.

| Forgive the off-topic post, but I'll bet some of you are | knowledgeable in this area. My boys and I have played "Crimson | Skies" through a couple of times now (still fun, by the way - Big | Band music, Hawaii, blimps, and, oh yeah, planes! It'll be hard to | top), and I'm looking for the next big thing... | | I was in a computer store yesterday and one called "Xtreme Air | Racing" caught my eye for around twenty dollars. Has anyone here | tried it? It gets pretty average reviews on the web, but the | reviewers seem to concede that they just might not "get it".

It can't hold a candle to Crimson Skies, which is one of the more fun flying games I've played. Basically you tweak your plane a little, then you fly around a course. It just didn't do it for me. (Now, some R/C pylon racing, that sounds like a fun way to crash a plane ...)

Crimson Skies is actually one of the more fun flying games out there. It doesn't try to be realistic at all -- which makes it more fun.

For a game that's R/C-ish, find R/C Stunt Chopper. I got a copy for $5, and it's pretty limited, but it wasn't bad for $5. You fly a helicopter around an obsticle course.

| I'm looking for something in that vein - the last thing I bought was | the MS Flight Sim for Windows98; I was greatly disappointed with it, | as I thought it would have been far superior to the one I played in | '89 on a MacIntosh. Nothing changed except that it was in color!

Another posted said that MSFS 2004 was the only good thing to come out of Microsoft -- not true. Microsoft has put out a number of good games -- Crimson Skies comes to mind, Mechwarrior 3 and 4, Age of Empires and especially Age of Mythology, Halo, Dungeon Siege, Freelancer, MechCommander, Impossible Creatures ...

Their OS products may leave a lot to be desired, but they have put out a few good games and some good hardware items (like their optical mice.)

As for MSFS 2004, it's certainly got a lot more features than older versions, but yeah ... it's not really much of a `game'. And the flight simulator `purists' seem to prefer X-Plane anyways.

I've never played it, but perhaps Combat Flight Simulator would be good? Freelancer (which I have played, and did enjoy) might be good too, though of course it's spaceship rather than plane related. Or if you like that sort of thing, Independance War 2 was good, as was Descent Freespace 2.

Are you looking for a plain flight simulator (like you're a pilot of a civilian or commercial plane), or a combat flight sim?

I have some good experience with the latter, but only a bit with the former. Let me know what you're interested in, and perhaps I can offer some advice. It all boils down to: do you like to shoot at other planes, or just fly around and look at pretty scenery?

James

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 is excellent. It takes a powerful computer to use it to full advantage. There's more there than you will see, otherwise.

Thanks for all the tips, everyone.

No - I'm not specifically looking for a realistic flight simulator, or specifically a combat game; simply something fun to fly around on the computer, preferrably with my kids (Crimson Skies is a little racy in the "nose art" area).

After some more research, it sounds like MS Flight Combat 3 is pretty well put together. Xtreme Air Racing really calls my name (I love that sort of thing) but it just didn't seem to impress anyone who's played it, so it's still up in the air. Sound like people are enjoying MS Flight Sim 2004, which I'm happy to hear, but at fifty-is dollars, I'll either wait for it to come down, or try 2002.

Thanks much, Dan.