Flight Simulator 2002 review

Cessna 82 virtual cockpit view, click to enlarge.	The 2002 edition of Microsoft's flight simulator is a large step forward from the previous edition. The software is available in two versions, flight sim standard and flight sim pro. There are several differences between the two versions, but chiefly you get a few extra aircraft to fly in the pro version plus an editor. Aircraft available in the standard edition include the Cessna 172, the bigger Cessna 182 in two versions one with retractable gear, the Cessna 208 Caravan amphibious turboprop aircraft, the aerobatic Extra 300S mid wing aircraft, the Learjet 45 executive jet, the world war 1 Sopwith Camel, the Schweizer 2-32 sailplane and three big Boeing airliners, the 737-400, 747-400 and 777-300. In addition the Bell 206B Jetranger helicopter is included, as well as a Corsair converted from Microsoft's Combat Flight Simulator.
The pro version includes four more aircraft. The Beech Baron 58 twin engine aircraft, the Beechcraft King Air 350, the fast Mooney Bravo and a different version of the Cessna Caravan. You also get an aircraft design utility. Aircraft behaviour and handling is excellently reproduced in the simulator. The small agile Cessna 72 is great fun when doing repeated touch and go's down some runway, even Heathrow! The big jets like the 747-400 Jumbo or the mighty 777 twin are completely different. These powerful, heavy aircraft take an age to turn and scrubbing off speed is a slow process. This makes landing these big airliners largely a matter of planning. You will be many miles out when you start a landing procedure in these aircraft. The Boeing 737 is the smallest and most agile of the airliners and as such is the best plane to learn airliner handling with.	747-400 at Heathrow airport. Click to enlarge.
747-400 at Heathrow airport. Click to enlarge.	As you can see from the screenshots, the graphics in Flight simulator 2002 are exceptionally good. Detailed airports (over 21,000 airports and airstips from around the world), citys with masses of buildings. Trees, snow covered mountains, rivers, landmark buildings like the Eiffel tower and Big Ben etc. The aircraft themselves look the business with moving control surfaces and landing gear. Frame rates are great as well, even with only a moderately powerful computer like my 1.1 Ghz AMD / Geforce2MX setup. I generally use max detail and high dynamic traffic settings and rarely get stutter. A couple of things detract from the overall graphical excellence. Firstly the clouds while superb at a distance are actually a collection of flat images. When flying through clouds this becomes apparent and spoils the illusion. The sun could have been made better as well, like the one in Rally Trophy (the best sun in any game so far I reckon). One other thing that I found dissapointing was the lack of a mouse look when in a virtual cockpit. You have to scroll around with curser keys instead. The virtual cockpits in IL2-Sturmovik are the best at the moment.
The Cessna Caravan included in the simulator is worthy of special mention. It's a large amphibious single engined turboprop aircraft and adds a whole new dimension to the package. You can land this aircraft anywhere you find a large enough stretch of water, be it a wide river, a lake or the sea. The plane has retractable wheels also so can be operated from airstrips like a normal plane. A major enhancement in Flight sim 2002 is the inclusion of a working air traffic control system or ATC. This adds tremendously to the realism and depth of the simulation. You use your com radio to tune to the relevent ATC and get instructions on approaches, take offs and taxing. It's great to hear the ATC that you are tuned to give out instructions to the AI controlled aircraft that you are sharing the sky with.	C72 Cessna flying down a valley in Idaho
Extra 300s over Hong Kong, Virtual cockpit.	Also included is a series of simulated flying lessons. Your tutor for these is an old pro flight instructor who gets the information into your head in an easy and humourous manner. Most of the documentation contained with Flight sim 2002 comes in electronic Adobe PDF format. This is common for a great many software packages of late and is a drawback. Gone are the days when you had a massive tome like written manual to peruse through while flying the simulator or relaxing elsewhere. I suppose the reason for the demise of the hefty user manual is economic. The information's all there though. To sum up, Microsoft's Flight Sim 2002 is an excellent piece of software that anyone interested in aircraft should purchase. The cost of the package is above average for a computer game but still offers terrific value. If you've never bought one of Microsoft's flight sims before now is the time to start. If you own the previous version then it's well worth upgrading to this.