Sound
I have mixed feelings about the sounds in Aerofly FS. Some are very good, and some are missing! The Lycoming engine of the Cessna is spot on! The characteristic coffee grinder flap motor is completely silent. There are sounds for engine, gear, wind, etc. All the basics. And they sound good too! It’s just that I miss some of the sounds.
Graphics
As I mentioned earlier, Aerofly FS looks great! The drawbacks of only one set of ground textures does not alter the fact that as a day VFR simulator, Aerofly FS is one of the best looking simulators I have ever seen. And if the time frozen scenery is somewhat simplistic, it is very easy on the resources. Frame rates are very good! Aerofly FS actually has a warning when the FPS drops below 24. It was normally in the 60’s on my system. This makes for a very fluid flight. There is very little stuttering that I have noticed, and I’m running it on an NVIDIA 285 video card, more or less maxed out graphically.
Setting shaders to max turns on reflections in mirrors. A cool feature, but the reflection is locked to what you saw in the mirror the last time you switched views. This means that you will see the runway in the mirror of your Hornet until you switch to outside view and back again. I hope this is a bug that will be corrected. Because of this, I leave shaders normally at medium.
Conclusion
So, is it a flight simulator, or is it a flight game?
It is definitely real and detailed enough to be categorized as a flight simulator. Flying feels real enough and can be quite tricky. It’s not perfect. On the other hand, I have yet to try a perfect flight simulator, and I have been around computer flight sims for some 25 years, and full-sized flight sims for 12 years.
What Aerofly FS lacks in systems modeling it makes up for in the scenery department. And realistic looking scenery is realism as well, right?
If Ikarus continue to support Aerofly FS as well as they have been supporting their R/C simulators in the past, my guess is that this will be a true classic. Don’t get me wrong. Aerofly FS already is a good flight simulator that I enjoy immensely. It just needs to mature somewhat.
For those of you who remember Looking Glass’ old Flight Unlimited, I can say that Aerofly FS reminds me of that old classic. Limited scenery, limited number of aircraft, but incredibly fun!
Good:
- The graphics! Truly beautiful!
- It captures the feeling of flight very well.
- Performance. Very good FPS!
Could Be Better:
- Systems modeling. Engine management and COM / NAV.
- AI traffic and ATC.
- Daytime transitions. Day / Dusk / Night flying.
Reviewer’s System Specs
- Intel i7-920 2.6GHz @3.2GHz
- 12 GB RAM
- NVIDIA GeForce 285
- Windows 7 Home 64-bit
- Thrustmaster Warthog HOTAS
- Saitek Combat Rudder Pedals
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