DOING THE HUMPTY-BUMP
A Review of Flight Unlimited
by Istvan Urcuyo
If you are a hard core blaster-master, kill everything in sight and no
forgiveness kind of guy (or gal) then move on to the next review. If you
are serious about flying, however, then read on because the future of
flight sims has finally arrived. Flight Unlimited is one of the best sims
that I have seen yet. The graphics are unbelievably good and the sound
quality is second to none. Let's not forget about the actual flying: this
game has the words "Real Time Computational Flying Dynamics" written all
over it. I am talking about realistic flying, being able to experience and
do things unheard of in a PC based sim. I am not a pilot but I have
flown with a licensed Cesna pilot and the feel that I received from
Unlimited Flight is the closest to reality that any fly sim has ever given
me. Sure, you say, I heard this before. Well, so have I, but finally here
is a product that delivers what it promises.
Quality software is the word that comes to mind. From the exterior design
of the package (eye catching) to the sound of wind rushing past your
sailplane as you glide your way into an inverted loop, all is attention to
detail and no compromises. If you are worried about joystick and rudder
support (even VR headset support), graphical quality and performance then
"Don't Worry and Be Happy" because you are in for a treat. Installation is
a breeze (nothing fancy and it took only about 2 minutes). The game will
not run on anything less than a 486DX/33 MHz with 25 Mb of HD space and it
requires 8 Mb RAM (6.2 Mb of free XMS memory). If you are lucky enough to
have a Pentium machine just smile and keep on reading. The whole
installation process left me feeling like a roman conqueror: I saw, I
bought, I installed. If you are familiar with UNIVBE then you'll be glad
to know that the installation program comes with it (if you don't know what
I am talking about then just be glad that it is supplied with the program).
We all know about flight sims and docs right ? (shivers up my spine).
Flight Unlimited comes with everything you should expect: easy reference
control index, installation guide, troubleshooting, playing hints and
manual. All the writing is concisely done and easy to read ( I actually
enjoyed reading the manual for once). So, you want to know what kind of
airplanes you will be playing with ? Unfortunately you only have five
choices: Bellanca Decathlon, Pitts Special S-2B, Sailplane Grob, Sukhoi
SU31 and the Extra 300S. The Looking Glass team has promised to come up
with future add-ons that will provide more planes and flight locations.
Each plane has its own strengths and weaknesses as in real life. They are
meticulously rendered (from photographs and engineering blueprints) and
their flight behavior is based on the physics behind the movement of air
over the surfaces of the plane (its that Fluid Dynamic thing again). This
unique flying engine allows the planes to experience forces such as (are
you ready): Gyroscope precession, Torque and Slipstream. It makes the
planes tricky to handle at first but if you can't hack it, then you can
always fly the standard flight model (trust me, I know). All these big
words are impressive but do the planes and the controls deliver ? Read my
letters: Y-E-S ! On my Pentium (smiling), even at 640 x 480 resolution,
the action is fluid, the plane answers to my every whim (within structural
limits) and down below the ground looks uncomfortably real (the looking
glass team actually used stereoscopic aerial photographs to come up with
the 3D landscape). Flight Unlimited offers plenty of configuration options
that will enable you to tweak the program into delivering the degree of
response and output that your own PC hardware can wrestle with. I should
mention that even when you crash, which at first I did plenty of times,
there are not explosions and no body parts fly in the air but at least you
can hear your flight instructor scream.
Why is the instructor there (besides for auditory effects)?. Flight comes with seven sets of built-in flying lessons. Everything from the basics skills (instrument reading, level flight) to complex acrobatic techniques that make me nauseated (Have you ever heard of the Humpty-Bump ?). Every time you perform correctly in a lesson, you are given a certificate with coffee stains and everything. Don't' want to go to school? Just pick a plane and go free flying. Here anything goes: do loops, flight inverted, ride thermals, sharpen your recently learned skills, record a video of your prowess, do what you want but don't, and I repeat don't, take the plane over its limits or it may just snap into pieces in mid air(at least you get to see the cool crash scenes where the airplane pieces roll down the hill depending on the topography of the location). Do you want some challenge? Then try the Hoop Course with three difficulty levels and eight separate hoop runs per level.
You start the sim in the Vermont FBO (Fixed Base of Operations) but have
the option to fly from five other FBOs. You are given a tour of the
facilities (nothing fancy here either, just a pleasant one room facility).
Navigating through the FBO is intuitive (DOOM style) with most objects in
the FBO representing the things that you can do in the game (i.e. click one
the rotating plane and you have just chosen to fly that plane).
Your
flying career starts by completing a flight log. The log records some
personal information and keeps up with your progress (or no-so-hot
progress). It automatically logs every flight you make and it also
contains a copy of your hard earned certifications and any video footage
taken in flight. Certifications are nice to earn but the work required
varies from the really hard to the really cheesy (you get a certificate
just for watching a landing demo !!). Unlimited Flight comes with a flight
log full of demo flights. Check them out, the pilots definitively had
suicidal tendencies. By playing with the seven external camera views I
found that you get the best seat in the house by using the cinematic camera
for playback (but not the best view if you want to fly for more than 30
seconds). If you are feeling lucky then you can choose to stop the demo
tape and take command of the plane from there. One control key that has
come to mean a lot to me is the TAB key. When I find myself staring at
the pieces of what is used to be my airplane, this "miracle" option gives a
second chance to make things right.
This piece of software is a serious flight simulator for those of you who
want to actually learn something about the art of flying while being able
to keep your lunch intact. All in all this is definitely a keeper. Now,
if I could just get my hands on a VR headset....
Gamer's Zone Scorecard
| Product: |
Flight Unlimited |
| Company: |
Produced by Looking Glass Technologies, Inc.
|
| Cost: |
$59.95 |
System Requirements:
MS-DOS 5.0 or higher, 486DX/66,
8 MB RAM, 25 MB hard drive space,
2X CD-ROM, 640x480 VESA SVGA,
Joystick and Mouse.
Breakdown:
Fun Factor 4
Graphics 5
Sound 4
Interface 4
Replayability 4
Overall Score:
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