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Up until recently most flight simulations weren't all that good at convincingly recreating the experience of actually flying an aircraft. Even the most complicated and advanced game only goes so far. While the days of wire frame graphics are long gone and the poorly generated terrain has been replaced by beautifully rendered scenery you still can only expect so much. Even with simulations from the last couple of years everything looks outstanding at 12,000 feet but as you make a lower pass for a closer look, things just don't seem right. Instead of lush rolling hills or thick wooded forests you suddenly come all too close to blotchy terrain that seems more like it comes from a sim a decade older. Soon however you might be able to take flight into the new millennium with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2002: Professional Edition, where the flying experience is as real as you can get without a pilot's license.
This latest version of Microsoft's aviation simulation builds on what you've come to expect from the best-selling franchise, which has been around for the better part of two decades. Unlike many sports titles that are released each new season there hasn't been a new Flight Simulator every year, but thanks to the popular Combat Flight Simulator franchise, the developments and improvements are steadily increasing—after all it seems that wars do help advance technology. "Flight Simulator [2002] is a refinement of previous versions," explains Bruce Williams, product planner for flight simulations at Microsoft. "But it's a big refinement that includes many improvements that we developed for Combat Flight Simulator 2. Those changes led to new visual effects—like contrails and puffs of smoke when tires touch the runway—plus dramatic improvements in performance and level of detail in the scenery."
That scenic detail is where Flight Simulator 2002 is really impressive. The team has worked hard to create better coastlines, to increase the textures all over the world and most importantly to auto-generate scenery, including 3D objects like buildings and trees wherever you fly. Take this version's new aircraft like the Boeing 747-400 jumbo jet or even something smaller like a Cessna 172S Skyhawk—the world's most popular trainer—up for a quick flight and you can expect to fly over office buildings, factories, family homes, farmhouses, plus a variety of trees and other objects, all of which will blend realistically in at the horizon.
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