Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!lll-lcc!ames!ucbcad!ucbvax!fizbin.DEC.COM!binder From: binder@fizbin.DEC.COM (Sold - but we have others) Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple Subject: Re: Flight Simulator II Message-ID: <8701051351.AA25941@decwrl.dec.com> Date: Mon, 5-Jan-87 11:37:00 EST Article-I.D.: decwrl.8701051351.AA25941 Posted: Mon Jan 5 11:37:00 1987 Date-Received: Mon, 5-Jan-87 21:39:36 EST Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Organization: The ARPA Internet Lines: 45 My mailer barked at Jerry Wolf's address, so I'm posting this. What follows is a subjective and highly personal view of the Apple // Flight Simulator II. If your opinion doesn't agree with mine, that's fine, just don't tear me apart for it, please. I have the Apple // version of Flight Sim, and I don't recommend it unless you're a masochist. Sure, it flies, and it's got all the places to go, extra scenery disks and all, but its flying characteristics and visual presentation aren't good at all. The graphics are barely adequate - if you have a monochrome monitor, you can read the instruments; if a color monitor, the instruments are difficult to read due to the // series funny video. The instruments are all there, though, and they do "work" properly. Looking out the cabin window is difficult to handle, because the view shifts in very jerky 1/2-second snapshots. Three- dimensional objects like the World Trade Center are reasonably well defined, but they take on some truly weird and wonderful shapes as you bank around them. Flat surface features, such as runways, are *very* difficult to see - they are white lines on a green ground, and they fade in and out depending on viewing angle. I flew over O'Hare half a dozen times before I was sure that it was an airport and not some road pattern. I never could find Logan as I flew in from Martha's Vineyard. Flying with a joystick is difficult - any change in aircraft pitch seems to have a marked effect on roll - I'd pull the nose up a little and the plane would fall off to the left. This behavior may be due to my having had auto-coordination set on, but it should *not* happen anyway - it's not an accurate representation. I didn't experiment with it set off. I have not tried flying with the keys alone. There is no realistic sound - just a slow and irregular "ticking" to let you know the engine is running. There is *one* aircraft type. My disk appears to have problems with its scenery - when I placed the aircraft at Martha's Vineyard, there were certain headings I could choose that would cause half of the screen to disappear. Whether this is a universasl problem I don't know, and frankly don't care. My copy of Flight Sim sits on a shelf unused. Cheers, Dick Binder (The Stainless Steel Rat) DEC Enet: ASD::BINDER UUCP: { decvax, allegra, ucbvax... }!decwrl!asd.dec.com!binder ARPA: binder%asd.DEC@decwrl.ARPA