By Peter Eley
Flight Simulator 2000
* * * * *
PC Microsoft
$99.95
I pushed the joystick forward down to keep the horizon level, climbed slowly at an air speed of 80 mph and passed over Glenbrook on the Manukau Harbour at around 3000ft (instrument panels still use imperial measurements, but in metric
that's 129 km/h at 914m).
Minutes earlier, I'd left Auckland Airport in a Cessna 182 and headed south across the tidal flats and sand dunes simply because it seemed safer to fly over sparsely populated territory on my first flight.
Cultural cringe, perhaps, but I was delighted to find Auckland as one of the featured airports in Flight Simulator 2000.
You won't see Auntie Edna's villa in Remmers as you fly over the city, but the level of detail is enough to make the experience realistic.
Microsoft says this is the most comprehensive update of flight simulation in its 17-year history, and it has been split into two versions.
The one reviewed is aimed at armchair pilots, while Flight Simulator Professional, which has more technical elements, is designed for flying schools.
The specs of both are awesome: 20,000 airports around the world, and planes ranging from a First World War Sopwith Camel to the Concorde, all detailed to blueprint accuracy.
The graphics are a significant improvement on the last version and ran quickly in high detail on a Pentium II with a 3-D accelerator, although the game has been designed for the Pentium III chip.
Required: Pentium 166, 32MB Ram.
Recommended: Pentium III with 64MB Ram and a 3-D accelerator.
