Airplane Simulator Games – ProFlight Simulator Review

Some excellent plane simulation games are hitting the stores at the moment for us to look at, we start with a ProFlight Simulator review. Read on and see if this game fits the bill, a number of WWII airplane simulators will be hitting the shelves soon also and we’ll bring you reviews as soon as we can. – Ryan John

ProFlight Simulator

ProFlight Simulator is designed with very impressive attention to detail. Here I take a look at some of the features, advantages and disadvantages of this Flightgear based airplane simulator.

To start off, what’s hot and what’s not.

Pro’s

• The simulator provides an exceptional variety of downloadable planes, routes and scenery.
• A very life like airplane simulator, pilots amongst us would recognise the layout of the accurately modelled cockpit instrumentation. A useful training exercise for pilots undergoing flight training.
• Diversity of missions and flight paths caters for both the hard-core simulator pilot and the everyday player.
• Incorporates real time data linkage to the Google maps service. Global coverage is immense and landscapes are represented in superb photorealistic detail and accuracy.
• Excellent online multiplayer mode, supporting very good chat functionality.
• Lifetime upgrades allow downloading of all new airplanes and extras through the member area.
• Large early adopter discounts are currently in effect. Full 60 day no questions asked refund guarantees risk-free assessment of the simulator

Con’s

• Being an electronically delivered airplane simulator package it will take some time to download for slower online connections. However, there is an option to purchase a DVD media version of the package.
• The variety of content available in the member’s area can take a while to get used to navigating; it’s not initially easy to find the planes / scenery you want within the package. Try to get used to the groupings and documentation to address this.

The Game

ProFlight Simulator is really an impressive software application, featuring elements you wouldn’t normally see within a solution aimed at the home market. Performance and handling of the aircraft appears accurate enough for a number of pilots to leave testimonials to this effect.

This has the advantage of opening the simulator up to utilisation by bona fide pilots, die hard simulator enthusiasts, and the man in the street wanting natural game play.

The many elements serious airplane simulator enthusiasts now expect in a simulator are well represented, eg. the accurate world modelling; simulations of many types of aircraft (see my article on Flight Simulation Aircraft for a detailed analysis); realistic depictions of airports and other landing sites.

Yet ProFlight Simulator additionally brings features designed for the gamer not interested in real-time flight. Such as missions with a specific purpose and an aerial combat module, route planner and scenery designer.

The flight lessons are effective in teaching you the fundamentals of flight and they need to be with the detailed cockpit layouts. Mastery of the level of instrumentation is something that takes time for those unaccustomed to airplane simulators, it can be off-putting to newbie’s but it is very much worth persevering.

	Airports Huge number of major international hubs and smaller airfields. Attempt sea landings on the deck of a carrier for you military aircraft. Environments are photorealistic throughout. Use the exterior views from your aircraft as you fly in to land. Look out for well known landmarks as you fly.
Aircraft: Scenery: Handling: Ease of Use: Expansion: Overall Rating:	Aircraft Extremely large range of aircraft to choose from, fly long haul 747′s and add new planes as they are released, such as the huge Airbus A380. Fly propeller driven aircraft from the early twentieth century or even vehicles without engines or even wings, such as gliders and airships.

An area of airplane simulator games which has always been of interest to me is the helicopter support. Flying a helicopter feels totally different to an airplane and thankfully ProFlight Simulator mirrors this with a good range of choppers that all handle differently to a standard plane and in most cases different to the other helicopters too.

Combat is also supported by way of the combat extension module which offers a good selection of military aircraft.

Scenery

The Deluxe full scenery package is one area where this simulator really excels due to the vast coverage area that covers almost the entire globe.

Flying where you want with unrestricted flight is a fantastic feeling. The supplemental content takes the already solid basic package to a different level entirely, it definitely pays to open up the boundaries with free flight.

Weather

There is nothing more realistic than a system that represents the weather accurately, and ProFlight Simulator gives the user fine grade control of the environmental effects such as storms, fog and rain lashed landing fields.

Information can be obtained from nearby airport weather stations as is the case for any real pilot. This sort of focus on fine detail is to be commended in an airplane simulator game.

Flight & Communications

For those wanting a truly realistic experience, the game offers a kelpie flight planner. This enables you to plan your flight and perform your pre flight rituals as you would do in an actual cockpit, adding this element to your flights is surprisingly involving.

In flight communication with air traffic control was again excellent and matched the systems in place in other high quality flight simulators like Microsoft’s FSX.

Online Gameplay

The area that struck me most about communications however was the chat functionality in online mode. This mode enables real time communication with flying partners over the internet. This is great for getting your mates to film you as you land or perform some ridiculous manoeuvre.

The strength of the chat and online functionality is a big plus for ProFlight Simulator.

Hardware Support | System Requirements

Hardware support in the game is good with the majority of airplane simulator peripherals being supported. But please do yourself a favour and get a flight yoke, not only is it more fun but it also helps no end to control your planes.

From a game mechanics perspective flight is incredibly smooth and lag free, even passing through cloud particle effects does not slow the game engine.

The biggest plus is you do not need a state of the art system on which to play the game, the same cannot be said of some of the other major airplane simulator games, which in the past have required people to make system upgrades to eliminate lag in performance due to the intensive processing requirements.

The developers have done an excellent job in this respect.

Conclusion

Without doubt ProFlight is an airplane simulator gives a flight experience comparable to and surpassing many other simulators on the market, whilst retaining a low cost of ownership due to its lifetime updates policy. Select the package level you want and then receive upgrades and lifetime access to the member content area of the product, very simple but very effective.

The developer also offers a 60 day no questions asked refund policy which is always reassuring to hear.

One caveat, ProFlight Simulator is heavily based on FlightGear  and of course this is free to download, only charging for physical media versions. What you get with ProFlight is a far more user friendly experience. The excellent program and scenario launcher and simple scenery / aircraft installation is a marked improvement over FlightGear. Updates are also more regular coming from a full time paid development team, that offer great support, both via ticket system and in the form of excellent training documentation.

Finally hardware support is also improved in ProFlight Simulator in comparison to the core package.

Is it worth the extra cost? That’s a definite yes for us, hit the link below to see for yourself. Highly recommended airplane simulator.

>>>> Click here to visit the ProFlight Simulator site <<<<