FLIGHTSIMULATOR II SCENERY DISKS 7 & 11 by Richard Karsmakers
You are flying at an average speed of about 100 knots, you
release your throttle and glide down to a tall object in the
landscape - the Space Shuttle near its Skid Pad. You can clearly
see the rocket boosters, the cockpit and the launching tower next
to which it stands, towered high to the above sky with the birds
circling in it and your propeller driven Cessna flying through
it. You decide to take a closer look, and use the controls to
take a light glide to the left, on a course that will let you fly
just past the impressive statue of human intelligence. Then
suddenly - a sturdy breeze from the right. Your machine is now
heading for the largest fuel tank of the Shuttle. You try to
commit yourself to evasive actions, but it's too late. You see
the white of the giant spacecraft just in front of you and think
about your past life. It wasn't that bad, was it? Your latest
conscious moments are penetrated by thoughts of those dear to
you, your mortgage insurance and other more or less casual
thoughts. Then....you are about to become a memory in the play-
back option of SubLOGIC's "Flightsimulator II".....CRASH!
This is only one of the many possible 'Flightsimulator
Adventures' that you can go through using scenery disks for the
game program "Flightsimulator II". SubLOGIC has already announced
scenery disks 1-12, but uptil now they have only launched disk 7
and 11, selling at a retail price of 79.50 Dutch guilders. Disk 7
covers a most interesting area (Washington, Charlotte,
Jacksonville and Miami, with sceneries like the White House, Key
West and the aforementioned Space Shuttle) and comes with quite a
bit if airport documentation (landing/take-off directions, ILS
frequencies, etc.) and four maps of the country the scenery disk
covers. Scenery disk 11 is less impressive regarding
documentation (it covers Lake Huron and Detroit), and only
included 2 maps. But the disks itself are just as interesting as
the other - it is now actually possible to fly over not yet
defined sceneries, with all well-known landmarks, rivers, motor
ways and more of such. Purchasers are recommended to buy the
specially designed writing cases that can hold up all maps,
documentation and disks of up to 6 scenery disks - yes, the
people at SubLOGIC always manage to make their product stand out
with regard to luxuriousness (is that proper English, Lucas?).
The packaging looks really swell, the original FS II manual looks
very well-designed, and there's not yet one single SubLOGIC
product that looks trashy.
As far as I am concerned, "Flightsimulator II" deserves to be on
the first place in the software Top 10 (see the "Pop Poll"
article, elsewhere in this issue of ST NEWS) more than any other
piece of entertainment software. These scenery disks (as well as
the one that a still have to come and the so-called "Star Scenery
Disks" - these are disks that cover a relatively dense area with
even more marks on them) make the program even more outstanding
than it already is - I suspect it will reside in the very upper
regions of the ST Software top 10 for quite a while from now.
'Game' rating:
Name: Scenery Disks 7 & 11
Company: SubLOGIC
Graphics: See FS II review
Hookability: 8
Lastability: 9.5
Sound: Not relevant, see FS II review
Reality: 9.5
Overall rating: 9
Remark: You have to be a FS II freak
to like these disks!
Many thanks must go to Homesoft for supplying these disks to
review!
Disclaimer
The text of the articles is identical to the originals like they appeared
in old ST NEWS issues. Please take into consideration that the author(s)
was (were) a lot younger and less responsible back then. So bad jokes,
bad English, youthful arrogance, insults, bravura, over-crediting and
tastelessness should be taken with at least a grain of salt. Any contact
and/or payment information, as well as deadlines/release dates of any
kind should be regarded as outdated. Due to the fact that these pages are
not actually contained in an Atari executable here, references to scroll
texts, featured demo screens and hidden articles may also be irrelevant.