FLY!
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Good for hard-core gamers

By PATRICK ANDREWS

First things first. We're talking about civil aviation at its most civil here. So you can't shoot and you can't drop bombs.

You can't even send your own aircraft into fiery oblivion, parts flying everywhere.

That's not to say that Fly! is in completely friendly skies. There's a lot of heavyweight competition in the general aviation simulation market and Terminal Reality has put in some serious effort to take on the likes of Microsoft's Flight Simulator, Sierra's Pro Pilot and Looking Glass' Flight Unlimited.

You are given the choice of flying in pre-set scenarios or using a comprehensive flight planner that allows you to fly just about anywhere in the world.

Some areas are created in more detail than others, but to be honest, unless you have the latest and greatest in PC hardware the world below is often a bit murky and lacking in features.

If you can't blow things up, you should at least be able to enjoy the view.

Five small aircraft have been recreated in Fly! with loving devotion to detail. There's a Piper Malibu Mirage (turbocharged single prop), Beechcraft King Air B200 (dual turbo prop), Cessna 172R Skyhawk (single prop), Piper Navajo Chieftain (dual prop) and a Raytheon Hawker 800XP (business jet).

A huge effort has gone into reproducing the cockpits and instrument panels with a degree of detail that surpasses rivals in the home market.

The complexity of the controls is perfect for hard-core general aviation sim fans, who can tweak everything from wing flaps to fuel mixtures.

A Global Positioning Satellite system and the interaction with air traffic control add to the realism.

The downside to all this complexity is that it makes early flights overwhelming for the beginner.

Various realistic features can be switched off to make life easier, but the first-timer can expect a lot to spend a lot of time shuffling through the manual to find out just what makes these babies tick.

The search for realism doesn't extend to damaging the aircraft when things go wrong. The only serious crash landings in Fly! are the occasional pre-patch ones that kick your computer back to windows. Just when you expect to land with a thud, the plane bounces!

Presumably it's a problem with manufacturers happy to see their products reproduced in all their glory but unwilling to allow them to be torn apart.
Overall, this is a solid simulation of great depth that has the potential to become a great one as the rough edges, inevitable in such an ambitious project, are ironed out.

ORIGINALITY 65%
SOUND/GRAPHICS 60%
PLAYABILITY 75%
ADDICTION 70%
ENJOYMENT 70%