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Fly the Friendly Skies: History of Flight Sims
 6  9.5 Release: April 2008
-Latest in the X-Plane series of aircraft simulators -adds shader support for better shadows, water ripples, and mountains -comes with six double-layer DVDs, with over 60GB of high-res terrain    What is X-Plane? It is an advanced flight simulator that is used in FAA-certified simulators, ranging from $5,000 Level 1 desktop simulators thru to $60,000 Level 3 cockpit simulators. Beginning with version 6 onwards, it became available for the home PC market, priced at under $50, in direction competition with MS Flight Simulator series. All hardcore flight enthusiast are encouraged to check out their Free Demo. It doesn't get any more real than this. Prelude's rating:
 
38 7.7 Release: October 2006 (FS Version 10.0)
-Tenth and latest release in the FS series -Higher resolution scenery and textures; flight dynamics unchanged -Fewer aircraft than 2004 version; vastly improved multiplayer -New Feature: Red Bull Air Racing series    Prelude's rating:
 
3 8 Release: November 2004
-High Resolution scenery; multiple DVDs with over 60GB of data -3D cockpits now have same quality of detail as 2D ones -one of few sims that simulate the Space Shuttle accurately    
22 8.3 Release: July 2003 (FS 2004, Version 9.0)
-First in FS series to see Dynamic Weather and three-dimensional clouds, with localized precipitation -Shipped with many historical aircrafts like the Wright Flyer and DC-3 -Feature allowed real-world weather data to be duplicated in the game, via internet synchronization    Prelude's rating:
1 0 Release: July 2003
-X-Plane differentiates from MS Flight Simulator series by using blade element theory to calculate all physics of flight in real-time off from shape of ships and airplane, rather than rely only on chart of plane data    
12 8.2 Release: October 2001 (FS 2002, Version 8.0)
-Introduced Air Traffic Control to airports -Introduced interactive AI planes (finally, traffic in the skies!) -Release was postponed to remove the WTC Towers from the game -Graphics were improved, and frame rates optimized over 2000 version    Prelude's rating:
 
5 0 Release: June 2001 (X-Plane Version 6)
-First major commercial version of X-Plane was version 6 -Increased resolution to minimum 1024x768 -Major terrain upgrade, auto-generated buildings    
2 6 Release: June 2001
-Second and final in the Fly! series -this version included more aircraft, better high altitude scenery, and higher resolution of terrain    
2 8 Release: December 1999
-Developed by Terminal Reality -Five main scenery areas to fly through    
1 0 Release: November 1999
-third and final of the Pro Pilot series from Dynamix -with disaster that was Pro Pilot, and Pro Pilot 99 being reduced to value bins, Pro Pilot 2000 came with too little too late, coming after FS 2000 
15 7.7 Release: October 1999 (FS 2000, Version 7.0)
-Introduced the Concorde and Boeing 777 to the series -First flight sim to include virtually every airport and navigation beacon around the entire world, and first ever GPS system -Introduced 3D elevation to scenery maps -Criticized for slow frame rates on even fast computers at the time    Prelude's rating:
 
3 6.5 Release: September 1999
-new dynamic weather system, and 10 aircraft to choose from -Flight area is limited to around Seattle, but if player owned FU II, San Fransisco imagery also available, along with flights between the two areas    
4 8 October 1998
-unofficial sequel to SubLOGIC's Flight Light -drastic improvement over the first Pro Pilot release, but still not enough to compete feature-by-feature with Microsoft    
5 6.5 Release: December 1997
-departs from aerobatics emphasis from first Flight Unlimited game; this title is a general civilian aircraft simulator -flying was only limited to San Fransisco area, but with very detailed photo-realistic textures taken from real imagery    
1 0 November 1997
-rushed to market to compete with FS 98 -as a result, game felt rushed; very buggy and unpolished -Developed by Dynamix, makers of the 'Aces' war plane series, together with some of SubLOGIC team, after Sierra's buyout    
8 6.5 Release: September 1997 (FS 98, Version 6.1)
-New Aircraft: Bell 206BIII Helicopter -included more scenery, such as 45 detailed cities & 3,000 airports -first version to include DirectX 3D support    Prelude's rating:
 
4 6.5 Release: October 1996 (FS 95, Version 6.0)
-First release for Windows 95, but based heavily on FS 5.1 for DOS -vastly improved frame rates, better haze -new aircraft: Extra 300 Aerobatic plane    Prelude's rating:
6 8 Release: 1995
-primarily an aerobatics flight simulator -Developed by Looking Glass Technologies -First flight simulator to feature fluid dynamics rather than direct control of airplane movements; this allowed realistic aerobatic maneuvers -for its time, best textured ground in any simulator    Prelude's rating:
1 0 Release: 1994
-last simulator developed by SubLOGIC; they got bought out by Sierra in 1995 and title re-issued simply as 'Flight' -tried to go back to basics of simple flight simulator, but graphics were well below par of competition   
6 7 Release: 1993
-First FS release to introduce SVGA graphics and Sound Card support -added textures in certain flying areas -added Paris and Munich areas    Prelude's rating:
2 5 Release: 1991
-Developed in cooperation with Lufthansa and Deutsche Airbus    
2 0 Release: 1990
-SubLOGIC's first simulator after its split from Microsoft -focused more on mission-based flights of airlines, complete with career mode and point system   
6 7 Release: 1989
-Random Weather patterns introduced -Supported MS Aircraft and Scenery Designer -Five cities included, as well as new sailplane    Prelude's rating:
3 0 Release: 1988
-three different airplanes, and over 100 different airports -EGA graphics were a huge improvement over older CGA and monochrome -First MS Flight Sim developed after its split from SubLOGIC    
2 0 Release: 1984
-Microsoft released SubLOGIC's 2nd flight simulator for the IBM market -same 20 airports as original, but could fly across all of US -added Joystick and Mouse support -1985 revision (Version 2.12) added EGA 16-color support    
2 8 Release: 1984
-for its time, very detailed controls and panel -designed by Sid Meier, who went on to Civilization fame    
4 7.3 Release: 1983
-SubLogic, under pressure from its Apple fans, released the 2nd generation of its flight simulator for the Apple II system. Commodore 64, Atari ST, Amiga & TSR ports would follow, with the Atari and Amiga ones not until 1987, but with graphics and features comparable to MS FS 3.0    Prelude's rating:
2 0 Release: 1982
-Developed by SubLogic for Microsoft, to push IBM PC sales -Even back in 1982, this simulator met FAA regulations -more than 20 airports included -early computers were tested with this software; if they could run MS FS 1.0, they were 100% IBM Compatible    
0 0 Release: 1980
-First ever flight simulator, developed by SubLOGIC for Apple II system -despite its black and white wireframe graphics, it was a top seller -only one plane and small area to fly in    |
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