A realistic flight experience for low-spec PCs
There are quite a few different flight simulators available on PC and other platforms. One of my favorite early flight simulators was Novalogic’s F-22 Lightning. The game used a 3D engine that was considered quite advanced for its time. The main draw of the game for me was the fact that I felt like I could fly pretty much anywhere I wanted, as long as my fuel lasted, with no invisible barriers to hinder my flying skills (or lack thereof). It was like a little boy’s dream come true to be able to fly a top class fighter jet with no restrictions and no repercussions in case of failure. What made the experience even sweeter was the fact that you could literally crash the plane in all sorts of places and even shoot your guns and missiles at your own base and destroy all the buildings on your own airstrip. The amount of freedom you had in this particular flight sim was unprecedented considering the fact that it was released in the mid 90’s just before OpenGL and Direct3D became the standard for almost all 3D games.
The reason I’m mentioning the F-22 Lightning is because I felt that even though the game had some flaws when it came to game design, the realistic flight experience it offered was unparalleled at the time it was released when the game was released. most flight simulators. they had that arcade and gaming feel to it. This brings us back to the present time. At one point, I felt a bit nostalgic and searched for some kind of free-roaming, do-what-you-want flight sim that was more up-to-date and would actually run on my modern PC. I did some googling and after reading a few articles on various flight simulator software I found several ProFlight Simulator Reviews. Of course, what really attracted me to the software was that, based on the gameplay videos and screenshots, it didn’t require a very high-end PC, but the graphics were quite acceptable for a modern game. After reflecting a bit, I decided to take a chance and make the purchase; luckily, I was not disappointed.
ProFlight Simulator would probably put most people off due to the somewhat dated looking graphics that wouldn’t look too out of place on an early release PS2 title, but don’t let that fool you. The fact is that when it comes to gameplay, ProFlight Simulator is arguably the best flight simulator available on any platform. What really sets ProFlight Simulator apart from completion is the amount of depth that was put into the creation of this game. There are over 120 different aircraft available in the game and they all handle differently, presumably as similar to their real life counterparts as possible. You can even pilot the legendary Wright Flyer if you want. Additionally, there are over 20,000 simulated airports in the game and the environments are updated in real time using GPS satellite data taken from the internet. This means that you can visit different countries around the world and they will look as close to reality as the game’s graphics engine allows in real time.
When it comes to realism, ProFlight Simulator is not for those who can’t handle a bit of a learning curve. This game actually simulates how a real pilot would fly a plane in real life. There are no shortcuts to learning to control your plane, and if you don’t know what you’re doing, you’ll find yourself in many epic plane crashes as you get used to the game’s control system. Time may be the only difference between the game and flying in real life. Travel time is noticeably compressed in the game because it’s highly doubtful that anyone would actually find piloting a 5 hour journey on a commercial plane entertaining.
If you are looking for a realistic flight experience along with the ability to take your aircraft anywhere in the world you want, then ProFlight Simulator is the PC game for you.
