Summary
Ambitious and very detailed simulation that missed the mark
The Good
Highly detailed instrument panels for managing all aspects of a shuttle flight and mission. The simulation takes you from launch to glided touchdown. If you're a beginner, the individual panel controls and switches can be set to automatically highlight during the flight according to when they need to be acted upon. Gives you a compelling sense of what it must be like to manage the most complex spacecraft/aircraft ever built.
The Bad
No sound (as I recall). General lack of immersion, i.e., there was little to convey the feeling you were on an exciting space flight hurtling around the Earth at over 17,000 mph with the support of both an onboard crew and Mission Control. While the Earth was visible out the windows, it had next to no graphic detail so there was little point to looking outside. Ground communication/mission prompts were via a mock dot matrix printout, a jarring white page with black type that would suddenly pop up and fill the screen without warning, and often. Overall the feeling was more like being on a deathly silent and abandoned "ghost" ship where you were condemned to locate and push and pull endless buttons and switches into perpetuity.
The Bottom Line
For only the most dedicated and patient of space enthusiasts. Game "play" was more like training for the real thing, with all the tedium and learning curves such in depth training would involve. Like all training, the only point to enduring this simulation would be with the expectation that this is your ticket to flying the real thing.
