747-200 Ready for Pushback

The Good
First of all this isn't a game it's a simulation of a real aircraft. Calling it a game implies something frivolous and entertaining. This is neither of those things, it is unashamedly complicated, hard work and thoroughly absorbing.
The documentation is excellent. I started with the thirty page 'Getting Aquainted' booklet that told me how to take the plane from it's powered down, 'cold and dark' state to being powered up and ready to go. Even though it is aimed at newbie's it still expected that I had read the manual on fuel management but despite that it was readable and copiously illustrated.
The full manual, of which there are four sections, is also to the same high standard. There are many schematics that show, amongst other things, the plane's air conditioning zones, the electrical system, the way the fuel tanks are interlinked and what the APU (Auxiliary Power Unit) actually looks like. There's a lot of information here but what is key is that it is well presented. For example there's a description of FFRATS, the Full Flight Regime Autothrottle System. This is still pretty detailed even though its been simplified and it's followed by a picture-by-picture button-by-button sequence detailing how to engage it and what lights on the control panel come on as a result.

I found the training videos to be very helpful and a bit like watching something on Youtube. They are well paced and seeing someone actually click on the same switches that I have on my screen and being able to follow their actions is a real bonus. They just don't just cover the early stuff either, there's two on FFRATS, another on the flameout process and another on autolanding.

The aircraft look good and are modelled very well. There are moving control surfaces, spoilers, the main door opens and I think the cargo door opens but I haven't found a key combination to make that happen.

The addition of the oddly named "S-Combi" cabin crew voices is a nice touch. I've tried similar products before and they've always given me problems, here it was a breeze. The add-on is started after the flight has commenced and it somehow connects to the flight simulator. I fired it up with the plane at the end of the runway and immediately heard the stewardess telling the passengers to prepare for take-off. As I headed down the runway it was great to hear the co-pilot call out the speed and then 'Rotate' as take-off speed was reached. He called for the landing gear to be raised and when that had been done he acknowledged with 'Gear up and locked'. At this point the captain asked for the cruise speed and altitude to be set and that had me pausing the game and reading the manual again.

Then there are the little touches that often go unnoticed. One that impressed me was watching the plane take-off from a distance and seeing the wings flex as it took to the air. I don't recall seeing that in any other aircraft simulation. It feels right in the air too, it responds the way I'd expect a big heavy thing should respond.
Another minor point that I noticed was in the start up sequence. There comes a point where the pilot requests the ground crew to connect two external power supply units to help get the plane's engines up and running. In the real world there is, according to the training video, a two minute wait here because it takes time to run out the carts and connect the cables and there's a corresponding two minute wait in the simulation then one supply is connected, there's another wait, then the second one is connected. Little touches like this add to the atmosphere and just feel 'right'.

There's a level of complexity and enjoyment that exists beyond the casual 'jump in and fly' approach. Up to now I just didn't get it. This simulator with it's four hundred switches and gauges this is probably one of the more complex planes I've loaded but it still feels accessible and, though it's going to be hard work, I feel motivated to learn about the planes fuel management and air conditioning systems etc.

The Bad
Normally at the start of a manual you get 'Welcme to the product", 'System requirements' and so on. It was scary to open this manual and find a page on how to manage the plane's air conditioning system and flick through further to find sections on the hydraulics, the fire prevention zones and so-on. Even though I'd read a review which stressed that this product was as real as it gets, at least for 2004, I found this daunting. Luckily the next file I opened was the newbie's guide to the plane's controls and after that I was OK.

The Bottom Line
Most excellent. Definitely one for the grown-ups.
This is the first simulator where I have powered a plane up from scratch and taxied to the runway. It's one of the first where I've successfully integrated cabin chatter.
There's a depth here that will take some time to fully explore.