Round 5 - Shelf Life and Expandability

If you want to play with the big boys in civilian flight simulation, you got to have a product that dances the same step as Microsoft Flight Simulator and have a Software Developers Kit (SDK) available. Without an SDK, you greatly limit the shelf life of your sim. I have always enjoyed the open architecture of MSFS. The ability to add new airport terrain, engine sounds, cockpits, and aircraft, is entire premise of MSFS. Microsoft owes much of its success to third party add-ons and products which will continue to extend the shelf life of the MSFS line.

Fig. 8. Mountain View in Flight Unlimited 3

FS2000 still boasts the open-ended SDK, and surprisingly so does Fly! There have been many add-ons and tweaks made available for the Fly! community. The only advantage FS2000 has over Fly! is the number of individuals and developers making these freeware, shareware, and commercial add-ons. For the moment there is simply more stuff out there for FS2000 than there is for Fly! This may be a disadvantage for Fly! enthusiasts for now, but given time you can be sure there will be more downloads and store products available.

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Conclusion

We have 3 TKOs!

I have come to the conclusion there were three weight classes in this simulation roundup, and each of these classes appeals to a different segment of the simulation crowd.

Super Heavy Weight Hardcore: The winner without a doubt is Fly! I'm just a step away from signing up for the actual pilots course because it humbled my ability to conquer a simulator. This product smells of success in the future and if you want something realistic that will test your skills, this simulator should be on your hard drive.

Heavy Weight: Microsoft Flight Simulator 2000 is the winner here because even though its avionics are simple enough to manage, each aircraft contains a level of complexity. This coupled with dynamic environmental settings open-ended architecture make MSFS a winner.

Fly Weight (90% of the flight sim crowd): Flight Unlimited III has the easiest to use avionics and a perfect main menu interface. While it limits you to where and what you can fly it is simple, yet very fun.

I know, a lot of you will say that FS2000 rules, and Fly! is Elvis, but each product is deserving in its own right. I am awarding both Flight Simulator 2000 and FLY! the COMBATSIM.COM Top Pick award for their excellence in simulation. Hats off to all three simulators.

Fly! and FS2000 Win Top Pick!

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