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 hampering my flying abilities (or lack thereof). It was like a little boy’s dream come true to be able to fly a first class fighter plane 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 kinds of places and even fire your guns and missiles at your own base and destroy all the buildings on your own runway. The amount of freedom you had in this particular flight simulator 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 mention the F-22 Lightning is because I felt that while 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 most flight simulators. they had that arcade and game feel. This brings us back to the present time. At one point, I got a bit nostalgic and searched for some kind of free roam flight simulator, do what you want that was most up to date and would actually run on my modern PC. I did some searching on Google and after reading some 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 gameplay videos and screenshots, it didn’t require a very high-end PC, but the graphics were pretty decent for a modern game. After some thought, I decided to take a chance and make the purchase; luckily i was not disappointed.
Most people would probably be put off by ProFlight Simulator due to the somewhat dated-looking graphics that wouldn’t look too out of place on an early PS2 launch title, but don’t let that fool you. The fact is, when it comes to gameplay, ProFlight Simulator is quite possibly the best flight simulator available on any platform. What really sets ProFlight Simulator apart from completion is the amount of depth that went into creating this game. There are over 120 different planes 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. Also, 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 real-time graphics engine allows.
When it comes to realism, ProFlight Simulator is not for those who can’t stomach 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 how to control your plane, and if you don’t know what you’re doing, you’ll find yourself in plenty of epic plane crashes as you get used to the game’s control system. Timing may be the only difference between the game and flying in real life. Travel time is noticeably compressed in the game because it’s pretty doubtful that anyone would really find it entertaining to fly a 5-hour journey on a commercial airliner.
If you’re looking for a realistic flight experience coupled with the ability to take your plane anywhere in the world you want, then ProFlight Simulator is the PC game for you.
