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FLIGHT
PATH 737
Anirog,
£7.95 cass, £9.95 disk
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Anirog's Flight Path simulates a 737 making a
short journey across a range of mountains. This includes
take off and landing as well.
The
simulator is presented in standard format of a graphic
window at the top of the display and instrument readings
covering the rest of the screen. The graphics are only
really relevant on take off and landing because during
flight the view through the cockpit window is only plain
blue sky. Approaching the mountain range results in
some pretty peaks slowly scrolling onto the graphics
window, only to scroll down again once toy have safely
flown over them.
Control
is achieved with a combination of joystick and keys.
The joystick is used for basic flying movements (banking,
diving, and climbing), while the keys control flaps,
undercarriage, power and fire extinguisher (for engine
fires).
There are several different difficulty settings that
vary mountain height and the destination runway length.
On the higher levels other problems are introduced into
the scenario, with crosswinds and even engine fires.
The increased mountain height provides you with problems
on deciding the optimum ascent rate and speed. The higher
the mountain the harder it becomes to judge. Decreased
runway length needs a greater flying skill to land the
airliner in such a restricted space.
Mostly
the graphics are there just as an added bonus, though
not that helpful, they do add some atmosphere to the
game. The main action depends on the instrument readings,
this is the nearest thing to a text-only flight simulator
we've ever seen. Even so, the end effect is quite good,
creating the right amount of tension at the right moments
to keep things interesting.
The
different difficulty levels work well in Flight Path
737 as they are evenly graded. Documentation is
of good quality, providing all the fundamental knowledge
needed to operate the game, plus a few tips to help
you through the tricky bits.
Overall,
a nice piece of software that actually attempts to induce
some of the tension involved in flying an aircraft.
This is far better than trying to provide cheap thrills
with air-to-air combat as quite a few recent sims do.
Graphics
29%
Interaction 73%
Authenticity 41%
Overall 52%
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