Cheap Fly! 2 (Software) (Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me) Price

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Customer Reviews of Fly! 2

Has promise, but features are not readily accessible...
I bought this simulator because of the "Easy to Use" scenery editor touted on the box. However,I was unable to find the scenery editor anywhere in any of the menus, or even on the disk. "Easy to Use" does not mean I should have to be a programmer to even find it! Another problem is shared with the first FLY! release - it is an unfinished product. I hate spending 40 to 50 dollars for a product that might someday be patched into functionality. My 466mhz Celeron, with a GeForce 2 MX card and 256mb's of memory still struggles with stuttering. The framerate indicates in the 60's, but it stutters nonetheless. The documentation is akin to a takeout menu, and promises an extensive manual available for free online. Hate to complain, but "state of the art" flight sims should really come with a fairly hefty manual, not a link to a manual that at this date is not even available on the website! Fly! II also claims an extensive map feature, if you decide the 30 or so map packs (at 50 megs each) are worth the time and the drive space. The maps and complete manual should have been in the box, not available in the future for download. Another thing that the box doesn't mention is that you must have a 64mb video card to take advantage of the detailed textured scenery. Most of us simply don't have a 64meg card at this time, so we are stuck with low resolutions, or forced to turn off the very features that are the selling points of the game. In all fairness, this is a potentially great looking sim, with teriffic lighting and great flight models. The cockpits are the best of any of the commercial flight sims, and it is obvious that love and attention were given to FLY!II...but they should have packaged a COMPLETE sim. I gave it a 3 because it does have enormous potential, and comes from a great company. The scenery looks cool, if you have the horsepower, but I didn't recognize many features that would make VFR flying a realistic endeavor. Also, the interface is clumsy and slow, and sometimes just confusing. Hopefully, future patches will address these issues...If I wanted flimsy documentation and buggy software, I would get my games from bargain bins.

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Requires good graphics card, you'll be flying with no manual
I won't knock this game down for requiring a fast computer because the minumum is a 333MhZ with a good graphics card, and that's pretty reasonable these days. I suggest an 800 Mhz machine or faster, with a 64 MEG card to take full advantage of this game's qualities (a 32 MG card at least). Those with slower machines, there's a secret to faster frame rates: learn how to turn off all programs running in the background (the icons on your taskbar) to really free up resources and RAM, & use the "Resource Meter" in your operating system to check how much of your computer's resources are free, try to get it up to 100 %. This will have Fly 2 running smoother. I cannot stress enough having a good graphics accelerator to see all the features this game has to offer. It has great support for setting up different joyscticks, flight yokes or pedals. It's a good game and worth getting for flight simulation enthusiasts, with one complaint. The lack of a manual is unfortunate. The company has one on the net, it's not a very good one. Besides, if you bought an airplane would you want to learn all about it - and how to fly it - on the internet, or by reading the manual?

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This is one of the best, but it requires study and updating
Fly!II is in many ways, the most realistic flightsim software I have used. This fine work by TRI (Terminal Reality) was forced out the door by their publisher before TRI had finished the package - a very unfortunate occurrence which tainted the experience of early users and reviewers!

The Fly! aircraft (after the updates and patches) are the closest to reality I've seen in instrumentation and systems modeling. Most of them also have extremely realistic handling and performance. There are many aircraft, scenery add-ons, utilities, etc. still being developed. Because of the built-in tools and free developer programs, you can make a lot of scenery add-ons yourself or import the fruit of others labors. Many of these (plus a lot of help) are available at online communities such as Avsim and Flightsim.

I would not really classify this as a game, if you expect you can jump right in and be able to fly. But, if you're looking for a great simulation of flying and aircraft operation, you just found it - and like the real world, that takes time and a little effort.