As promised, here's the second part of the flight simulator add-on review, and just like the previous one, I intend to make this short and straight to the point but without leaving out any important info.
Let's get straight into it!!
First off, the POSKY Boeing 737-700 Multi-livery download
I also love the 737 because my very first time in an aircraft was on a 737 (-300 series heading down to Mombasa and -700 series on the return flight). This is one of the best experiences I had as a child and it later played a gargantuan role in sparking my interest for the world of aviation.
For this add-on, the developers featured quite a large number of real world airlines and they captured their liveries very accurately.
Of course, I only kept the African ones, namely Kenya Airways and Ethiopian.
This also went a long way in freeing up space on my hard disk because the download file is quite heavy (slightly more than 1GB!!)
PROS
- Most, if not all real world airline liveries (paint schemes) were captured accurately and detailed well ie: no blurry textures, correct fonts and font sizes on airline names, and so on.
- While it uses the default 737-800 panel and cockpit interior, the team made more cockpit buttons operable and added a working FMS (Flight Management System) which, in the default -800 series are mostly inoperable.
- Another plus for this add-on would be the fact that it does not cause strain on the processor upon loading a new flight, unlike the 777 and the 787 add-ons. The aircraft interacts well with AI traffic and the rest of the world scenery, meaning that there are no funny scenery blurs or lags.
CONS
- The flight dynamics may have to be tweaked just a bit to reduce unrealistic tendencies such as rocket like take-off performance which we saw in the 787 add-on. To remedy this, I use figures from the default 737-800 aircraft .cfg file and this makes it fly so much smoother.
- It uses the default 737-800 sound instead of the actual -700 one, which is not bad, but, it is those little details that go a long way in enhancing one's sim experience. The remedy for this would be to download a different 737-700 sound pack, which can also be used on the -500 and -600 series) and simply swapping the default sound pack with the newly downloaded one.
Overall, I'd give this a 9/10.
And last but by no means least, the venerable Queen of the Skies, the Boeing 747-400
As with the 737 and 777 add-ons this one comes as a multi-livery package for which one may opt to retain the airlines they want in their sim, all while making the necessary adjustments to the aircraft configuration file..
This package features the main engine providers for the 747, namely, GE, PW and RR.
PROS
- As with the other multi-livery aircraft downloads mentioned in this review, airline paint schemes and aircraft detail are crisp and captured accurately.
-Flight dynamics. For this add-on, I don't remember a time where I had to fiddle around with numbers in the aircraft configuration file. I think it flies very well and just like in the 777, which is also classed under Heavy aircraft, you actually get that sense of heaviness on whichever controller you are using especially during climb-out and in the approach-to-land phase of flight. One has to manage power and pitch very well to avoid excess descent rates on landing or stalling during take-off and landing
Similarly, during taxi and on the take-off roll, the aircraft is some-what sluggish (as it is supposed to be) and one would have to be generous with power to get the aircraft moving initially.
- It comes with a working Flight Management System and more working cockpit buttons unlike in the default 747-400 where only the buttons crucial for flight are operable
- The sounds!!!! Each engine variant has a distinct whine (if I could call it that) and the developers really captured these engine noises from the different manufactures remarkably well.
- The package comes with more window views and exterior views such as the one featured above, and which were not present in the default 747.
- The aircraft model and scale looks waaay better than the default Jumbo.
CONS
- In some cases, I experienced the same scenery crash issues as with the 777 and the Dreamliner, but for this aircraft, the blurry effects were some-what less than these other two aircraft.
- While views and buttons in the cockpit work well, the textures are rather bland and blurry with some fonts not being legible. This could be improved.
But overall, I'd give it a 9/10.
And with that said and done, this wraps up the add-on review (for now at least, until I can get my sim working again :D)
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