The thing that makes this one stand out is the attention to detail and particularly the amount of dynamic scenery. The place is really ALIVE! Cars, buses, trucks, baggage carts, birds, wind in the trees, and even PEOPLE! That really changes everything!
One of the most startling and "sim experience changing" aspects is the varied and HEAVY traffic on the one main road at the end of the runway. When you see it on final, you realize what has been missing in the sim all along that you tended not to notice before..... and the realism increase JUMPS out at you.
Unfortunately... once you are aware of that it makes you VERY aware from then on of all the other empty roads in the sim. :'(
One other really nice touch is the ATC folks in the tower walking around! It is amazing what a difference that makes. Because they are always at a bit of a distance and are behind tinted glass... the realism is very effective.
The people milling around the airport are a nice thing too ....although they are best from a distance where you don't really notice they are actually FLAT "paper dolls"
.Then there are the fishing boats rocking on the waves, and the brids flying around.
Some aspects of this one however, need a little look-see from my point of view.
- One of the firetrucks pulls out of the station into the path of the buses!
- The baggage carts drive around with no one driving them!
- The swaying palm trees are WAY overdone when you are close to them!
It is not too bad a hit on framerate... at least for a high-mid level machine. I have my framerates locked to 30...and they stay there most everywhere else in the sim no matter what. This one clearly pulls them down to a minimum of 26. See my machine specs on bottom... settings all maxed including 100% 3-D clouds... but draw distance is not maxed and MIP is at 4.
All in all... a wonderful piece of FREEWARE that rivals and even surpasses much payware. GO get it if your machine will support it.
best,
.........................john
Intel i7 960 quad 3.2G LGA 1366, Asus P6X58D Premium, 750W Corsair, 6 gig 1600 DDR3, Spinpoint 1TB 720
