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SSI fills a big gap with Destroyed Command allowing would be captains to command a single ship or a whole flotilla of destroyers. Pitching and rolling oceans assist the feel. Plus you can man individual 5 inch and 40mm AAA guns and slug it out in the Pacific or Atlantic Theater. Depth charges and torpedoes will compliment your surface armament. Your destroyer will have all the proper scopes and controls plus maps in order for you to engage the enemy. This is B-17II in the water.
Fig. 8. Destroyer Commander BoxDamage modeling is dynamic as is B-17II also. You will see your hits and the destruction they cause. Stricken enemies will sink relative to the damage you have inflicted. They will not all go down stern first in one piece like toy games of the last decade.
All other appropriate Allied ships will there as you fight off Kamikaze attacks and U boats while escorting convoys or lay down fire for ground invasions modeled historically. You will meet the historically correct enemy shipping in battle too.
AIRPORT 2000If you wish, you can refuse promotions in your career if you'd like to stay in charge of one ship only. Beyond head-to-head and multi player SSI has plans to link Silent Hunter II and its U-boats with Destroyer Command. Now THAT will made it like B-17II!
Sounds like a title for a new 747 movie epic, right. Well with Wilco Publishing's new Microsoft Flight Simulator add-on you can take a break from combat and see what it is like to stage your own commercial airline scenarios. Yeah, we've all fantasized about landing a heavy that has the flight crew incapacitated with food poisoning and saving the day. Now you can live it.
Fig. 9. Airport 2000On the heels of Airport 2000 Volume I is Volume II featuring more flyable aircraft and new airports from around the world. The terrain is carefully modeled from on-site photos of airport buildings and surrounding landscapes. Los Angeles International is so accurate that the Forum, where the Lakers played for years, is right where it should be! Of course the Eiffel Tower is visible in the Paris skyline. Ground vehicles add to the feel. Detail extends right down to PEOPLE in the terminals and on the moving walkways!
But the best is yet to come. As in contemporary combat flight simulations like B-17II, EVERY real world switch, lever, and control is modeled to articulate in function in the virtual world. Every control and instrument console is modeled for each plane with totally legible read-outs.
737I count about fourteen aircraft including sub-models that can be flown into fourteen different airports. A wide variety of airlines' paint schemes abound on the aircraft. And with Flight Sim you know you can hack or find a download for that esoteric airline you want.
The ubiquitous Boeing 737-500 will another upcoming FS related sim released on its own if you'd care to fly just one airliner to start. It is my personal fav to fly in. I always have visions of the "little" 737 putting down on a highway if need be. That's something a DC-10 might not accomplish.
Fig. 10. 737 Info737 will feature fourteen different airline paint jobs. And all the sims will feature real world problems like fuel management, rough weather, headwinds and mechanical failures so you can decide if it's best to land on that highway after a flame out or declare an emergency and dump fuel hoping to make Heathrow. Look for a complete review as soon as we can test them.
