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GLIDER
PILOT
CRL,
£9.95 cass
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This
novel slight simulator is the only one which tries to
tackle the comparatively leisurely art of flying a glider.
Controls, compared with a usual flight simulator, are
pretty sparse and simple, although this is what you'd
expect from a glider.
The
idea of the simulator is to fly the glider round a 160km
triangular course in the fastest possible time. To do
this you have to make use of the rising warm air currents,
or 'thermals', utilized to your advantage to keep you
aloft. When you start you are automatically put at an
altitude of 2,000 feet (no take off) and can select
whether to go over the starting line or just float happily
around the heavens.
Finding
thermals isn't too difficult once you've mastered them
and you can stay in the air almost indefinitely with
just a little practice. Landing is very tricky and has
not yet been successfully achieved by anyone as yet.
When you land, or crash as the case may be, you are
given a barograph of your performance and the time taken
for your flight. There are several preset weather conditions
or you can define your own, making less thermals etc,
which makes the game harder.
The
graphics are rather slow and the horizon takes ages
and ages to update, giving it a really unrealistic feel.
Whilst the title screen is on, a nice piece of music
plays, but during the game the sound reverts to a brain-numbing
alarm when you hit a thermal. As flight simulators go,
this is rather boring and unconvincing and there are
many better ones for a tenner.
Graphics
43%
Interaction 71%
Authenticity 32%
Overall 31%
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