Staff reviewer Douglas Zabizewski reviews Aerosoft’s US Cities X – New Orleans a place where he was last as a member of the rescue teams involved in the Katrina hurricane catastrophe: “Hello fellow sim-pilots! This week I am writing about another scenery package, that again proves good things come in small packages.
This one is made by Aerosoft-Online, and it is called Aerosoft-Online, US cities X New Orleans. …”…
Now I mentioned that this is a small package, and I mean it. There are no night/season changes with this program. The reason for this according to the programmers is to keep the program high quality, yet physically small and extremely frame-rate friendly. I believe they achieved what they set out for, but do not judge the program on just this fact alone. First of all, how often do you hear “let’s go to New Orleans to see the beautiful snowy landscape”, and second it really is a good package. I will admit it would be nice to see the city light up nice and pretty at night, but you can just pretend there is a massive blackout (well at least I did, haha). The photo-real airports are just that, very good graphics, super smooth frame rate, and a nice piece of eye candy to add to your scenery collection. I also used both FS Passenger and Air Hauler with this program and it worked perfectly.
For a small program they managed to add several airports, ranging nicely in size, all look great, plus there are several helicopter landing/takeoff pads. I found six, but I am sure there are even more. There are a few nice surprises to be found, but I won’t tell you where they are, you can discover that for yourself. This program is excellent for both VFR and IFR flights as there are so many recognizable landmarks, including golf courses, (there is something naughty about landing your helicopter in the middle of a fairway, but it does feel good, LOL), to the French Quarter. The other nice addition is extra sounds as you are flying. I won’t tell all again, but you aren’t imagining the sounds of sirens and car horns as you fly low over the city. Again, as a relative newbie to scenery packages, I still enjoy how much more immersive the experience becomes with quality-made scenery installed. If you are new to scenery programs, this is a great program to begin with, very easy installation, as I mentioned there are several airports and helipads, but, you will never feel “lost” with this one, like I mentioned there are a ton of visual landmarks to remind you where you are. For the veterans, well, you just don’t have a complete collection if you don’t have (N’Orluns As the locals call it) to fly over in beautifully rendered detail.
Okay, I will keep it short so you can stop reading and checkout the web site info for yourself. I will try to break it down to help you make an informed decision.
- At a glance: Above average for the cost. The graphics are very good and the frame rate is excellent, I didn’t notice a single stutter the entire time I flew. The added realism when you are flying is worth the cost alone. The negative, nighttime is a bit of a letdown. I do enjoy the lights, but downtown, while still there, is rather dark.
- Installation: Above average. I am new to scenery programs, and this one installed itself completely. No muss, no fuss.
- Documentation: Slightly above average. Not quite as much history as I have seen in other programs, but lots of directions, hints, etc. are there for the reading.
- Textures and presentation: Both above average. As I said earlier, the photo realistic airports and scenery are spot on. You can choose how much or how little detail in the 3D autogen setup portion, but I set it to max on an average computer system, and as I mentioned above, not one stutter the entire time I flew.
- Extras: Average. There are some nice surprises to be found. (Still not gonna tell where, but you can find one or two in the documentation).
So in conclusion, this product is definitely worth the money. It suits both beginners to scenery collecting, and has enough to entertain the veterans. You can create many challenges for yourself with weather adjusting, using your imagination, set up some failures, and enjoy the sightseeing while white knuckling your way to an emergency landing in a park, or a golf course…..LOL. Enjoy, I did.
Doug Zabizewski
zmanff@hotmail.com
At a Glance:
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- Installer: EXE — Above average.
- Documentation: DOC — Slightly above average.
- Modelling: FSX Format — Above average.
- Texturing: BMP — Above average.
- Extras: None (Does work with FS passenger and Air Hauler, both sold separately)
- Download Size: 300 Mb
- Price: EUR 14.95 without VAT EUR 12.56
- Purchase Link: http://secure.simmarket.com/aerosoft-online-us-cities-x-new-orleans.phtml
- Publisher: Aerosoft
Test System: Intel Core2Duo E2220 @ 2.40 GHz-2.40 GHz, 4Gb RAM, Nvidea Geforce G100, Windows Vista Home Premium SP2 (DX9)