OSS is a scenery design group that develop add-ons for the Microsoft Flight Simulator Range. OSS's previous scenery package, London City 2003 boasted some great scenery add-ons, lots of little details that makes their packages special - as is their latest release, London Gatwick 2004! Developed over many months using the latest in GMAX technology, and lovingly hand textured, OSS are sure you will get many hours of enjoyment from flying in this ultra realistic scenery environment. Click here to read the full review of London Gatwick 2004.
Gatwick 2004 for FS2002 /
FS2004 Review
by Ryan Barclay
I will be reviewing this stunning, fully featured package,
Gatwick 2004 from Online Simulation Solutions under Microsoft Flight Simulator
2004.
Shot showing main terminal and ground in background
click for larger image
THE INSTALLATION
The package comes with a great installation
interface for those non-technical simmers. The set-up is pretty minimal, just
let the installer do the work.
There is no need to enter the FS2004
Scenery library, and add the entry - the installer does all the work for you, so
the package can be installed even with the less computer literate simmer.
Professional installer - gives good first impressions
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You then get the
option to choose which version of Flight Simulator you wish to install the
package for; FS2002 or FS2004.
Choose your FS
Version
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THE REVIEW
After waiting several minutes for FS2004 to compile everything,
and load the scenery into memory, I was presented with a highly detailed
landscape with lots of eye candy overall. I looked to my left; I could see jet
liners at the terminal with terminal tunnels fixed on them. Looked to my right
and could see various things going on. There were moving vehicles and food
wagons in front of me, all going about their business - great dynamic scenery.
Terminal, tunnels and airport staff
click for larger image
View of main airport and tower from other side of
airport
click for larger image
As I made my way towards the runway, I decided
to take a quick look at the detail of the terminals...
I loved the terminal tunnels - the exact duplicate of the real ones - including
the HSBC sponsorship and all of the other extra details that standard scenery
does not have really made it rise above the rest. OSS have proven that they
care about the most smallest of details - they have built their name on quality
not quantity; and I like it.
Great ground
texture
click for larger image
Being from London myself, and
flown from Gatwick many times, I could really related to this version and the
real life version. The main feature that stood out to me, and I'm sure
would stand out to many people who have flow from Gatwick was the raised bridge
at the entrance of the airport itself. Great detail.
Raised bridge at
North Terminal
click for larger image
Again, what I have to stress
most is the detail OSS have used in this package is great. It include
features such as moving trains, moving ground vehicles, terminal trains, moving
cars on motorway, fire crew training, and lots of improvements on features that
are in every airport add-on such as the terminal tunnels, ground textures...
etc. Some shots that show this level of scenery are below:
...Train sim?
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Joining the fire crew training session
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The airport main
ground, notice the raised floodlights and other features
click for larger image
Control tower -
copy of real one; notice the fence on the right
click for larger image
Conclusion:
It's clear that OSS's
Gatwick 2004 is a great scenery package all round. The amount of detail
put into it is great, and the little things really build towards giving you a
most realistic environment in Flight Simulator. There were problems with
AI aircraft following the old taxiways that were on the default version, and
that would be great if it could be fixed - because 747's taxiing on grass is
slightly odd. Gatwick 2004 is priced at $24.95, a reasonable price for an
add-on as such. It seems OSS are working a lot with London and the
surrounding area, which is great - perhaps in the future, a 'London' package or
a 'South England' package will be released including all the airports in the
surrounding areas.
You can download
London Gatwick 2004 Here
Purchase Occurs after download for $24.95
| PRO |
CON |
- Reasonable Price
- Lots of little features to make simmin' more realistic
- Easy install interface
|
- AI traffic follow default paths because paths in LGW2004 have been
changed
|
| INFORMATION |
TEST SYSTEM |
|
|
- P4 3.2GHZ HT
- 1024MB RAM
- Nvidia Geforce FX 5200
- FS2004
|
You can download London Gatwick 2004 Here
Purchase Occurs after download for $24.95
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