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Ever since I bought Aerosoft's Frankfurt Mega Airport scenery I was pretty hooked on their products because it was the best airport I had ever seen. The look is just perfect with lots of moving vehicles while performance remained great.
Whenever I buy a new scenery I tend to compare it to the Mega Airport series which easily leads to disappointments. I tried some of Aerosoft's older ones just to find that there had been quite a few steps forward in quality during the past years. However it was okay as the other products have been a good deal cheaper and well done for their time.
When I came across Holiday Airports I was wondering what quality to expect. While I paid $38.95 for my Mega Airport the Holiday Airports are at slightly above that but they are not one airport but four.
Now for the product: what does it include? You get the Mediterranean airports of Faro (Portugal), Monastir (Tunisia), Kos (Greece) and Antalya (Turkey) for FS2004 and FSX. This review covers the FS2004 version. The screen shots on the package all look great so I cannot recognize if there are any differences in quality between the versions. When you open the box you will find a CD, a brief manual with installation instructions and a description of the airports as well as detailed and colored approach charts.
Now for the product features mentioned by Aerosoft:
I contacted the Aerosoft support to find out if there are any major differences between the FS2004 and FSX versions. The answer followed the next day: no there are no major differences. Both look more or less the same.
Checking the description at the Aerosoft web site was a bit puzzling. They state that Antalya has been completely redone while Faro, Kos and Monastir are a bonus taken from the LTU 2005 scenery. Weird, I thought these airports are the main feature, not a bonus. I hadn't heard of LTU 2005 so I guess it was seven year-old add-on about the now extinct German LTU airline.
For those interested in a single airport only, Aerosoft has Antalya, Kos and Faro and Monastir available separately. Enough of introductions. Let's go and check!
Nothing special here. Everything is simple and flawless. You can choose whether you want to install static aircraft. That's about it.
As I approach the airport I get aware of the detailed coastline that was reproduced. It is full of tiny islands and looks quite appealing. Checking pictures of the real area I find that there are salt pans west of the airport while there are brown and muddy islands in the east. Of course the area is not depicted fully realistic but it is the best you can do with default textures.
However the package promised photo textures so I wait for them to pop up. Nothing happens. From some distance the airport looks quite default. Nice landclass but nothing else.
The scenery shows its bright side only after touchdown. The buildings are well done and there is lots of static detail. However there are no moving airport vehicles. Compared to the more recent products the textures are of a lower quality. Nothing to complain about but not really top-notch.
Apart from the landclass there is little to see in the vicinity. There are no more buildings in the area so all you get is the runway and the terminals. Well, just see for yourself.
The LTU A330 is a bit out of place as LTU no longer exists. Yes, it's drawn from the LTU add-on so if you don't like it you can turn it off during installation. The quality of the static aircraft is somewhat worse than what I know from the Mega Airport sceneries - not really convincing. Funny to find that the displayed aircraft is D-AERQ. It is currently in Air Berlin services and it is the aircraft I flew in on my last holiday trip. Thanks for that!
Mind that the screen shots on the Aerosoft web site show a larger number of AI aircraft that are not included in this package. Default AI was adapted and works fine but all other aircraft are static.
Flying on to Monastir I find that all four included airports lie in an almost straight east-western line and span most of the Mediterranean. Monastir - as expected - proves to be quite the same quality as Faro. Nice landclass and coastline near the airport but otherwise no structures other than the airport buildings. As all included airports except for Antalya are relatively small and have only one runway they areas look a little empty.
Monastir offers the same features as Faro. The airport is well done but again it is not the latest stuff. The terminal roof shows in interesting architecture but it could have used some textures. An airport wall is blank as well. I asked the Aerosoft report if these are missing or if the roof and wall were intentionally left blank. The reply was quick but not completely helpful as the Aerosoft guy didn't know himself but guessed it was meant to look like that.
Kos is one of the little islands in the Aegean Sea. Pictures say more than words so just see for yourself.
The airport is another one with 2005-quality although Aerosoft put a little larger effort into the surrounding area. There are a few more ships and hotels, lighthouses and a couple of other buildings in the area. It is nice to have a closer look at it going slow and low. It is the only scenery that comes with a mesh which helps to make it slightly more beautiful than Faro und Monastir. Still anything we have seen so far is not really ahead of the freeware that is around nowadays.
It's just a little hop from Kos to Antalya. Approaching the airport from the south I see the first objects right at the coast. There are cliffs and some of the hotels in Antalya are modeled. Checking pictures of real Antalya I cannot confirm the color of the buildings but at a first glance it looks much better than what we have seen so far.
Getting closer the airports pops up with photorealistic ground textures and passing over it I see some moving vehicles as well as a great overall quality. There is a slight drop in frame rates but it's quite acceptable. Yes, this airport is far ahead of the others and offers what I had hoped for. I you fly in autumn the dark green color of the surroundings don't fit very well into the otherwise dull light brown area but that's not the fault of the add-on. Comparing it with photos of the real thing it looks very realistic. Well done here! Nothing to complain about.
Let's put it like that: you get what you pay for. Aerosoft works with different teams and sometimes offers works of other developers under their own brand. The results vary. In my experience the price tag gives a good clue on what quality there is to expect. Holiday Airports is about what I had anticipated: a very good representation of Antalya while the other airports are lagging behind.
Do you get what Aerosoft promises? Definitely yes concerning Antalya but there is a "no" concerning photorealistic ground textures and moving traffic at the other three airports. However the latter shouldn't be an issue for FSX users. Checking their web site I find a statement that some of the features might apply to the FSX version only. Unfortunately there is no such statement on the box so anybody who finds it in a shop might be misled.
Doing a little more research on the internet I found that the pictures of the FSX version do show a lot more quality. Looks like you do get photo real textures and a greater overall quality here. Well, the Aerosoft guy was quick to answer but obviously he didn't know that his FSX version is superior to the FS2004 version.
Do I recommend this package? Yes. Despite the shortcomings of the bonus airports Antalya is great and the three other airport are a nice addition for little money. The scenery covers areas from the east to the west of the Mediterranean and offers a nice base for a round trip.
If you are interested in only a single one of the airports you can buy them separately. In this case I can only recommend Antalya for FS2004 users. The others are too far behind in quality to pay good money for. To me it looks like they are worth their money for FSX users but FS2004 pilots better stick to Antalya only or go for the Holiday Airports bundle and get the other three airports as a low-priced bonus.
2.8 GHz Intel Pentium IV
3 GB RAM
528 MB Nvidia GeForce 210 video card
Default FS2004 AI flight plans used with the following AI aircraft:
A318, A320 and A321 by DJC
Boeing 737-800 by AI Aardvark
Dash 8-Q400 by TFS
Boeing 767 by AI Aardvark
Airbus A330-300 by TFS
Water Texture Compilation by Kevin Rangel, original work by Lynn and
Bill Lyons, Roger Austli, Ed Truthan
Bastian Blinten
b.blinten@gmx.de
Learn More Here:
Holiday Airports (complete package)
Antalya only
Faro only
Kos only
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