FlightSim.Com Reviews: MegaScenery Pacific Northwest

MegaScenery Pacific Northwest

By John Haley (26 October 1998)

bsolutely stunning! I've downloaded hundreds of scenery files from the Internet. I've purchased commercial scenery add-ons. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, comes close to the sheer wonder of Pacific Northwest MegaScenery!

No more cheesy looking mountains, no more repetitive, boring ground textures that put you to sleep behind the yoke. This scenery is truly breathtaking and is simply without rival in the flightsim world!

You simply cannot believe the overpowering feeling that you really are amongst mountains, plains, canyons and waterways. The strongest attention is dedicated to overall layout, realistic textures, accurate placement of buildings and sprawling airport layouts. Taxi-lines, multi purpose hangars, terminal buildings, unique towers. It's all here and it's simply breathtaking!

INSTALLATION

It's a whopper of a package! A full install runs close to 800 megs! I took the time to custom install the whole package and I recommend it over the express setup if you have the space.

It's easy to install, a couple of points and clicks, and the whole process is done. I didn't even have to activate the scenery in the FS98 library. Smart job by the developers, everything is done automatically.

SCENERY

Enough talk you're saying! Let's see some photos. Check out these various shots from the Pacific Northwest and tell me honestly, you're not blown away!

Over downtown Vancouver, Canada - detail to the max!

Over the top of Seattle, Washington, Boeing Field in upper right.

Northwest of Portland, Oregon. Interstates and bridges, all the norm with this scenery!"

POSITIVES

It's a challenge to talk about all the positives with "MegaScenery". The accurate terrain, layout and placement of mountains, towns and "special buildings" make the pilot feel as though he's part of the landscape. There's no need for any stretch of the imagination when flying here. I personally found that the higher the Flight Level, the more realistic the overall effect. There are no "see-throughs" or "ghost images"; mountains and valleys pop up all over the scenery. It's almost like flying over a giant English Muffin!

It's the urban areas that really astound me when flying with MegaScenery. Yes, mountains are very impressive, but mountains are mountains. The city re-creation is absolutely amazing, as I'm sure you've seen with the above shots.

In short, almost everything about this scenery is a positive. I could find not a single major flaw. I flew, slew and inched my way across the landscape and found total accuracy!

MOUNTAIN MADNESS

Anyone who loves mountain flying is in for a treat. Whether it's the Canadian West Coast or Washington State, get ready for the most realistic experience of your flightsim life.

Arriving Mount Rainier after a 15 minute trip through the volcanic ash of Mount St. Helens.

NEGATIVES

Not many. My criticisms are fairly minor. I was a little disappointed that airport buildings are still fairly "boxy" and without interesting texture. And MegaScenery still suffers from the Dynamic Scenery doldrums. Airports are still ghost towns, like something from Stephen King's "The Langoliers". These cheesy little trees keep popping up around airports. They look out of place and take away from the overall enhancement. Check out the photos of Portland International to see what I mean. I did love all the taxi and hold lines at the airport though!

Other than the amount of room it takes up on the old hard-drive, that's all I can say in a negative vein about this scenery. If you don't have a higher speed processor, you may find this scenery a little choppy.

CONCLUSIONS

If you love to fly VFR, if you live in this Pacific Northwest Area, if you crave the ultimate realism, then you simply must get this scenery.

I'm reluctant to use a rating system, but a lot of people seem to like it. On a scale of 1 to 10, this scenery easily rates a 9. It's cutting edge, and nothing comes close to duplicating its accuracy.

Some may think it's ridiculous, but I'd have to say I was so impressed with this whole project that I would seriously consider upgrading my computer and adding a larger hard-drive, just to accommodate this remarkable scenery. If there's more to come from PC Aviator, I'm sold!

The only question I don't have an answer to? When is PC Aviator getting around to the rest of the world? I'm anxious to experience the world through the eyes of more MegaSceneries!

John Haley
jhaley@Quetico.tbaytel.net

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