FS Traffic 2002

Published by Just Flight
Developed by Just Flight
Platform: PC CD-ROM
Released – Out Now
Price : £19.99

FS Traffic 2002 is not the usual type of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2002 expansion that we are used to seeing from Just Flight. The aim of this expansion isn’t to add extra aircraft or add detail to specific airports. The aim of FS Traffic 2002 is to add realism to the AI in Flight Simulator 2002. It replaces the default AI with one that is modelled on real world flights and real world AI aircraft. If you’re attempting to fly in a virtual world that’s as close to the real one as you can get, then this is one heck of an expansion.

The package includes 34,768 single flights that are flown by 47 airlines with a total 164 aircraft that connects 758 international airports. There are also 9,312 general aviation flights that have been included, which have 14 types of aircraft in 23 countries. In addition there have been extra ATC voice packs that now include European voices in addition to the US ones. This is a feature that will be irrelevant to the deaf gamer though. The expansion also comes with a couple of editors that allows you change the voicepacks, aircraft and flight plans. It’s also worth mentioning that you can download a variety of extras from the game’s website. FS Traffic 2002 also allows you to do some virtual plane spotting with the inclusion of Spotty. This is more of a novelty inclusion rather than a useful feature though but it does allow you to watch all the realistic AI aircraft in action to appreciate exactly what this expansion has added to Flight Simulator 2002.

Included Airliners
Airbus A319, Airbus A330, Airbus A320, Airbus A340, Airbus A321, Boeing 737-300, Boeing 737-800, Boeing 737-200, Boeing 747-200, Boeing 747-400, Boeing 757, Boeing 767, Boeing 777, BAe 146, Aerospatiale BAC Concorde, Canadair Regional Jet, De Havilland Canada DHC-8 Dash8, Douglas DC-9, Embraer RJ135/145, McDonnell Douglas MD 11.

Included Airlines
Aer Lingus, Air Canada, Air France, Alitalia, All Nippon Airways, America West, American, Austrian, BMI, Britannia, British Airways, Buzz, Cathay Pacific, Continental, Delta, Easyjet, El Al, Emirates, Eurowings, Finnair, Flybe, Germania, Hamburg International, Hapag-Lloyd, Iberia, Japan Airlines, KLM, Korean Air Lines, Lauda, LTU, Lufthansa, Monarch, Northwest Airlines, Olympic, Qantas, Ryanair, SAS, Singapore Airlines, Swiss International, TAP (Air Portugal), Thai Airways, Thomas Cook (Condor), Tyrolean, United Airlines, US Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Express.

Installation
Installation was straightforward and without hassle. Before installation begins there is a short Just Flight promotional movie clip that isn’t subtitled but pressing the Esc key will quit this and move on with the installation. On starting Flight Simulator all the relevant new material is added with only a minimum amount of time needed. The hard drive space required for installation is around 900MB if you want to be able to fly the AI aircraft.

Documentation
Twenty pages of the forty-eight page manual are in English and it explains exactly what is in FS Traffic 2002. The manual also explains how to use the virtual plane spotting Spotty and answers most questions about the expansion in general. The game installs a html file that explains how to use the FS Traffic 2002 editor which is very helpful should you decide you want to modify things.

AI Aircraft
There is a significant amount of AI Aircraft included in FS Traffic 2002, as we listed earlier. Rather than the aircraft simply being included to add atmosphere though, you can choose to fly any of them. Because the detail has been kept to an acceptable minimum, to keep the framerate satisfactory, you won’t find that the planes have their true panels (the closest default one have been used) or a virtual cockpit view. This is a small price to pay though for having access to all these extra planes. The ability to fly the AI aircraft is a superb bonus and really ups the value of this expansion in my opinion.

Overall Game Rating: 8.1/10
Not the usual kind of Flight Simulator we are used to seeing but a very good one nevertheless and it’s a real bonus that you can fly the wealth of AI aicraft that have been included.

Deaf Gamers comment:
The voicepacks that have been added will not be noticed by deaf gamers but as all the ATC information is given is text too, this isn’t a problem.