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Flight Simulator 2004: A Century Of Flight celebrates the world-altering invention of powered flight -- by taking you on a tour of great aircraft from the past and present! Complete set of historical and modern-day aircraft to fly, from the Wright Brothers' Flyer I to the Boeing 747-700
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004: A Century of Flight Accessories
 Logitech Extreme 3D Pro Joystick (963290-0403)
CH Products Flight Sim Yoke USB ( 200-615 )
CH Products Pro Pedals USB Flight Simulator Pedals ( 300-111 )
Logitech Attack 3 Joystick
Microsoft Flight Simulator X Deluxe DVD
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004: A Century of Flight: Official Strategies & Secrets
Saitek X52 Flight Control System
Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator 3: Battle for Europe
Microsoft Flight Simulator X For Pilots Real World Training
Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator 2: Pacific Theater
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004: A Century of Flight Reviews
It is fun to play with, though quite basic compared to what is available nowadays. It does not require too much of system resources and provides hours of entertainment and some flight learning. I had bought this as an upgrade to an earlier version.
I find it to be a wonderful opportunity to take some time flying and get away from the every day office routine. It is expandable by adding new aircraft. It allows the use of keyboard flying, if you really want a challenge, or accessory flying with a joy stick or any of the many products on the market today. The flight simulator is a flexible product. Microsoft has done a wonderful job with the scenery and many other functions while flying the airplane.
By comparison, "X" on the same machine, with quality set mostly "Low", barely can get 10 fps. It's almost as good as "X", and you won't be frustrated with lower frame rates. Our last version was 2002, and the 2004 version is far superior. More importantly, it runs acceptably (even nicely) on lower horsepower machines.I have it on a Sony laptop (1280x768, ~500MHz Pentium M, 512k RAM, XP SP2) with most sliders set to "high quality" (including bilinear anti-aliasing), and we get a pretty reliable 17-18 frames per second (fps). My son Henry and I enjoy flight simulating together. The realism of 2004 is certainly acceptable, and is closer to "X" than to 2002.
Of course, if you've got a fancy new GPU from Nvidia, go for "X"; it's really great. So, there's a big difference in performance. Most noticeable is an increase in the graphics quality of terrain and clouds/weather. For us, that's a requirement for good control; lower than that and we both get frustrated. In short, if you've got a machine of limited resources (especially the 3D graphics chip), stick with 2004.
Yet, they don't overwhelm my 2-year old WindowsXP machine, as FSX is rumored to do. The graphics in FS2004 are vastly superior to those in my older, FS2000. Very nice, and customizable.
The pitch trim{up or down)does not work like the real world. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004: A Century of FlightTrying to fly a flight from point A to point B I find it difficult to change radio navigation frequencies with no radio panels available. I had Flight Simulator 98 before and I fill it was more user friendly. Must continue to hold up or down elevator force. Try to use pause command and then shift 2 to get the radio panels with no successful results.
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