You know what? It’s not terrible! It’s actually strangely enjoyable and unique - there isn’t anything like this in the sim so far!
GRAPHICS: This is the killer here - the external model is passable while nothing special. The cockpit is ATROCIOUS in places. I included screenshots of the worst offenders and some of the more common views you will be looking at. If you can move past this (or if these improve), I think it’s actually a decent release. Keep in mind how cheap this is, too…
SOUND: WWise from what I can tell. Not bad - pretty immersive. It changes when you open the canopy, has that recognizable jet whine to it, it’s pretty good. I don’t have any complaints after a quick look. Sounds good in the headphones.
FLYING: This has a nice manual to go along with the aircraft. I started from cold and dark with no issues, I can’t really review the systems and flight dynamics after such a quick spin… It was a little challenging, I have to admit. It doesn’t lose speed well on idle very well, the airbrakes work VERY well - perhaps a little too well, and the aircraft dramatically pitches up when you deploy them. I have to spend some time with the manual on this one and try and experiment with flying it in different ways. I did land it, but it wasn’t easy at all. Floated a ton as well. Too hard to say if I actually like flying it. I THINK it can be tamed with good technique, but my first flight was a little rough. I think gear doesn’t deploy if you are overspeeding. I deployed it when I was a little fast, but there was about a 30 second delay between when I did it and when I actually heard the sound of it coming down and saw the green annunciators light up. Things like fuel starvation in inverted flight are simulated, apparently, too… though I didn’t bother with any aerobatics on this first flight.
SYSTEMS: Haven’t had a chance to play with navigation here at all yet, but it seems to be OK from a quick glance. This is purely a steam gauge jet - no fancy Garmin avionics or GPS. No autopilot.
OVERALL: It’s a little rough. But the price is right and it’s unique. It sounds good, I THINK it will be satisfying to fly it right, and overall I can say that for $10? Go for it if you can forgive the FS9/10 textures in some places. The dash looks mostly OK though, so I am just gonna have to try not to look to the spots where it’s a bit of an eyesore. It’s obviously an FSX/P3D asset flip in terms of visuals.