Test machine specs: MSI X670E, AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D, AMD Radeon RX 7900XTX, 48gb RAM
MSFS add-ons: FSLTL, GSX Pro, REX AccuSeason (which may misrepresent some colours in certain light conditions)
DETAIL
I had previously looked at this developer’s Ponce Mercedita airport, which unfortunately features default Asobo jetways — something I just can’t live with. The rest of that scenery, however, looks great, in particular the airfield’s peripheral detail.
Fast-forward a few weeks and PhotoRico have yet another Puerto Rican scenery: TJIG (I shan’t type its entire name again as it takes more time than writing the actual review!). Again, it seemed to feature a lot of surrounding detail, which really increases the immersion factor — so in spite of this dev being a bit of an unknown quantity, I decided to make the purchase (the reasonable price being another major attraction).
As I always do, I decided to take a flight into this new airport from elsewhere, choosing nearby Culebra. Working the approach is my favourite way of checking out a new piece of scenery, and for this journey I selected the BBS BN-2 Islander in Air Flamenco livery.
As I approached the city of San Juan, I could tell right after passing the main international airport that the area around Isla Grande (as TJIG is better known locally) had been modified. The Caribbean World Update added four or five POIs to San Juan but what I was seeing was certainly PhotoRico’s work. It looked absolutely magical as I made the left turn for RWY09 — very similar to Marcus Nyberg’s excellent Bromma. After a buttery-smooth touchdown (no fps loss or stuttering) I taxied to stand, swapped to the drone cam and started snooping around…
The airfield looks gorgeous. It really does. Great ground textures (although the ground markings could be better), with plenty of reflective puddle effects. Airfield buildings look well weathered and most are done in decent resolution. What I found most impressive was the number of beautifully-crafted custom aircraft models dotted around — no two aircraft are the same and each has a unique, real-world registration. Many of the light aircraft are tied down, which is common in areas prone to hurricanes.
The terminal is pretty small but again, well textured, and its landside features custom-modelled roads and car-parks (which are populated with custom car models). It has an interior, as do a handful of other buildings (including some off-airport). The whole airfield is littered with various bits of custom clutter, much of it nicely weathered. The perimeter fencing is also completely custom and comes in various different designs (presumably reflecting the real place). There are both static and animated people placed randomly throughout the scenery, giving it that extra kick of life.
Moving away from the airfield, we find a plethora of modelled buildings and structures — too numerous to try and name. They really do bring the airfield — and in fact, the whole city — to life.
So what’s the catch? Well, there isn’t really one… but I must point out that a lot of the city buildings are not Orbx-quality models. The further you move from the airport, the poorer the quality of the POIs, with the majority looking pretty blurry and pixelated when viewed close up. What’s more, there doesn’t seem to be any sort of reliable pattern governing the dev’s choice of what should be high quality, and what should be low. You can have a pretty decent-looking building right next to the perimeter fence, yet its neighbouring structure will look awful by comparison — it’s clear that these POIs are intended to look good from a distance; i.e. on approach and take-off. And despite my initial disappointment with the quality of the surroundings, they do indeed look fine from the cockpit. I mean, when do we ever really inspect the craftmanship of POIs, except when checking out a scenery for the very first time?
Okay, it’s time to stop praising the scenery and wrap up with what I don’t like, and what I think could be improved. Obviously I’d like to see more intricate and consistent POI detail. I suppose I’d also like to see more of the city modelled but that’s not a criticism as such — more of a testament to how good a job what is included here does.
If I’m entirely honest, the majority of airside buildings could do with a resolution increase. Some are really sharp, but most don’t hold up to scrutiny when you get really close. Again, I don’t think the intention was ever for them to be viewed from anywhere other than a plane’s cockpit; but in 2025 we’ve become accustomed to very high-quality textures, across the board. And given that some textures here are high-quality, PhotoRico are clearly capable of better. I also think the scenery’s numerous flags should be animated — a minor gripe, perhaps; but if you can animate people, you can surely animate flags? Fluttering flags are almost par for the course now.
My final complaint is too many areas that have been left to default satellite imagery (see images 10 & 11). I often don’t mind this but I think some in this scenery should have been tidied. For the most part, no attempt whatsoever has been made. There’s also no real definition between airport boundary and shore, but some very well-placed trees do (purposefully?) mask it. There are a couple of randomly-placed rocks and boulders strewn about but it would have been nice to see them properly divide the airport perimeter from the sea.
One last thing — and I refer you to the final image below — is this enormous cruise ship that’s inconsiderately moored itself at the end of RWY09. It looks like an Asobo asset but it doesn’t feature in any of the scenery’s marketing imagery so presumably there’s a way to get rid of it. During my test it was, unsurprisingly, inhibiting landings. On a related note, some of the marketing images show a custom Carnival Cruises liner docked at the cruise terminal. I’ve not seen it so far so I’ll fire PhotoRico a message and make some enquiries.
PERFORMANCE
What if… just what if… all that dense surrounding scenery is low-res for a reason? It has occurred to me that, on top of Asobo’s World Update additions, PhotoRico’s work makes this a pretty concentrated area of detail. The scenery does perform admirably so it’s entirely possible — however I’m convinced resolution improvements would have little impact on performance.
VERDICT
This is an odd scenery package for me to review because, in spite of some quite glaring flaws, I absolutely love it! If you never plan to tank around town with the drone, you certainly won’t have any beef with this product. Even if you do happen to notice the poor quality of some of the city buildings, I’m positive you’ll learn to forgive and forget because the quality of the approach is just so sublime! Quite how they’ve managed to make what is basically an autogen skyline look this good, I don’t know! One decision I find very odd, however, is the dev’s replacement of a couple of Asobo’s hand-crafted POIs with their own much poorer versions. Que sera, as they say…
So, should you buy this? I think it’s one of those airports that should be in every simmer’s collection, even if you’ve little interest in this particular corner of the world. It has one of the most immersive approaches I’ve seen in the sim, helped in no small part by the (admittedly sub-par, at times) work of the developer. TJIG succinctly demonstrates that you don’t always need super-high-quality assets to set the mood — though naturally I’d like to see improvements.
If you’re a fan of Caribbean island-hopping — or you love flying the Islander or Caravan — this airport package is an absolute must. Satisfyingly, in a climate of exponential price increases, TJIG’s cost is relatively modest. I will contact the dev and offer my suggestions but this is a solid buy, even in its current state.
