flight simulator games...Help!!

[COUNTRYBOY]

My kid wants a flight sim game for Christmas and I need help deciding. He wants Combat Flight Simulator 3. However after checking out reviews, I am not sure about this game. Most of the reviews had graphics problems and not so much guidance on how to. The boy is only 12 and I don't want something to hard, so as that he gives up on it after a day. All suggestions would be appreciated.

[denaliguide]

i haven't flown cfs 3 but have flown cfs 1 & 2 quite a bit. they are both good flight sims if your son wants to have dogfights. i will say that there is a learning curve with all flight sim games. it take time and patience to both play it well and learn the controls and key strokes.

if he wants to fly as opposed to shooting other planes down then microsoft flight sim 2004 or Flight sim X are good choices. again there is going to be a learning curve associated with these sims as well. these are as close to flying as you can get without actually being a real pilot. i have flown the microsoft flightsim products since before flight sim 95 came out. i am also a licensed commercial pilot and flight instructor. these flight sims use very accurate flight characteristics and actual real world navagation signals and instruments. i can say that it made getting my instrument rating much easier.

your computer is also a deciding factor. a faster computer with as much ram as you can afford and a good graphics card are very useful. fsX is very demanding while fs 2004 not so much. cfs 2 & 1 will work on older machines too.

there is a tips and strategies book by ben chiu for cfs that can help with some of the trick to flying cfs. don't remember if it is for 1 or 2. whichever is the one that is wwII europe. might even be 3. he may have written books for all 3, for all i know.

you can also pick up cfs 1 and 2 and fs 2004 pretty cheap these days. should't be much over $20 since they are a few years old. that way if he does tire of them you aren" out a whole bunch of dough

let me know if you have any more questions. i have had many hours of enjoyment playing with these alone and online.

good luck