Fly! II is an exceedingly important flight simulation product. We believe TRI's work provides perhaps the most significant, um, stimulus behind the improvements promised for Microsoft's Flight Simulator 2002—and we reason that continuing success with Fly! will go far to promote healthy competition in our flight simulation hobby—for add-on providers as well as for the underlying simulation products.

We've been as anxious as anyone to examine, evaluate and enjoy Fly! II. Expectations ran high, particularly in view of what TRI lead developer Richard Harvey had to say in our exclusive interview (see our January 13 feature, "An Interview with Richard Harvey"). In anticipation of this landmark event AVSIM Online assembled a stellar team of Fly! reviewers. But now that Fly! II has been released, our disappointment is manifest.

Those who have followed our Fly! General Forum in recent weeks are well aware of the reasons. One that jarred our collective "eye teeth" is that there is no User Manual on the CD (or anywhere else). Not even a Keyboard Shortcuts reference card! True, a partial manual was posted belatedly (May 10) at the Fly! II website, but we still await the completed document. And the promised Scenery Packs aren't on the CD either—they're dribbling out as user downloads. This isn't really a problem for those with broadband cable or DSL connections, but it surely is a problem for the vast majority stuck with dial-up modems. And there are serious bugs. An initial patch already has been released, and more are expected—again, available only by download—at least for now.

These are serious flaws. In fact, we worry whether there will be a future for this product. Those who know their way around the Internet—and who are motivated to enjoy this product when (and if) it is completed—are merely inconvenienced. But the legions who see and buy the box at computer stores will probably be more than disappointed; they will simply return it (if possible) and go elsewhere. Many of those may be the young new simmers needed to keep this wonderful hobby going. And needless to say all this presents a serious problem for Fly!'s 3rd party add-on developers as well.

So we've been wondering, should we follow our stated policy and review Fly! II as it is now – "out of the box" – for better or worse? That proved to be a tough question. The reason we've hesitated is that Fly II is a breakthrough product. It is not only a flight simulator, but it is an "alternative" flight simulation platform to which add-on developers are looking to begin building products pretty quickly. Its advances are truly "state of the art" in many respects—it's just that we're unable to analyze the product effectively in its present form. We could, of course, publish a 'follow-up' review later, but in doing so we would risk misleading readers now who would have read what would necessarily be a very discouraging review, if posted at this time. In all probability many who likely would have very much enjoyed a refined Fly! II down the road would instead lose interest before they had a chance to encounter Fly! II with the richness we know its developers intended.

Furthermore, any product of this scale cannot be analyzed in a couple of hours, or even days. It takes that long to load and tweak such products for a reviewer's specific set-up. Then he has to learn the general nature of the product, before he can move on to detailed analysis. This takes hours in the cockpit for even the most experienced reviewers. So we've elected to defer publishing our Fly! II review, probably until late June.

For the record, we can't in good conscience recommend buying Fly! II now—unless you have the interest (and patience) to work through patches that hopefully are to come, download Scenery Packs, and are willing to be an "unofficial" participant in Fly! II's seemingly ongoing "beta test." If you are, by all means make yourself heard in our Fly! Forums and participate in the outstanding help and commentary offered there.

Please be assured we'll put that time to good use ourselves. Our Fly review team—each possessing specialized expertise in a variety of simulation aspects—is digging deeply into Fly! II's architecture, features and user environment. We are determined to research this product in the depth it deserves. Our hunch may be wrong, but from what we have already seen we believe Fly! II will prove to be worthy of our (and your) expectations, hopefully sooner rather than later. The bottom line? We promise that when you read our Fly! II review, you'll see why all of us at AVSIM Online are proud of its scope, depth and objectivity.