AVSIM Commercial Aircraft Review

The De Havilland Mosquito is one of those legendary aircraft. Nicknamed the 'Wooden Wonder' due to its, ahem, wooden construction which saved on precious wartime materials such as metal, the Mossie as it became known initially started life as an unarmed recon aircraft relying on its speed and all round performance to evade its enemies. As its capabilities became evident it emerged as an all rounder and evolved into many variants. The version depicted here in this CFS2 add-on is the FB. MKVI.

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Fire it up

From the off Just Flight are treading the right path with this add-on. You can tell that its a product of quality just from the box. Its presented very nicely in a petite cardboard box which is nicely illustrated with a wartime image of a Mossie parked at its airbase.

When you open the box your presented with a well rounded instruction booklet which eases you through the installation process. If you aren't familiar with installing add-on's you will find the booklet a great help.

The Mossie's panel is described in some detail to help familiarize yourself with the aircraft, always a handy section to have. You are also given an overview of the missions which might be a spoiler for some, in which case you've been warned, so don't read them!!

Finally at the end of the booklet you have some history on the aircraft itself and one of its crews.

Get on with it!

A lot of developers and publishers seem to have reached a plateau in their add-ons for Flight Sim. Mosquito Squadron is one such add-on. It's a great add-on, it has everything you'd expect such as a nicely constructed aircraft model, a fine sound package, moving parts, quality presentation etc. It doesn't really innovate, instead of exciting you or trying to really do something that's not been done yet, it just shrugs its shoulders and is happy to blend in with the crowd. Now before I'm demolished, I'm not saying its a bad add-on, not by any means whatsoever, what I'm just saying is that it's a rather average add-on. Average is by no means bad with the standards that we've reached these days.

Level flight

Up above the clouds

Clear day over England

Test System Custom PIII 550 MHz Windows ME 256 Megs RAM Geforce 2 MX 400 32MB 32X DVD ROM Sound Blaster Live Value Logitech Wingman Digital 3D 17" Monitor Flying Time: 10 Hours over 6 Days The Mossie's panel Concentration's required Heavy flak Peeling away Armed to the teeth Friendly skies

Somewhere over Norway

CFS2 Mossie

Up up and away

As I already stated, the visual model is of the high standard we've come to expect today. It's well constructed with the usual moving parts such as rudders, gear, props etc. The sections that make up the aircraft are well concealed and can't be seen which I always appreciate. The textures are a bit of a let down. They are distinctly average and could be better.

The panel is quite nice and functional with many a gauge to cast your eye over. If you use the guide to the panel in the provided booklety you shouldn't have too many problems in getting to know what's what. The virtual cockpit is always a nice extra that not everyone includes. It provides a much more realistic flying position and is always great for VFR. The one provided with Mosquito Squadron is fine, but I think could have been done to a better degree.

The sound thats included with the package is very nice indeed and rather meaty, again something that some developers seem intent on skimping on. Thankfully that isn't the case here and Just Flight have given us a reason to turn up our speakers.

The missions that come with Mosquito Squadron are immense fun and something I enjoyed thoroughly. They were very well put together and provided some compensation for the disappointment of the rest of the package.

Conclusion

Aside from the fine presentation of the box and manual, once Mosquito Squadron is installed its hard to tell that its been the work of one of the biggest FS publishing houses around. With the resources and talent available to them a product that you pay your hard earned money for should always aim to innovate and inspire, and Mosquito Squadron just doesn't do that. It's a distinctly average add-on. It can be purchased from Just Flight for £24.99 / €39.99 / $36.99.