Distributor: Wilco Publishing

Minimum System Requirements:

P200MMX,
16M RAM,
190 M HD Space,
CD,
Direct3D accelerator

# of Players: 1
Control options: joystick, mouse
Rating: None given
Genre: Flight sim / special

Hangsim deals with a very special subject: hang gliders (powered and unpowered), para-gliders (powered and unpowered), gliders, and ultra-lights. It succeeded in delivering the experience in the variety of terrain and flight models, but fell short in giving a full satisfying flight experience as it lacks many options present in other flight sims.

The game installed with no problems. It worked as-is on the tested hardware, though it seems to have problems keeping track of my two Direct3D Devices. Turning one of them off seems to cure the problem.

The game uses either a joystick or a mouse to control the craft. However, the default settings are VERY sensitive, esp. the mouse. Also, there's no way to re-map some of the buttons. Only two buttons are used, and no mapping of the hat or throttle (if applicable).

The graphics in Hangsim are quite good, for a flight sim. The ground appears to be based on real satellite images or aerial photographs, and they look VERY good from hundreds of feet up in the air. However, once you fly down low, you start to see the ground pixelate. Also, some images are not color corrected, and as a result, you can see the seams in the ground textures in the sample screenshots.

The craft are quite nicely detailed. However, it's too bad that you don't get to pick your own colors for the pilot and/or the craft.

The sounds are below average. Some MIDI music was present but that's mainly background. The in-game sounds are quite boring. The stall horn seems to have a CLICK at the end, and some of the instruments are not explained properly.

Gameplay consists mainly of hitting waypoints and/or a race with some AI to hit waypoints. As these are GLIDERS, you don't have unlimited range. Finding the thermals (the game helpfully points them out for you with white swirls) is the key in setting long distance endurance records, while hitting the waypoints with enough altitude left is the only way to finish the course!

The game provides various scenarios, divided among multiple difficulty levels. The maps are big enough to provide enough of a race, just make sure you have enough RAM, since this game needs a LOT of RAM for those huge maps.

Having never flown an ultra-light or any of the other craft modeled, I can't vouch for the accuracy of the flight model, but they seem authentic enough. However, even the powered craft can't seem to maintain a positive rate of climb... The only way to gain any altitude was via the updrafts.

There's a "fight" game where you have rockets to shoot down other craft, but usually you run out of altitude before you run out of targets.

Of course, there are problems. You are supposed to fly toward a waypoint, which is a SMALL green cube in the sky. If it's far enough away, you can't see it, and the only way to know which way is via the GPS display, which tells you course and distance only, not altitude. And if you're under, you probably won't have enough altitude to hit the next one. The races are too hard because the waypoints on the ground are just about invisible with the altitude you're flying. A bigger waypoint arrow would be nice... There's also the pixelated ground when you get close... and the inability to gain altitude...

If you are bored of regular flight sims, then definitely give Hangsim a try. Even if you haven't, it should provide you with some interesting challenges. However, lack of variety in the terrain (less than 10) and limited scenarios may limit the amount of challenge this sim provides.

For real-life Hangsim enthusiasts….this is the only game in town!

Hangsim rates 3 joysticks out of 5 and was reviewed by GameBoyz contributor, Kasey "Wolfman" Chang on his:

Celeron 400, 64 Meg RAM,
24X CD,
Diamond Viper 550 (TNT) 16M,
Diamond Monster II (Voodoo 2) 12M,
SB16.


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Description:
An interesting sim that will appeal to the extreme sports contingent and hang glider enthusiasts

Platform:
PC

Thanks to: http://www.gameboyz.com