Reviews (by Karl)

KHTS is everything we've come to expect of Verticalsim in 2023/2024. It's a well-modelled little airport — both airside and landside — with some great detail and pleasing terraforming. The inclusion of the Catlettsburg oil refinery on the approach the RWY12 is a welcome addition. Add the fact that the airport is in a rural and very beautiful part of the USA, and you have a decent package here. However there are two reasons I can't award 5 stars: the first being the very limited and rudimentary terminal interior (an area in which Verticalsim seem to have regressed lately). I can understand the performance benefit this might offer at smaller airports but Verticalsim's own Provo features one of the best interiors I've yet seen, and is a larger airport. The second reason is the slightly high price for an airport of this size — at this price point, I'd expect a more detailed terminal interior.

KSYR seems to have heralded a turning point for Verticalsim; a benchmark the dev would equal or exceed with every subsequent release. One (old) review I saw mentioned very erratically-behaving road traffic in the landside areas near the terminal, however this seems to have been resolved — presumably by an Asobo update as KSYR hasn't been updated since release. I've certainly not seen any cars or trucks behaving wildly. The scenery and general modelling is exactly what we've become accustomed to with Verticalsim's airports — texturing is very good, across the board (except for a few of the landside ground textures — easily forgiven), and we're treated to one of the dev's better terminal interiors. There's not too much modelled outside the perimeter fence but this is an older Verticalsim scenery, and it could well be that there isn't a great deal in real life. Particularly impressive is the terminal's neon night-lighting (both airside and landside), which dazzles fantastically once the sun's set. It really is some of the best yet seen in the sim. In conclusion, despite not being the dev's most impressive work overall, it is more in line with their most recent masterpieces than it is with their very mediocre early work. Finally, to address the point made by a previous reviewer about poor ground textures in places, I've not found any that are particularly offensive. While they're undoubtedly not the best, I've seen far worse.

I typically find MM Simulations' airports a mixed bag, and Vilnius is no different. First, the bad... As is typical for MM, the texturing is generally a bit 'sterile' (too clean-looking) but it actually seems more obvious here. A shame since most of the textures are of a high standard. There's an abundance of pesky Asobo globes floating around, some of which are very close to the main apron. Furthermore, despite the gantry-style apron floodlights being generally well done, the lamps themselves seem way too dull to produce the amount of light visible on the ground beneath them. Lastly, the custom animated tram is a nice touch but is unlit at night and can be seen frequently wandering from its tracks (though you'll not notice unless you take the drone out and follow it). Now the good... In spite of some of the bland textures, the terminal building, its interior and its landside are very well done. There are plenty of nooks and crannies that MM have detailed, and the façade of the ornate original building (since incorporated into the main terminal structure) is particularly beautifully modelled. Ground textures and markings are good, as is the night-lighting generally (Asobo globes aside). There's some good peripheral detail modelled, including the official viewing area adjacent to the taxiway leading to RWY01, and a retail park just off the RWY19 approach (Ikea's café even has a basic interior!). I'd give about a 4.2 if I could but since I can only award whole stars, it has to be closer to 4 than 5. With a few minor tweaks and improvements, this airport could easily be a 4.5-5; but as it is, there are just too many (mostly minor) flaws. On a final note, many reviews I've seen slate performance but it's above average for me. That said, please bear in mind that I'm running a very high-end machine.

I'd like to get the negatives out of the way first, because they're preventing this from being a really excellent product. The simple fact is, there's far too much missing from the scenery — no Co-Op Live Arena, no Kellogg factory, no Heineken brewery, no Chill Factore indoor ski centre, and no Trafford Centre (one of the biggest and most distinctive shopping malls in Europe). In fact, there's been nothing added to the Trafford area at all (same goes for Salford Quays). There's been zero effort made to replace the city's default sunken bridges with higher-quality custom models (something Samscene's own 'Modern Cities' series offers, at just £4 per city!). To make matters worse, Samscene's Old Trafford stadium model looks far worse than the Orbx model it replaces (for those who have Orbx's GB Central which, by the way, is fully compatible with this scenery). Several key buildings have quite poor texturing (the Mercure Hotel is a particularly bad offender), which I wouldn't expect for a £11 scenery covering a concentrated, non-photogrammetry area. Now, onto the positives — Manchester city centre proper looks really good! Samscene have filled it out quite nicely and it is considerably more detailed than the Orbx pack alone. The night-lighting is, typiocally for Samscene, also very good. If they can expand upon what they've done to the main city centre — by sprucing up areas such as Trafford and Salford Quays (which are still considered 'central Manchester') — this will be a very good package. But as it is, you're paying a premium for a handful of extra buildings, with zero improvement (over the Orbx product) to the more outlying areas. £11 for a city many of us will already have as part of GB Central doesn't represent good value, I'm afraid. Samscene do seem quite receptive to fair criticism, however, and they do update their products fairly regularly, based on user feedback — so hopefully we'll soon see the additions/improvements needed to make this a really great city pack. Of course if you don't have Orbx GB Central, and are looking for a decent Manchester, this package becomes that bit more worthwhile...

I have most of Samscene's city packs and they're generally very good. Unfortunately, Kobe/Kyoto is one of only two of three that fall a little short of expectations. Coverage is good (particularly in Kobe, which features a number of buildings that are not shown in the promo images) but the textures are pretty low-res and the scenery lacks the detail we see in other Samscene products. It feels to me as though Samscene have fallen into the trap of rushing products; quantity over quality. That said, this is one of their least expensive add-ons and it does cover two cities, so perhaps the price is reflective of the reduced quality. It's certainly not a bad product and it does greatly enhances the approach into Kobe's airport — I'd just rather have paid an extra pound or two and had the quality we see in NYC Times or Osaka. On a more positive note, the night-lighting is very nice, as it always is with this dev's work.

MK seem to improve with every release and KLGA is arguably their best work yet. Incredible detail, inside and out, plus a good deal of work out on the runway approaches to boost the immersion when on finals. Unfortunately, KLGA is situated in what is undoubtedly the sim's most demanding area, so smooth performance isn't really a possibility, even for those with top-end machines (like me). I can get decent performance (using quite heavy FSLTL traffic plus third-party KEWR/KJFK) but I have to drop my TLOD significantly each time I fly into/out of here. It must be borne in mind, though, that this isn't the fault of MK. Highly recommended, but only if you have a machine capable of getting the most out of the heavy NYC area.

Verticalsim's penultimate airport, Provo, set a new bar for this developer. A bar which St. Pete/Clearwater exceeds. The only thing it lacks when compared to Provo is a fully-modelled, super-detailed terminal interior, but that's more a testament to how good Provo's is, rather than any real criticism of St. Pete's. The building textures are, as always fantastic. Ground textures too, though some of the ground markings are a little lower-res than I'd expect. Landside detail is fantastic. This used to be an area of weakness for Verticalsim but that changed with Provo, and this scenery continues the positive trend. Tons of high-quality static vehicles, custom-modelled roads, signs and vegetation, plus a custom bridge a short distance away from the airport. At the opposite end of the runway (36 end), there's more custom modelling that includes various hotels, shops, restaurants and warehouses. It really does make the RWY36 approach that bit more special! Static aircraft-wise we get a handful of nicely-detailed Allegiant A320s, conveniently placed out of the way of AI traffic and GSX. They closely match their FSLTL/FS Traffic counterparts so won't ever look out of place. As I said, the only complaint I have is the resolution of some of the ground markings, but that doesn't detract from the overall enjoyment of the product. Highly recommended, particularly if you're into replicating real-world Allegiant routes.

FlyTampa certainly kept the lid on this one and I must say, it seems a very unusual move for a developer whose previous work has always featured major hubs. In short, Humberside has set a new bar for 2024, and in my opinion is currently the most detailed airport available for the sim. While smaller airports by their nature can be crammed with more intricate detail, this point shouldn't serve to take anything away from FlyTampa here — they've done an absolutely stellar job, with just two very, very minor gripes for me (which I'll detail shortly). The ground and building textures are first-class, as is the general terraforming. The terminal interior is stunning and rivals anything by the likes of Pyreegue, IniBuilds or Jo Erlend Sund. The terminal landside is beautifully-detailed — the most detailed I've yet seen, in fact — every sign, every bin, every bollard, ever barrier, every lightpole, every fence (with grimy concrete posts), every billboard, etc. The Belisha beacons at the pedestrian crossings even flash in a staggered manner, just as they do in reality! At night, the airport looks just as good, with airfield ground lighting that reacts with the environment (i.e. you get a coloured glow on the ground immediately surrounding each light). There are three features that are particularly well done: the muddy puddles dotted around the apron (they look so real!), the very detailed puffs of smoke/steam that emanate from the chimneys of a nearby chemical plant (which, needless to say, has also been modelled), and the parallax interiors of peripheral buildings. Also worth mentioning that many roads (complete with signs) around the perimeter have been modelled, for that extra kick of immersion. I've had the product for almost two days now and I keep finding new little bits and pieces, hidden away. It really is a treasure trove of Easter eggs! So, my very minor grievances... Firstly, there are some static Eastern Airways props, which look great — but are J31s rather than the J41s used by the airline. A small complaint but valid nonetheless as it does detract slightly from the experience, seeing aircraft that aren't entirely realistic. Secondly, there are some US-style trucks, which I wouldn't expect at a small UK airport. This I find odd since they've also modelled some European truck varieties. With reference to both anomalies, simply removing them would suffice, since the level of detail is more than high enough to compensate. Ordinarily, I'd not wholeheartedly recommend such a small airport to everyone (only to those with a specific interest in the scenery in question) — however the detail here is so good that I think it's an essential purchase, irrespective of where you typically fly. It's just so well done, and certainly worth buying just to command the bragging rights to what is arguably one of the finest MSFS airports ever created! A real bonus is the fact that some freeware POIs in the North Lincolnshire area are available, to make your approaches that bit more interesting. I cannot recommend this fabulous scenery enough!

To cut a long story short, if you have a powerful PC, this is a great airport. The slightly longer version... EHAM is one of the world's largest airports so it comes as no surprise to learn that FlyTampa have had to cut a few corners. This is mostly around the perimeter, where some of the peripheral buildings have a more simple look. It's an airport that actually looks fairly basic from distance, with the bulk of the fine detail only revealing itself on closer inspection. A few of the buildings in the central terminal area have clearly been scaled back a bit but the detail has generally been preserved where it matters. Despite the simpler modelling the further from the perimeter you get, FlyTampa have included a good selection of the airport's surroundings. There are hotels, offices, custom motorways, warehouses, bridges, and even a McDonald's! One thing they've not gone to town on is terminal interiors, although FT aren't renowned for recreating them in intricate detail. Obviously the bit about requiring a good PC is pertinent to the addition of AI traffic, since EHAM is one of Europe's busiest hubs. It's not unusual to have 40-50 aircraft dotted around, and I can imagine a mid-to-low-end PC really struggling to keep up. But if you're confident you have the power, this airport strikes an excellent balance between detail and performance. It's not the most detailed FT airport but it does have some great features (animated ground service vehicles, for instance, which I've not seen in a FlyTampa scenery before), nice detail where you want it, and all things considered, it runs admirably.

There are so many great airports being released at the moment, that feature extreme detail but manage to stress out our hardware far less than we might have imagined. Jo Erlend Sund is arguably one of the top developers currently on the MSFS circuit. His Brussels is a masterpiece, although it wasn't exactly easy on resources. Oslo manages to better Brussels, in almost every way, while actually performing more favourably on my system. Granted, I'm pretty top-end (Ryzen 7800X3D, Radeon 7900XTX, 48gb RAM) but more detail should in theory mean less performance. It normally takes 3-4 years for developers to get the most of a new software engine, and we're now I think at the pinnacle of what can be achieved in the sim. Having said all that, I probably wouldn't recommend this scenery to anyone with anything less than an upper-mid-range system. So, how good is it? Well, put simply, everything is first-class: the textures, the modelling, the custom ortho, the numerous animations (passengers, apron vehicles, trains, advertising screens, etc.), the ambient interior sounds... it's all rather sublime. However if I had to pick fault, the main landside concourse interior is a touch bland (compared to the rest of the terminal) and I'd like to have seen a little more attention paid to the general landside areas. But since these places are seldom seen by pilots, it really isn't too big an issue. They're far from bad — it's just that everything else is SO comparatively good! I'm often getting well upward of 40fps with moderate AI traffic and heavy weather, but bear in mind that, despite being Norway's busiest airport, it isn't 'busy' in the EHAM/EDDF/LFPG/EGLL sense. It's about on a par with airports such as EBBR, EDDB and LEMG. The asking price is predictably high but this is the sort of airport that can easily command its price, because it's worth it. There's not a lot to dislike, but plenty to like — from the guy in the terminal playing 'Für Elise' on his grand piano, to the myriad of ground service vehicles buzzing around, this is about as life-like as a MSFS airport can feel. Definitely one of the top five airports so far this year... and a worthy contender for the coveted number one spot!

I'm unfamiliar with the real airport but it all feels authentic to me. Good level of detail across the airfield. Performance for me is excellent (better than their OMDB), even with FSLTL traffic (but I do have a high-end PC). The free Yas Marina add-on really enhances the approach from the west.

This is an excellent airport, with the potential to be absolutely sublime with a few simple additions. I'll start with what's currently not so good... SOME (but not all) of the ground textures, particularly on the taxiways and runway. They're a little lower-res than I'd have liked; however the actual ground markings are fine. The western boundary of the airport hasn't received as much love as the eastern (terminal) side — there are a few prominent bits in this area that could have been added to boost immersion. Now I've got the flaws out of the way, I can turn my attention to the more positive aspects... The terminal building is nothing short of fantastic. Among the best I've ever seen, externally and internally. Just Flight have modelled literally everything on the inside: seats, shops, cafes, bars, signs, advertisements, posters, fire alarms... you name it, it's there, mostly in fine detail. There are a lot of custom animations, too, both inside and out on the ramp — people, flags, ground service vehicles, air-con fans... even the palm trees! The overwhelming emphasis has very obviously been put on the terminal building and its airside and landside areas. My only criticism is that the custom-modelled landside fits quite awkwardly into the default photo scenery in places — but this isn't anything major. The landside detail extends a fair way back from the terminal and includes custom parked cars, modelled roads (with full signage), foliage, supermarkets, warehouses and a petrol station. The quality of the eastern side of the airport is so impressive that I cannot bring myself to deduct a star for the poorer western side and the lacklustre taxiway/runway textures. The detail focus is exactly where it should be — on the areas seen most often at close quarters by pilots — so anything less than five stats I think would be a travesty. If Just Flight can improve the texture resolution in a small number of places, and add a bit more detail to the western perimeter, this would be right up there with 2024's top payware airports. As is stands, it isn't too far off already. If you want/need a great representation of GCXO in your sim, this is it!

The 'other' season packs were always aesthetically better but this new REX Advanced has really upped the ante. Very easy to use, in either auto mode (which updates daily) or using custom preset options. Completely transforms the sim and everything now looks way more real! I'm now using this package exclusively.

I'll begin by saying that this isn't a bad scenery; however it's in a rather exclusive club price-wise for an airport of this size. Had it not been for the excellent performance (even with tons of FSLTL traffic), I'd have been inclined to give it only 3 stars. The terminal building is very well done and features some great detail, including convincing weathering. However move only a few yards away and things start to go quickly downhill. There is a modelled terminal landside but it features no cars or people. Same with the vast car-park opposite, yet a much smaller car-park further out is full of vehicles. We do at least get a custom-modelled roadway leading to/from the terminal, complete with elevated sections and signage. But apart from this, there's way too much default photo scenery left in. Thankfully we are treated to a few decent buildings in the terminal's vicinity, such as the Hyatt and Hilton hotels, plus the gas station and its neighbouring 'Whataburger' restaurant. Moving across the airfield's airside, the Signature and South Terminal buildings are the only ones to have received any real attention. Everything else looks like default assets, placed where one should reasonably expect custom models. Remember, this is a $25/£19 scenery. The apron, taxiway and runways textures are pretty decent, without being outstanding. There are parts that are clearly mismatched, though. I think Dominicdesignteam are getting better with each release, however I expected a little more for my money. The terminal and its interior are largely flawless (though the airbridge hoods connect to the aircraft clumsily) but the rest of it looks rushed/unfinished. The lush green grass of the airfield doesn't blend at all well with the more arid Asobo landscape surrounding it, and I think the official viewing area adjacent to the RWY18L threshold would have been a nice addition. There's very little to boost immersion during your approaches, save for a few tent-like structures that presumably shield parked vehicles from the Texan sun. If it's on sale, it's probably just about worth the money. But there are far bigger, much better airports in this price bracket. The most disappointing thing is some of the sloppy work could so easily be fixed by a simple update.

Overall, a very good rendition of LEBL, and certainly an big improvement over the existing versions by LVFR and JustSim. I don't own the Sim-Wings version but I've made some meticulous comparisons (using the online resources available to me) and, perhaps surprisingly, the MK version matches and even exceeds it in a number of key areas. MK's terminal textures look better and the whole area to the east of the old terminal has been done in more detail. The only area that seems better in the SW version is the cargo centre. SW also arguably has better terminal interiors, and I imagine they'll have used custom Spanish airfield lighting/markings as they typically do. SW added the port area in an update — presumably because MK's included it by default — however it looks rushed, with MK's having better detail (MK's port looks great at night). I'd ideally like to give 4.5 stars due to the lack of custom Spanish airfield signage/lighting but I don't think the omission warrants dropping it to 4.