My Review of AirwaySim

[ali5541]

Now before anyone moves on reading my review of AirwaySim, please note that this is MY opinion and is based off of comparison to two other airline simulations which will remain unnamed for countless reasons. I will try to minimize being bias to any sim and for those of you who are trolls (people who love to argue and complain), this is MY opinion.

Software: The category of software will be a combination of G.U.I. (Graphical User Interface), navigation, and speed. The reason being, the rating is not concentrated on ONE aspect of the software. I will try and point out the weaknesses (my opinion, meaning my opinion in a weakness can be a strength to someone else).

AirwaySim: AirwaySim has a great foundation, speaking software wise, because of the great G.U.I. The software is rich and simple. The operating speed is great and has minimal flaws compared to the other two sims. Navigation wise is okay and problem free however, it could be better if the tabbed menu's that appear in the game its self were to be cut down to important features. Reaching a web page in the game can be easily done by going to the appropriate category but to also have it in tabbed menu's is a bit too much. But in general, the software within AirwaySim is beyond good and nearing perfection.

AirwaySim: 8.5/10 (Very Good)
Air Sim #1: 7.5/10 (Above Average)
Air Sim #2: 6/10 (Poor)

Game: The category of "Game" will be a combination of features, players, and cost. The reason being, the rating is not concentrated on ONE aspect of the game. I will try and point out the weaknesses (my opinion, meaning my opinion in a weakness can be a strength to someone else).

AirwaySim: AirwaySim is one of the most realistic simulation to date. Players are loyal, fun to be with, and play a large role in the social side of the game. The feature of alliances, which lacks many opportunities, still is regarded by me as one of the most important features. This is mainly due to the interactivity between players and the social life it brings into the game. Although AirwaySim lacks many features that other games have, they are all currently planned however for now, I will still have to count them against the game. Main "missing" features include; secondary hubs (planned for next version), connecting pax (planned), on-board services (have no clue), and aircraft mothballing (not sure). The cost of the game is relatively cheap being less the 0.10 euro's a day or 0.15 cents a day. Additionally, administration creates discounts about once every two months.

AirwaySim: 7/10 (Average) (Rating due to Features Available)
Air Sim #1: 6/10 (Poor) (Rating due to Player Community and Features)
Air Sim #2: 8/10 (Good) (Rating due to missing features)

Availability: The category of availability will be a combination of ease of play, playing late, and planes/gates. The reason being, the rating is not concentrated on ONE aspect of the game. I will try and point out the weaknesses (my opinion, meaning my opinion in a weakness can be a strength to someone else).

AirwaySim: This is an important category because when someone finds a game like this and want to play it, they usually run into the problem of, "Can I make money this late into the game?" AirwaySim has ups and downs in ease of play, the good thing is, there is a manual that can help new players get started! This is great because it can help almost anyone, but for people like me who ignore manuals and want to start right away, AirwaySim is a difficult catch. Luckly, the system starts you out in the home city. No gates needed, they are purchased when you create a route! Finding the right plane at first is somewhat difficult, for new players, there are no suggestions and don't know the difference between C/Y/F. Suggestions for first time players can be helpful. AirwaySim helps players coming in late by providing a small extra cash boost. This can increase the variety of aircraft you can purchase or get a larger loan if you decide to get one. Starting late in AirwaySim can get difficult if you want to fly to LHR or CDG. By 50% of the game, people who want to fly to London or Paris run into the trouble of finding a reliable slot. This is a problem so if you get a slot, don't release it back to the pool, else you won't find it seconds later. Over all, AirwaySim does it's best to provide easy intro's and helpful hands, it's well structured and maintained by an expert team of administrators!

AirwaySim: 9/10 (Great!)
Air Sim #1: 8/10 (Good!)
Air Sim #2: 10/10 (Perfect!) (Many Reasons)

Overall: AirwaySim is a real work of art; I have never seen such accuracy in a simulation before. The number of airports and the accuracy of planes is beyond belief. No simulation has matched the number of airports AirwaySim has but planes are a different story. AirwaySim is the only simulation that contains well maintained game worlds were little spam exists and competition that targets new airlines is put down. Slots are a problem at many major airports even though every new game year results in the addition of new slots. Overall:

AirwaySim Scores: 8.2/10 (Good!)
Air Sim #1 Scores: 7.2/10 (Average)
Air Sim #2 Scores: 8/10 (Good!)

Congrats AirwaySim, you lead by slight margins.

[Sami]

Some questions/comments:

Navigation wise is okay and problem free however, it could be better if the tabbed menu's that appear in the game its self were to be cut down to important features.

- Do you mean the automatic dropdown menus on the main navigation (the new thing that was recently added), or ..what actually?
- If yes, they can't be changed as they are generated by the site and have to be the same as in the left-hand navmenu.


for new players, there are no suggestions and don't know the difference between ...

  - A simple interactive and live tutorial is planned (quick preview) but not expected quite soon as it is a bit tricky to make.


the number of airports AirwaySim has but planes are a different story

  - What plane models are actually missing?  (apart from Connie and Comet and few other early ones)
  - As the number of models does not alone tell everything here, as we treat planes with their real names and do not make up things like "Airbus A321 HGW" which would count as one extra model but in reality is just a MTOW variant of the 321.


helps players coming in late by providing a small extra cash boost

   - The start cash is actually only inflation adjusted. So compared to all costs you have exactly the same money if you start 20 years later than others, although the nominal value is larger.


and has minimal flaws compared to the other two sims

  - Bug-free software is one of the main objectives. (slowing development of extra features but does provide a better overall experience)

[ali5541]

Navigation wise is okay and problem free however, it could be better if the tabbed menu's that appear in the game its self were to be cut down to important features.

- Do you mean the automatic dropdown menus on the main navigation (the new thing that was recently added), or ..what actually?
- If yes, they can't be changed as they are generated by the site and have to be the same as in the left-hand navmenu.

I see, well why the addition? They are available on the left menu, they strike me as cluttering. But this might be useful to others, this is my opinion.

for new players, there are no suggestions and don't know the difference between ...

 - A simple interactive and live tutorial is planned (quick preview) but not expected quite soon as it is a bit tricky to make.

That's really nice, it could really help new players.

the number of airports AirwaySim has but planes are a different story

 - What plane models are actually missing?  (apart from Connie and Comet and few other early ones)
 - As the number of models does not alone tell everything here, as we treat planes with their real names and do not make up things like "Airbus A321 HGW" which would count as one extra model but in reality is just a MTOW variant of the 321.

No no, my point here is that AirwaySim has more airports than any other sim, for planes, there nearly the same. Yah, I noticed that the "HGW" were placed as variations in this game.

helps players coming in late by providing a small extra cash boost

  - The start cash is actually only inflation adjusted. So compared to all costs you have exactly the same money if you start 20 years later than others, although the nominal value is larger.

Really? I was way off!

and has minimal flaws compared to the other two sims

 - Bug-free software is one of the main objectives. (slowing development of extra features but does provide a better overall experience)

That's not a bad goal, I'm actually found of you because of that. The other two sims have countless bugs and it just gets me frustrated.

[Sigma]

Navigation wise is okay and problem free however, it could be better if the tabbed menu's that appear in the game its self were to be cut down to important features.

- Do you mean the automatic dropdown menus on the main navigation (the new thing that was recently added), or ..what actually?
- If yes, they can't be changed as they are generated by the site and have to be the same as in the left-hand navmenu.

I see, well why the addition? They are available on the left menu, they strike me as cluttering. But this might be useful to others, this is my opinion.

Because it saves a lot of time to use the upper navigation pane.

If you wanted to see, say, your Aircraft on Order, you used to have to click Aircraft at the top, wait for the Aircraft screen to load, then click Aircraft on Order on the left pane.  Now you can just go straight to that (or any other) screen by utilizing the drop-downs.

If anything the left pane is not particularly needed anymore, however it is not a particular waste of space because there is other information that is necessary on the left pane (World and Account info) so the addition of a Quick Nav with links to the various screens within the Tab that you're currently in is nice to have and can be time-saving versus utilizing the drop-down if you want to do a number of things within that same tab.

[Seattle]

This is a great review! I plan to do one myself over the summer.... With more than 4 years of playing on them, I should know some things!

I just want to point out.... that in some sims.... even small little 5-10 seaters are put in (other than the 1-3 that are in AWS). So I wouldn't count those.

Bug wise I agree, couldn't be better. Sami is very diligent in getting those taken care of relatively ASAP.

Good job!

[ali5541]

Because it saves a lot of time to use the upper navigation pane.

If you wanted to see, say, your Aircraft on Order, you used to have to click Aircraft at the top, wait for the Aircraft screen to load, then click Aircraft on Order on the left pane.  Now you can just go straight to that (or any other) screen by utilizing the drop-downs.

If anything the left pane is not particularly needed anymore, however it is not a particular waste of space because there is other information that is necessary on the left pane (World and Account info) so the addition of a Quick Nav with links to the various screens within the Tab that you're currently in is nice to have and can be time-saving versus utilizing the drop-down if you want to do a number of things within that same tab.

For some reason, I can never reply to any post you make. It always shuts me up I honestly don't know how to respond to that!

[ban2]

i thought it was a good review but!!! why not put up the products you were comparing airwaysim to??  i think most of us will know them and have probably used them, and to be honest most of us have made our choices about which one is the best

i hav'nt looked in a long long time but the airline business sim market is very small with, as far as i'm aware only about half a dozen or so products out there.

would appreciate it very much if you pmed me the ones you compared airwaysim to. ty

[ali5541]

i thought it was a good review but!!! why not put up the products you were comparing airwaysim to??  i think most of us will know them and have probably used them, and to be honest most of us have made our choices about which one is the best

i hav'nt looked in a long long time but the airline business sim market is very small with, as far as i'm aware only about half a dozen or so products out there.

would appreciate it very much if you pmed me the ones you compared airwaysim to. ty

The thing is, I don't want to endorse or advertise the other two games at all. There reviews from me may be between average to good, I still don't like them one bit. Compared to AirwaySim, there nothing.