Aerosim Review Series #2

FSX. With Kobe airport being the second of the series, Aerosim has created a fantastic local airport which sits 8nm from Kansai International. Kobe airport serves Japan domestically with greater access to the other side of Osaka Bay. Having personally been to this airport, I can tell you that Aerosim have done a superb job modeling the whole airport and city.

Aerosim Kobe International - (RJBE)

Our Review
 

FSX version tested: FSX SP2 + Acceleration

Manual: 35 page manual in English and Japanese
Version: 1.0

File size: 233MB Installer

Installation: Normal install with email generated serial upon purchase. Very easy and fast install!

Framerate: Based on my system (25 - 36 FPS) sustained. 100% sliders. With PMDG NGX (21 - 28 FPS) sustained. 100% sliders.

(All sliders 100% except for water effects and road traffic)

Size of the scenery: Approx 20 square miles. (This includes city landscape) 

The Bad:

- Ground textures may be blurry in some areas. Even with 100% sliders.
- Frame rate may drop near city area. (Better with reduced settings)
- No default Afcad for Traffic programs. This must be added manually.

The Good:

- Excellent representation of current Kobe airport.
- Included city landscape is a plus! Looks great at night.
- Building textures were improved from the other airport (Kansai)
- Jetway detail is amazing!
- Good frame rate and location. Perfect for NGX flights.
- Many details to observe and give an overall (realism) effect to the airport.
- Terminal details including parking areas and train stations all accurately modelled.
- Night lighting is superb and not overdone.

First I would like to start off by saying Kobe is a very important airport for domestic aviation in Japan. This airport ultimately relieves other major airports of congestion and gives passengers a choice of convenience when travelling to the Osaka area. I personally absolutely love this airport since it handles aircraft ranging from small GA all the way up to 777 type aircraft. I have flown into this airport before with ANA and can tell you that everything within this package is as real as it gets.

The modeling of the airport itself is fantastic. Even the famous observation deck is well created. What I like the most about this airport is that the taxiway and tarmac textures are very realistic. Combine that with the terminal and awesome jet ways, you got yourself a solid airport. In this review I will be showing some of the detail I am talking about. Keep in mind that this is Aerosim’s 2^nd official airport for FSX so a lot of things have been addressed from the Kansai scenery. there are a couple things that I would have liked to see fixed but it's hard to notice when you concentrating on flying your aircraft. Let's take a look at some screen shots shall we?

Overview of the main terminal.

Main terminal once again. Alot of details!

There is one thing I love about Aerosim airports. The fact that they spend a good amount of time on the Jetway details. Gives a highly realistic look and the glass textures look awesome in the sunlight!

View of the roadway and some generic buildings on the airport ground.

Here is a shot of the train system that serves Kobe airport. Highly detailed and looks fantastic at night. Would of liked to see an animated train system though.

More detail facing towards Kobe City landscape.

Highly detailed emergency services area with control tower.

Here is some details showing the parking lot in front of the main terminal. Lots of things to look at! There is nothing I hate more than airports that have no parked cars or object. Aerosim has done a great job in this aspect.

here is a view of the observation deck located on the top of the terminal. I have spent many hours here watching the daily traffic go by. I wish more North American airports would adapted this feature.

Here is the Cargo processing area. Most of the cargo comes in from flights domestically. A cargo terminal is not needed at such a small airport since most of the larger hubs take care of that. Ground detail could be a little better around this area.

Some more details of the approach lighting and 3D objects. The break water has great textures and looks awesome when coming in on short final.

Air services hangar located at the end of the island. Notice that the detail of the glass effects are also implemented in the smallest areas.

Small Paradise? Located on the airport island itself. I still to this day do not know what it's used for. Also has a personal beach. They have done a great job with the textures and mimics the real world counterpart.

A nice little touch to the scenery which I was surprised to see. This is the ferry terminal. Passengers are given an option of taking the train or a ferry to mainland Kobe. Good detail here.

This is an area that I wish Aerosim would have spent more time with. they Shipping industry in the Osaka bay area is one of the largest in Asia. the ground details here are a little disappointing. Buildings in the distance look great but would it be that hard to get good ground textures?

More details of some of the city buildings.

Overview of Kobe Airport Island. You can get a good idea of how large this island is. The bridge connecting the train system to the main city is really well modelled.

This shot gives you a great idea of how much Aerosim has put into the city. There are alot of buildings that are correctly positioned and in the appropriate place. Most noticeable would be the train lines that go in almost every direction of the city. good job Aeroim!

I wanted to show you guys something that I really enjoy about this product. The apron/taxiway textures are fantastic! I love how it's not too overdone and still gives that realistic effect of worn and dirty look.

A close up of the tarmac detail.

Now let's start on some night shots of the airport. Probably one of the best things about Aerosim is the night effects. I personally love how they incorporate the taxiway and runway lights like the real world. When your on approach into an airport. You are able to see other taxiway lights from a distance. not many other FSX airports give this effect. I wish it could be seen in more products as I feel this looks more realistic.

Terminal lighting detail. Notice how the glass is illuminated as well as the jet ways.

Apron slowly gets illuminated from the terminal lighting.

Another view of the detail that goes into those jet ways! I really like the textures that were added in the door ways. This looks awesome!

Parking lot area again showing off some light details of the terminal and the parking lot itself.

Cargo processing area is well lit and signs look great at night. Easy to read which is a plus!

Here I wanted to show everyone how well the approach lighting really is. All approach lighting is modeled and look great if you have your water effects turned up to max.

The roadway from the airport also has great night effects. If you fly downwind, you can easily see the bridge and is a great feature to have while night flying.

Another shot from the highway. View of Kobe city in the background. Notice how most of the buildings also have their own night effects.

Final shot and overview of the airport at night. I absolutely love this little airport and fly out of here very often!



Closing remarks:

 

So what are my overall impressions of this airport? I must say that I have really enjoyed this product. Just as much as Kansai International if not more! I am a huge fan of smaller airports that handle medium and heavy metal traffic and Kobe is one of them. With Aerosim and other developers not producing airports for Japan/Asia in FSX, I am starting to get hooked on the local flying. I tend to fly real world routes with specific aircraft. In Japan, this allows me to get the most out of my aircraft whether it be the 747 or the Dash 8. There’s a destination and route for each one.

Kobe airport is for those of you who want to get out of the ordinary airport scene. The shorter runway makes for some power takeoff experiences and your NGX will get good use out of the Short field package that you installed. The surrounding scenery is a great addition to the overall feel of this airport but I must say I was a little disappointed with the ground texture resolution. Other than that, I give this airport a 7.5/10! If Aerosim decides to produce an update, I will see if it deserves a higher score. Until then, go grab yourself a copy of this airport and show Japan some love!

As always,

Happy Flying!