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Reviews » Orbiter [PC]

The recently-scrubbed launch of space shuttle Discovery, the first shuttle launch in 2.5 years, was postponed by a fault in a low-level fuel cutoff sensor (source: NASA). This is, more or less, a fuel flow gauge that shuts down an engine in the event of a fuel line failure or near empty fuel tank.

What does this have to do with games? Just that if you're impatient with NASA, you can try the flight yourself with Martin Schweiger's "Orbiter", which is a (moderately large) free download away at http://www.orbitersim.com.

Orbiter is the very definition of a spaceflight simulator, which means you'll need to learn a bit about things like orbital mechanics to properly maneuver your chosen craft, but it's still certainly possible to load up the "Delta Glider" and just blast off the runway into space.
Once in orbit, you'll have to account for things like nonuniform gravity and secondary gravity sources (like for example, the moon). Luckily the simulator's website has links to learning resources, and the documentation that comes with the sim is substantial - Learning to read and understand the sim's "MFDs" or Multi-Function Displays seems daunting at first, but most are simple enough to understand after a few minutes with the included PDF manual.

By default the sim comes with a space shuttle, several fictional craft of varying description and purpose, and a solar system to explore. There are also several space stations to dock with including a very well made and detailed International Space Station, a resurrected Mir, a ring-station in the "2001" style, and a handfull of ground ports to take off from and land at spread over the Earth, one on the moon, and another on Mars.

Graphics are, frankly, incredible. Especially when using the available high-resolution planet textures. The first time you see a sunrise as you glide above earth is likely to make your jaw drop. Clouds float over specularly-lit oceans. Rockets trail massive plumes of smoke as you ride them dramatically off the launch pad into space. Trails of bright plasma engulf your ship as you scream, red hot, into planetary atmosphere. Jets of blinding flame lick out from your hover rockets as you close in on your landing pad at Brighton Beach (on the moon!).

While the orbital physics of the simulator are excellent, the atmospheric flight model is merely passable. It's functional enough to fly around with and offers the basics of flight, but feels too "stiff" compared to a dedicated atmospheric sim.

Sound is, curiously, nonexistent in the base sim. Not a click, not a beep, not a whoosh, or a hum. Strangely, I never noticed until someone mentioned it to me (if it irks you though, there are fan-made expansion packs for it).

Another curiosity is that orbits tend to destabilize at extreme time compression. This sounds like a niggling issue but on interplanetary flights, say between Earth and Mars, you'll be spending a great deal of time at 10,000x normal speed and it can throw your intercept off by hundreds of miles over that long distance (Don't forget your metric-imperial calculator!).

Finally, the "autopilot" modes that keep your craft oriented relative to your primary gravitary source - that is, usually, the closest planet or moon - go a little crazy at high compression factors. This is less of a problem though, since you can just turn them off until you need to do another burn, at which time you'll be turning off the time compression anyway.

That said, each new version of the sim has been superior to previous iterations and will likely continue to improve in the future. There is also an active modification community, adding things like a more realistic space shuttle fleet, and Apollo mission profiles and craft, among other projects.

Overall, an excellent sim for space nuts, and a quite good learning tool for those less in the know.

Orbiter - PC

Presentation

There's no sound (without an addon). As to graphics, once you're in space, you'll have a fairly hard time convincing people it's not some kind of video. Lower down, the higher your texture resolution is, the better it'll look - and there are several texture packages to choose from.

Gameplay

For spaceheads, getting your ship within 500 meters of your target on one burn is a great rush. It might not be so much for others. The quirks in the game engine can be annoying sometimes too.

Replayability

Endless replayability, "out of box" there's no real rewards beyond the thrill of being able to say you did it, and smirk smugly when your friends attempt it and fail miserably. You do have a whole solar system to explore though, and for space enthusiasts, this is likely to be enough. Fan addons are able to add some nifty stuff also.

Value

It's free. Cost is a 30 meg download, which is certainly worthwhile even on dialup. Division by 0 error

Overall

I love the stuffing out of this sim. There are things missing out of the box, but many of them are corrected by the proper application of fan-made addons.