CLS’s Airbus A340-500Reviewed by Ludo Lambrechts
The A340 line of aircraft is a tremendous display of how similar yet different a family of aircraft can look. All A340’s have similar wing, nose, and tail designs but differ extremely when it comes to fuel consumption, carrying capacity, and length. The A340-600 is the longest aircraft from this family and ranks third in its range at 14,600Km. It is able to hold the most passengers at 380 people. The next step down in size is hardly a step down. The length of the A340-500 is shortened by about 8m while the range is increased to 16,700Km. The similarities are abundant and so are the differences, that’s why it will be interesting to see these changes in Microsoft Games Flight Simulator 2004.
CLS is a very young company with a load of experience. Their original A340 release the A340-600 was a huge success and well worth having. The features, models, and animations are great. Now we have seen an expansion to this terrific title, the A340-500. As was stated above, these aircraft have a lot of differences and many different uses. Therefore it is essential to have both available for any flight that you would like to do.
The first thing I’ll discuss is the exterior quality and accurateness of the aircraft. The A345 is 8m shorter than the A346, this is quite a significant difference, and is shown well in the simulator. The A345 fits a lot nicer onto the screen of your flight simulator, and still maintains its original quality. We have seen the CLS level of detail carried over into this model. Also included are a ton of free liveries. 12 high-quality textures are incorporated into this package, with many more than can be downloaded from the internet. There is no disappointment on the exterior of the A345, as the true CLS quality is maintained.
The next thing we move onto is the interior of this A345. The interior is the exact same as the A346, that is because it is an expansion and not an original aircraft. The interior of the original A346 was very well rendered. The panel did not include many advanced professional systems, but that is a part of CLS’s view on their development. They believe in beautiful, quality models without the hassle of having to learn advanced systems. The cabin, wing views, and cockpit are all terrific. If you have the A346 you know what to expect.
The sounds and flight dynamics are relatively the same as well in this aircraft. The sound package is the exact same one as used in the original A346 release, but the flight dynamics have been altered a little bit to match the A345. Obviously the flight dynamics are pretty much the same due to the same aircraft. Just like the interior, if you have the original A346, you know what to expect. The aircraft add-on does not tax your system anymore than the A346. I have only seen frame rates get better with this add-on, just like the interior you know what to expect from this add-on.
The CLS A345 is a whole different aircraft from the A346. The body shape remains the same, but many different things such as passenger capacity and range are changed significantly. CLS has done a great job integrating all the differences into their A340 titles. The extremely detailed models are done with perfection while keeping to the no “steep learning curve” concept. For the excellent work on this add-on I award CLS an 8.5 out of 10.
Reviewed by Ludo Lambrechts for CLS
CLS’s Airbus A340-500
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