Tower! Simulator 3 continues to shine and the more international airports showcased, absolutely must buy for me!
With this latest review I am taking a look at the Shanghai Pudong International Airport (ICAO: ZSPD) DLC.
Pudong serves international flights and a smaller domestic flights and is the main hub for China Eastern Airlines, Shanghai Airlines and also for Air China and China Southern Airlines.
It’s the busiest international hub in China and for Tower! Simulator 3, I can easily say that this DLC is not for the beginner who wants a light and casual schedule.
Pudong has five operational runways and for those who like an easy look of where departing planes needing push back with a quick glance, this is an airport that a quicklook gets you nowhere because there are so many ramps and everything gets obscured.
Fortunately, you can control density but even with density set low, you will need to adjust to see what your comfort level is because departure and arrivals really start ramping up one after the other to the point that I added to my major fault count from this airport alone. There is a lot happening, it’s very busy but people who want a more intermediate to advanced DLC, will surely admire this DLC for its high challenges.
For beginners, you can enjoy this DLC too but you will bring that density down to 10%. 20% may be too difficult if you don’t get acquainted with the runways. Fortunately the fifth runway 15/33 is used IRL to test flights for the COMAC C919, you will spend most of your time trying to get 17R/35L, 17L/35R, 16R34L, 16L/34R in order because planes are wanting to depart from everywhere.
The overall airport is beautifully designed on T!S3. The Chinese liveries for the planes look amazing (please note: To have official liveries you will need to purchase World Traffic & Color bundle or Just Flight Traffic, either software are available on the FeelThere website).
So, for those using the Nyerges bundle, liveries have been updated for this DLC, so please make sure you update the World Traffic & Color Bundle on the FeelThere Portal.
But here are my suggestions:
1. Start off with a lower density
2. Acquaint yourself with the primary four runways, fifth runway is good but you won’t get as many flights on that one. But the reason why you really want to get acquainted with these runways is because you will have so many plans that need to cross runways and because the layout of the airport has is quite busy, graphically, it’s going to be a challenge.
3. If you are a new player, because the sheer amount of planes, if voice is not working that great and you need to type, learn the F buttons so you can easily switch.
4. If you are a new player before you start the game, have a screen capture of the runways. So you can take a quick glance and assign the plane accordingly.
5. If you use a guide to issue commands, have that ready as well (this game, you kind of like to have multiple monitors).
Overall, “T!S3” brought another challenging and fun airport. It’s more geared towards the intermediate and advance player but beginners can still enjoy it but because there is high traffic, adjusting density will be important.
If you have an unblemished record of zero to low accidents (faults), prepare yourself because I didn’t expect this airport to really contribute to me having a few on my first playthrough. I underestimated how tough this DLC would get. But at the same time, it’s what you expect from one of the highest traffic international airports in the world.
I highly recommend this DLC and again, grateful to FeelThere for bringing another international airport for DLC content but I’m going to emphasize that this DLC is for those who want the ultimate challenge. It is tough! It is busy! If you are ready for that challenge, the Tower! Simulator 3 ZSPD (Shanghai Pudong International Airport) DLC is for you!
