From what I can tell, having played it a bit more:
Graphics are modern, but need work. Why do the planes look "squished"? OTOH, if this issue is resolved WB3 will be top of the heap for graphics (at least until the next game comes out).
Despiste the high sys requirements, the game runs excellent on my P3 500--actually it runs almost as fast as AH at the same resolution (only about 5 FPS less). Overall, their graphics engine is well programmed, and not as much of a system hog as I had originally thought. The game might actually run WELL on a min-req system.
Flight model is about the same as previous WB's. On the plus side the planes are easy to handle....the downside is inertia is WAY too strong. This will hopefully be altered. (One plus side of the strong inertia is it might possibly reduce warps, as the game has more time to react to plane direction changes. But it is definately not realistic.)
Gunnery model also seems the same, except no longer reliant on tracers. I was perplexed that there is NO effect whatsoever when bullets strike water. Indeed, water in general needs major work--it looks like water from QUAKE. Still, with some work it could look great.
The ground is great. Buildings look beautiful, and the land actually looks like land, even when up close--IMO a first for a flightsim. Now if WB3 only adds real towns and houses, and changes it from an arena into a WORLD, they might have something wonderful happening.
Sky: Kind of purple-ish. The cluds look great and are clearly better than any others I've seen. I don't particularily like their choice of sky color though (purple).
Cockpit: Dunno, as I cannot get them to work right. Head movement is restricted to what a real person can do (no rotating head syndrome), but seems to move too slow. From inside the plane wings still have that "sqished" look on all visrange settings (55, 75, 90).
As stated before, the interface is clearly in an early stage. It is very poor for now, but that will surely change. Clearly it's designed with MACs in mind.
Overall impression is it's nowhere near complete. I don't understand why they would release it in this condition--it doesn't do their vision of it justice. For people who have yet to download it, I advise waiting at least a few weeks.
J_A_B
