Feature-rich, highly realistic flight simulation with dynamic missions, structured tutorials, and an extensive online community
Feature-rich, highly realistic flight simulation with dynamic missions, structured tutorials, and an extensive online community
Vote (714 votes)
Program license Full
Developer steampowered
Version 2016
Works under Windows
Vote
(714 votes)
Developer
steampowered
Works under
Windows
Program license
Full
Version
2016
Pros
- The game is very affordable and can be downloaded for a mere $25. Thanks to sales, it is often significantly cheaper. As such, the digital download of Flight Simulator X may offer players who are interested in the series an inexpensive look at whether or not this genre is worth playing.
- A robust online community that could play together, creating either true to life or fantastical piloting experiences.
- The game offers an incredibly true to life experience.
- The missions are varied, fun, and dramatically enhance the player's experience.
Cons
- Choppy framerate gets frustrating, particularly for players who are truly looking for an immersive experience. This was particularly noticeable for lower-performing computers.
- In order to avoid these performance issues, players would have to tone down the graphical upgrades, thus costing the game realism and sharpness.
- Though improved, many critics and players believed that the in-game graphics did not represent enough of a jump compared to the 2004 version.
Flight Simulator X is the latest version of the legendary flight simulator game. It comes replete with numerous upgrades over the previous year's versions. The game first came out in 2006, but still holds many features that are used in modern versions. However, as a result of financial troubles at Microsoft, the entire Flight Simulator team was cut, and the game became the last one released for eight years, the longest gap in the series history. As such, Flight Simulator X became the only version used by players of the popular franchise for an extended period of time.
Microsoft Flight Simulator has been a mainstay of the simulation genre, with the first game of the series coming out in 1982. Since that time, the game has updated repeatedly, earning it a well-earned reputation as the best flight simulator in the business. Its multiple decades of experience have given the game the best, most accurate, and true to life flight simulator available. Indeed, many pilots have attributed their desire to fly to their experiences in Flight Simulator.
The basic crux of Flight Simulator is apparent: Players can take on the role of a real-life pilot, realistically flying hundreds of planes to any number of 24,000 airports. The sheer number of airports is all the more remarkable when one considers that they are all designed relatively faithfully to their real-world counterparts, and this is even more apparent when it comes to the design of the biggest airports in the world.
As the first Flight Simulator game since 2003, Flight Simulator X contained numerous improvements and upgrades that have become mainstays of the series. As always, it contains numerous improved graphics and a wide array of planes to choose from, including many which had never before appeared in a Flight Simulator game. It also contained numerous new animations. It also contains numerous, highly detailed, and intricate graphics, like boats, cars, and terrain.
The Game's Learning Center, direct from Flight Simulator 2004, was carried over and improved upon. The game offered a variety of flying lessons and tutorials which were voiced and directed by a real pilot. Players could earn different types of flying certifications, depending on the lesson they completed.
New to the Flight Simulator genre was missions and rewards, a video gaming trend that was becoming increasingly popular at the time Flight Simulator X premiered. These missions would alter depending on your previous flying record and change based on in-flight events, giving players a more alterable and changing feel as they played. Artificially Intelligent planes would also fly in the game, often taking an impactful role in missions undertaken by the player.
These missions really ran the gamut and can dramatically improve a player's experience. Some were serious, like flying through difficult weather or taking off and landing in hazardous conditions. Others were goofy and like something straight out of Grand Theft Auto V. Whatever you wanted out of a goal-oriented experience, odds were good that Flight Simulator X could offer it.
The game also came with an editor that allowed players to create and design their own missions, allowing for vastly improved technical capacities.
The game also sold a deluxe version, which contained additional planes and a software development kit (SDK). Most interesting - and arguably most popular - was an upgrade that allowed for players to have access to a radar serve in the Air Traffic Control Tower when playing online. The Deluxe version also added twenty new missions for players, giving them a variety of new and exciting scenarios to explore.
One of the most fun parts of Flight Simulator X is its online universe. In this version, players could fly with their friends or random strangers on the internet and correspond with Air Traffic Control.
The crux of the game is this: Its options were virtually limitless. Players could mess around and fly in the sky, complete goofy or hardcore missions, fly with their friends or yell at random strangers who weren't giving them appropriate take-off clearance. Whatever you want, Flight Simulator probably has it.
Despite its age, Flight Simulator X can be downloaded digitally on clients like Steam. A physical copy can be purchased, but those are often very expensive, costing at least $50.
Pros
- The game is very affordable and can be downloaded for a mere $25. Thanks to sales, it is often significantly cheaper. As such, the digital download of Flight Simulator X may offer players who are interested in the series an inexpensive look at whether or not this genre is worth playing.
- A robust online community that could play together, creating either true to life or fantastical piloting experiences.
- The game offers an incredibly true to life experience.
- The missions are varied, fun, and dramatically enhance the player's experience.
Cons
- Choppy framerate gets frustrating, particularly for players who are truly looking for an immersive experience. This was particularly noticeable for lower-performing computers.
- In order to avoid these performance issues, players would have to tone down the graphical upgrades, thus costing the game realism and sharpness.
- Though improved, many critics and players believed that the in-game graphics did not represent enough of a jump compared to the 2004 version.
Pros
- Realistic flying conditions
- Thousands of airports
- Variety of aircraft
Cons
- Can be boring if you don't like planes
- Not really a game
Take the controls of a plane as it takes off from one of the many airports in the world and safely lands.
Your goal is to keep the plane that you fly from crashing, taking off and landing safely. There are menus that give plenty of details to follow so that you understand how the controls work. When you begin flying the planes, it doesn't appear like a typical flight game. The menu options and the details of the airport and the controls look more like a technical report than a simulated game. There are numerous types of aircraft to choose from aside from planes, such as helicopters and para-gliders. The controls are on the screen in front of you so that you have a closer look at what each control does or at the bottom of the screen so that you see the craft you're flying on the screen.
As you're flying through the air, you have to deal with some of the same issues that you might deal with if you were flying a real plane. You have to keep the wings level. The weather changes. It could be sunny one day and raining the next. You can see birds in the sky that you have to avoid as well as other aircraft that are in the sky at the same time. Air traffic controller reports give you an indication as to where to land and what to expect in the air. There are over 24,000 airports in the simulated game that you can take off from or land at depending on how long you want to fly. Take part in challenges and missions or fly freely through the air to get an idea of what it's like being behind the controls.
Pros
- Realistic flying conditions
- Thousands of airports
- Variety of aircraft
Cons
- Can be boring if you don't like planes
- Not really a game
Pros
- A fantastic game, a flight simulator that carries the player away!
- Plenty of planes, places and missions to keep interest high and the player fully engaged for many hours of game play
Cons
- Uses a lot of the computer's resources and it is not advised to keep other programmes and applications open when playing
- The controls require some mastery at the beginning of the game
Flight Simulator X is, as might be surmised from the severely practical name, Microsoft's tenth issue of its hugely popular flight simulator game. Highly touted for its realistic flight experience, the game takes the player on a voyage of discovery, with tutorials on how to aim drops, how to master the plane and how to land the plane.
The game is quite a large one, demanding a more than six hundred and thirty megabytes, but this is understandable seeing all the graphics and experiencing the realistic gameplay.
Upon starting up the game, the player has three choices, completion of all of them will ensure mastery of all of the game controls and activities. While getting to grips with the technology, the player can change planes, trying his or her skills out in everything from an ultra-light to a helicopter by way of small and nippy Cessna planes and full-sized commercial airliners. It is advisable to spend a little time in this area, getting to grips with the controls and learning the ins and outs of as many planes as possible. The controls are not simple and it requires patience and concentration to master them to the point that they become effortless and intuitive.
As the player waits missions arrive in the form of urgent messages from Traffic Control, and the player flies off to fulfil the demands of the mission which can be fun and light-hearted or more serious and challenging. For example, the more serious incidents that the player might have to undertake could be to rescue workers after an industrial accident or rescue oil rig workers from the platform before an explosion burns them all. The light-hearted missions can involve trying to land the plane on top of a bus or collecting a movie star.
To add verisimilitude to the game Microsoft have included immensely satisfying details to the game. Flying too close to the ground or crash-landing the plane sends wildlife scattering from the area, and each of the 24,000 airports available in the full version are minutely detailed and accurately plotted, with even the correct astronomical formations for the time of year programmed into the game.
Fight fans can program pre-flight checks in which they are given flight conditions, weather reports and airplane check results. Adrenaline junkies can add excitement to their flight by scheduled an equipment failure during the flight.
Flight Simulator X also offers a multiplayer option. Players can invite buddies along as passengers in their plane, or have them take the part of the air traffic controller, guiding them from the tower.
There are a multitude of facets to the game: from varying degrees of difficulty to the wide variety of planes to choose from and the seemingly endless array of flights to take, airports to land at and the wonderfully detailed backgrounds and settings, that few players could claim boredom with this game.
If there are any issues they are due to those fabulous graphics and the realistic flight experience offered by the game – it makes the game very resource hungry! The game does not play well when lots of other applications and programs are open and running and it uses a lot of the computer's memory in the heat of the action.
Pros
- A fantastic game, a flight simulator that carries the player away!
- Plenty of planes, places and missions to keep interest high and the player fully engaged for many hours of game play
Cons
- Uses a lot of the computer's resources and it is not advised to keep other programmes and applications open when playing
- The controls require some mastery at the beginning of the game
Pros
- Many fun missions
- Realistic controls
- Numerous planes and helicopters
Cons
- Controls are hard to get adjusted to
- Takes some time to load
Take over the controls of a plane in Flight Simulator X.
Although the graphics aren't ideal, this is a game that has received many compliments about the way that the controls are arranged and the ease of which the plane can be navigated. There are a few different planes to choose from, such as large passenger jets to small single-engine planes. You can fly over the ocean and lakes or over the tops of trees.
The one thing about the game is that it does take quite a while to download. There are three modes of play. You can choose to drop sacks of flour on targets below you, complete an initial test flight or practice your landing in the Caribbean. In order to get to the rest of the game, you'll have to practice each task. It's best to start with dropping flour, but you have to be good at identifying your targets and making sure the plane is at just the right point to get the flour on the ground.
If you don't want to fly a plane, there is an option to fly a helicopter. There are 50 various missions that will keep you on your toes. Some of the missions are urgent and must be completed in a certain amount of time while others are all about fun. Some of the missions that you have to complete involve areas that are questionable, such as Area 51. You will also have to search for items that are lost and take them back to the proper place before completing the level. There are numerous airports where you can take off and several types of planes that you can fly and even customize to a certain point.
Pros
- Many fun missions
- Realistic controls
- Numerous planes and helicopters
Cons
- Controls are hard to get adjusted to
- Takes some time to load
