So often, Microsoft Flight Simulator feels like the future. I’ve been playing daily for pretty much a month now, and I still struggle on occasion to believe it’s real; dozens of hours logged in the skies and the sight of the sun dipping over the horizon, some troublesome weather bubbling over a city or the hazy dawn seen from five miles high will still have me catching my breath, fumbling for the capture button or hurriedly getting out my phone to take a picture of the screen. As a technical achievement, what lead developer Asobo has conjured here is remarkable – in a year when we’re seeing the introduction of powerful new consoles, I’d be surprised if either can yet produce a spectacle as eye-catching and awe-inspiring as something that can run without much grumbling on an aging and moderately specced PC.
Microsoft Flight Simulator reviewDeveloper: Asobo/Microsoft Game StudiosPublisher: Microsoft Game StudiosPlatform: Reviewed on PCAvailability: Out August 18th on PC, Xbox versions TBD
Microsoft Flight Simulator can feel perfectly next-gen, but its greatest asset – and I think the smartest move Microsoft has made with this long-awaited comeback – is how it’s so firmly rooted in the past. This is the eleventh instalment in a series that’s not far off hitting 40, and it’s approaching the landmark with style; rather than some messy reinvention, Microsoft Flight Simulator leans into middle age by doubling down on the nerdy detail that’s always been at the heart of the series’ appeal. It simply serves it all up with a bit more grace.
Flight Simulator PC Hands-On: A Generational Leap In Graphical Realism Watch on YouTube
And it is never anything other than a sim. It’s a loaded term, that, which means many different things to many different people, so let’s just say that Microsoft Flight Simulator is concerned first and foremost with authenticity. It is as accurate a representation as Asobo can muster of airplanes, airstrips and airspace, and of the act of flying. And flying, you might recall, can be dreary and monotonous – it can be about wrestling with arcane bureaucracy and calling upon vast reserves of patience with little to do but watch the scenery roll by. The tedium of travel is something that Microsoft Flight Simulator can offer you, if you so desire. Indeed, it has it in spades.
If you want the full fifteen minutes taxi from stand to runway, it’s all there for you. If you want to learn the lingo of the skies and converse with air traffic control, requesting pushback, takeoff clearance and so much more besides in an act of near-endless dialogue, go for it. If you want to manually run through the long, intricate checklist then be my guest. Maybe even think about printing off all three sheets of A4 dense with everything you’ll need to do to get a 747 up in the air. Draw up a detailed flight plan and see through its execution over the hours – and when you get to your destination, if you want the full fifteen minutes taxi from runway to stand, well you’re in for a treat.
1 of 3 Caption Attribution Which makes sunsets like this look all the more beautiful.
Microsoft Flight Simulator can also, if you’d prefer, be a fair bit more approachable than that. You can spawn on the runway, or in the air, and hand off the ATC chatter to an AI co-pilot. That same AI copilot might also have completed your checklist for you, or guided you through the process. You can skip forward to any point of the flight you want to experience, be that take-off, ascent, approach or landing, and have as much or as little automated for you. You can even switch off the live weather that pulls in real-world data – another touch of authenticity that can be quite staggering in practice – and play God, summoning thunderstorms or making the sun dance from one horizon to another with the flick of a cursor.