For decades, non-sports simulation games could only fuel the imaginations of the dedicated. Framerates of titles with the detail necessary to satisfy their audience were poor, rendering their games nigh-on unplayable. They came with graphics that needed plenty of imagination to complete the illusion. But sims have been become more accessible with each passing generation of machine and Microsoft Flight Simulator is the logical conclusion of that development.
MSFS contains all of the depth that has kept the series at the top of the sim game for almost forty years but crucially, for what was previously a niche series, it opens the cockpit to anyone with a little patience.
Remarkable Technical Achievement
Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) is not the first game to contain the whole of planet earth but it’s certainly the first to come with the entire globe as standard. Definitely the first to contain some form of recognisability for most of the planet. Promising the world and actually delivering it is nothing short of amazing.
The experience is fed from Microsoft Azure servers with Bing maps being applied to your model as you explore. While there is a huge variance in levels of detail across the globe, those taking a local tour will recognise a few things but only if you live in the right places. There are 320 mostly American cities that have been gloriously recreated using photogrammetry. The buildings in these cities are fully 3D-modeled and accurate texture mapping applied.
It must be noted that, thankfully, an offline mode is available. It’s not pretty, at least not where I took off from, but it’s functional.
Your game-world will be populated with other players that you can see in-game. I have no idea if you can collide with them but some of you will willing to try.
Super Models
The twenty base craft are rendered in the painstaking detail that is expected of a simulator. The first-person camera is the proper way to experience the game and the cockpits only invite a player in. The interiors are just amazing to behold.
Instrument panels are mind-blowing in their complexity. Almost every knob, switch and lever seems to work when you hover over it with the mouse. It’s fascinating to a n00b but the aim is to actually use these one day.The varying array of dials are functional; this is, of course, how real pilots see where they are going most of the time.
Out the windows are the incredible land, sea and skyscapes you would expect. These are augmented by the work done on weather effects. Players can play the actual weather as its happening in their chosen location or set up their own majestic or terrifying set of atmospheric conditions. Setting up the weather isn’t easy at first and the explanation for how it all works in game isn’t all that great.
Undeniable Gameplay Achievement
The game has an all-encompassing set of controls and aids. Flight Simulator is approachable but has a skill ceiling tens of thousands of feet in the air.
Those of you tempted in by the hype should know that the game isn’t ‘pick up and play’. It still demands a huge effort to land a plane and players will get lost in the controls for a while. Even the list of beefy tutorials doesn’t cover everything.
Each aircraft’s instrument panel, flight envelope and general feel is different. Every flight with a new plane is an adventure, even on the easiest modes. The joy of simulated flight (as opposed to arcade flight) is preserved by not making it too easy. Microsoft deserve huge credit for this balancing of concerns.
Actual Game Stuff
While most of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is just the challenge of flight and the wonder of exploration, there are a two game modes to be had. In one, there are three types of landing challenge.
One showcases famous airports and the more recognisable aircraft. Another gives players a shot at famously tricky landings across the globe. The last adds different weather to the equation. All three of these sections have a different feel but there are only 25 landing challenges in total.
The other game mode is comprised of three ‘bush trips’. These are orienteering challenges that give players a list of directions, distances and descriptions that they must follow. The notepad gives you a stopwatch to aid your dead reckoning and that’s it.
Completing just a single leg of the dozen-ish per trip demands a lot of brainpower, playing like a difficult puzzle with insta-deaths. For players who slogged their way to semi-competence the bush trips are the final hurdle.
Control Options
Series fans will probably have some form of flight yoke or stick and this is obviously ideal. MSFS also supports mouse & keyboard and most console-style controllers. Using mouse & keys is nigh-on impossible and only a madman would persist longer than was strictly necessary.
The PS4 controller I had at my disposal worked well. There aren’t nearly enough buttons and I had to keep my keyboard nearby. The analogue sticks were a bit sensitive so I had to make some adjustments.
The key mapper is excellent, offering searches for both input and action to simplify control setup. Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) offers multiple profiles to save whatever input maps you have created, something that is very useful here.
Limits to its Brilliance
Outside of major cities, especially U.S. ones, the maps are far less realistic. Major roads, rivers and the rough shape of towns are typically mapped but the detail that makes up most of these areas isn’t at all accurate. Fields, height and roads are the only real details that are consistent across a huge portion of the globe.
My hometown has a mixture of American and German-style architecture and it just looks wrong. The airfield I used to live near is also only vaguely similar to the real deal. It faces the right direction and is roughly the right length – that’s something I suppose.
There are some ugly seams in the world. Some aren’t immediately noticeable; just mistakes in digital stitching. But some look like joints between different generations of mapping equipment with unmissable contrasts and differences in level of detail.
Our A.I. copilot can completely clap out sometimes. From being unable to taxi to stalling the plane immediately after you handed it the yoke – madness will prevail at points. You could say “it’s a feature” if this wasn’t a friendly-but-still-dry simulator.
Setting up a flight with multiple stopovers is so unintuitive that I had to check a guide online. Our webmaster, a man who literally mastered the web, couldn’t do it immediately either so I don’t feel so bad.
Flighty Performance
Microsoft Flight Simulator demands a decent PC (see specs below) and even with one, the performance is patchy. Loading times are excessive even with the quickest SSDs. After loading in to the game, users will frequently witness wonky framerates or unloaded features.
There will be times when the game stutters and drags at random. While the scope of the game is a mitigating factor and the hiccups are game-breakers, the gaps in optimisation hurt the overall immersion.
Installing the game comes with a bait ‘n’ switch. Users will download a portion of the game from their chosen platform, start the game and then have to download the remaining 120 gigabytes or so. Those of you downloading remotely or leaving their PC after they begin their initial download beware.
Not Game of the Year
Flight sim fans will be in their element inside the mostly immersive MSFS world. Microsoft have said they plan to support the title for ten years and that the maps will be continually updated on the cloud, giving aficionados plenty of future mileage.
While the game opens the genre up to the general public, it lacks enough gaming content to keep general gamers hooked for the weeks or months it will take for any new content to arrive. The series may well find some new fans but most players will struggle to make fun for themselves beyond a few weeks of regular play.
Hyperbolic early impressions (and even some reviews) lined Microsoft Flight Simulator up as a possible GotY and that is, frankly, ridiculous. It is, however, an incredible achievement and absolutely worth experiencing as part of Xbox Game Pass.
Review copy provided by PR
Minimum Specifications
CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 or AMD Ryzen 3 1200 or better
GPU: Radeon RX 570 or GeForce GTX 770 or better
VRAM: 2GB
RAM: 8 GB
DISK SPACE: 150 GB
Recommended Specifications
CPU : Ryzen 5 1500X or Intel i5 8400 or better
GPU : Radeon RX 590 or Nvidia GTX 970 or better
VRAM : 4 GB
RAM : 16 GB
DISK SPACE: 150 GB
