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Microsoft Flight Simulator X (PC)

Manufacturer: Microsoft Corp. Part number: JH7-00044

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CNET Editor rating:
4.0 stars Excellent
Average user rating: 2.5 stars out of 25 reviews

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Gamespot editors' review

Microsoft Flight Simulator X (PC)

price range: $19.99 - $22.99

Reviewed by: Jeff Lackey
Reviewed on: 10/16/2006
Released on: 10/17/2006

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Microsoft Flight Simulator X is an incredible piece of software, providing almost unbelievable capabilities for a consumer product. Unfortunately, on most systems at anything other than the lowest of the game's graphics settings, the simulation has significant performance issues. How much these issues hinder your enjoyment of the game will depend upon what kind of frame rates you need to enjoy a civilian flight sim.

Buzzing the strip in Vegas.

All of the features hardcore simmers have come to expect in the Microsoft Flight Simulator franchise are here in spades, such as the entire world being modeled in exquisite detail; simulations of everything from ultralights to gliders to Cessnas to commercial airliners to helicopters; realism that makes the sim a great trainer for those seeking a real pilot's license; and more. But Flight Simulator X also adds significant features tailored to the player who would be bored to tears by simply flying from Akron to San Francisco in real time, most notably a series of goal-oriented missions (and an editor that will surely result in a huge number of add-on scenarios). These include well-done tutorials and many missions with compelling goals and surprising midflight twists. Some are lighthearted fun, such as playing the role of a stunt pilot (complete with announcer) trying to land on a moving bus or racing a jet-powered truck. Others are intense--for example, trying to fly a chopper to an exploding ocean oil rig and rescue stranded workers. Even simple missions have a compelling nature to them, particularly search and rescue scenarios where you may be seeking a capsized sail boat or a lost camper in snowy mountains. You collect rewards and souvenirs, which is a nice touch that adds an extra incentive to complete the tasks. Even hardcore simmers will find themselves sucked into these missions, wanting to find out just what's behind that clandestine mission flying into Area 51 or what is going to happen on your flight to pick up a famous movie star.

There are about 50 missions in the deluxe version of FSX and about 30 in the standard version. The deluxe version comes with 24 airplanes, versus 18 in the Standard version; more high-detail airports, 45 versus 40; more high-detail cities, 38 versus 28; the advanced Garmin G1000 glass cockpit; and the new tower controller module. This last feature lets you step into the control tower and take the role of the air traffic controller in multiplayer mode. While it probably won't keep you out of the cockpit for long, it is an interesting (and stressful) option. And for the record, if you're interested enough to purchase Flight Simulator X, you should go ahead and purchase the Deluxe version. All of the additional content makes it worth the added costs.

In addition to the missions, free flight mode provides practically unlimited options. You can select from any of the included aircraft (or add-ons that you may download or purchase) and fly to or from any of 24,000 airports around the world. Not only is it pretty much guaranteed that any significant airport that you'd like to fly in or out of is in the sim, but the odds are also good that your local neighborhood grass airstrip is in there, too. The new high-detail airports show off Microsoft's new "living world" emphasis in FSX. Now when you taxi into one of these featured airports, you'll see fuel trucks realistically dashing from gate to gate, luggage carts driving out to aircraft, Jetways extending to connect with your parked airliner, and more. The new active world extends beyond the airports, as you now can look down while in flight and see moving automobiles and trucks on the roads below. You'll also see a variety of boat and ship traffic while flying over water (buzzing a cruise ship with your 747 provides a special thrill!) and an assortment of wildlife, depending upon your location. While it sounds like a small touch, it does make a significant impact on the feeling that you're flying in a real-world environment.

Flight Simulator X gives you a tow plane for your glider.

The terrain graphics are significantly improved over Flight Simulator 2004. Higher-resolution textures are especially noticeable in areas such as harbors and coastlines, where the interface between the water and land is much more realistic. The autogen module, which creates terrain in areas that are not explicitly modeled, does a good job of generating ground features and vegetation that are appropriate for both the part of the world being generated and the weather for that location at that time of year. It's very nice to see how the world beneath you changes as you fly, for example, in December from Key West to Chicago. The development team has gone to extremes to make the world in which you fly as realistic as possible, even going so far as to map the stars in their accurate positions for your location and time of year. While it is unreasonable to expect that every feature and building in the entire world will be represented, most major landmarks and even many minor ones are present just about anywhere on the planet that you choose to fly. Weather, a significant factor in any pilot's life, can be set by the user; thus, if you want to test your skills in building storms or just want to see what it's like trying to bring in a 747 in the middle of the night in blinding snow, you can easily set that up. Or you can have the program download the current real weather for the location in which you are flying, with regular real-time updates. For those who are serious about testing their flight skills under precise conditions, you can even go in and set the cloud types, tops and bottoms, coverage, turbulence, icing conditions, precipitation type, density, altitude, wind conditions, and much more. The weather module alone is more sophisticated than you'd ever expect in a commercial, mass market piece of software.

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User reviews

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Average user rating: 2.5 stars out of 25 reviews
My rating: 0 stars

Showing opinion 1 to 10 out of 25

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2 stars

After a long wait, very disapointing.

by jkevin on February 3, 2007

Pros: Microsoft has't dicontinued the product.

Cons: Poor performance. Bad sound. "Toy looking" graphics

Summary: I've been a fan of FS for 18 years. I'm totally addicted and have owned every version. So it pains me to say this, but this is the ...

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Summary: I've been a fan of FS for 18 years. I'm totally addicted and have owned every version. So it pains me to say this, but this is the first version since FS3, I've seen, that looks that a toy. X is an absolute disaster! I simply can't find anything positive to say about it and am very disapointed!

1. Even with the graphic res dialed way down, the animation looks like crap. To achieve the same performance as FS2004, you must remove almost all on the scenery, and FS2004 still looks better!. I don't even know how to process that. How do you go backwards in performance such that FS2004 looks better and performs better than the "latest and greatest"?

2. The sound output is nonsense, like a random collection of junk sounds that, more often than not, don't match the scene. I also get loud, distorted electronic noise from my speakers, suddenly and unpredictably.

I've gone back to FS2004 and have uninstalled X. I don't think I could get my money back at this point. So I'll put the DVDs on the shelf and wait a few years for the technology to come along. I'm not going to buy a new machine just to run the app.

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4 out of 5 users found this user opinion helpful.
4 stars

Professional pilots couldn't afford a PC to run this joke.

by Fastfiddler on January 27, 2007

Pros: Great visuals, great sound. ATC is better.

Cons: Extremely demanding on your system.

Summary: My computer: Homebuilt. XP PRO. Pentium 4 Prescott 3.2GHz with hyper threading (OCed to 3.52GHz). 2GB of DDR 400 RAM. Audigy 2ZS sound card. GeForce 7800GS 256MB from ...

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Summary: My computer: Homebuilt. XP PRO. Pentium 4 Prescott 3.2GHz with hyper threading (OCed to 3.52GHz). 2GB of DDR 400 RAM. Audigy 2ZS sound card. GeForce 7800GS 256MB from BFG so it is OCed. Running on SATA hard drive. This isn't the best gaming system out there, but it is certainly better than your average PC. I can run ANY other game on full graphics and get at least 40FPS. I'm honestly happy with at least 20-30 because above that, your eyes can't tell the difference. I landed the beech baron with the G1000 at minneapolis st paul with heavy snow. I had traffic up to 100% because I want realism. Everything else was slimmed down, no autogen, no water effects, low terrain detail. With scenery complexity off, when I landed I got about 8 FPS. When I put it on full, I got 5 FPS. You also have to have scenery up in order to see taxi way lights. Aside from performance, there are other things. FS still doesn't have a very good terrain map. I have several updates I bought for FS9, and it honestly looks better overall at a much higher framerate than FSX. I am also disappointed that they got rid of the vintage planes from FS9, along with the amphib caravan, and cessna 183. I paid more for deluxe and I cant even really enjoy the added features like city detail because it won't run. The G1000 they got very lazy on. Half the features of the real one aren't there. In the real one, when tuned into a VOR you can hit DME on the PFD and it will show you distance, not there... You also can't access the engine screen to adjust mixture using EGT. I suppose that since it won't run as is, more detail wouldnt help. I've heard that it would run better on Vista, but I've heard just as strongly that that is not true. I must say, in rare occurences when it's not lagging and I have autogen up all the way, it's pretty spectacular, the trees actually look like they make a forest, rather than a few scattered trees over forest ground textures. I can run it pretty well with limited weather and all traffic disabled, and scenery trimmed down a bit, but um that brings up the question, why did i spend 70 bucks on it when FS9 that has many aircraft that I bought (much better detail and 90%+ funtional cockpits and FMSs), ASv6 weather engine, flight environment, and also Ultimate Terrain (yes i spent a little too much money on it but was worth it) and therefor looks just as good as, has more realistic aircraft, and 100% detailed surface streets and land/water features throughout the US and Canada, all running at higher FPS than FSX raw? (yes I know that was one of the most ridiculous sentences in history, but I think it makes my point). I have heard Microsoft is taking it back for refunds because of these performance issues, but I'm having trouble justifying it for the times it does run well and looks awsome, and also the red bull flying course, I'm down to a time of 1:40, it's fun. Anyways, moral of the story is, if you have a system about equal to mine or BETTER go for it, but if you're running your cheap $400 HP desktop that you bought at Best Buy so that you can write papers and play solitaire on, um, while you might make the 256MB RAM 1.0GHz processor and 32MB video card requirement, I would highly recommend you NOT try this. One more thought, If this brings MY system to its knees, how do they figure those minimums? That's probably what u need to run it on all lowest settings at at least 1 FPS. Hey, you can technically "run" it, but you'll be catchin part of your favorite TV show waiting for the next frame to happen.
Updated
Did anyone see the TV commercial for FSX? Anyone who saw this notice that what they showed was extremely laggy. Jet flybys at about 6 FPS. I laughed when I saw that, literally, I laughed out loud.

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2 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 stars

One of the best of 2006

by rjrocks32 on February 10, 2007

Pros: Big jump in realism over FS2004

Cons: Big resource hogger, "backward compaitability" does not look so promising.

Summary: To the majority of you people thinking that the game requires many resources are not thinking out of the box, the reason that Microsoft made this game to use so ...

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Summary: To the majority of you people thinking that the game requires many resources are not thinking out of the box, the reason that Microsoft made this game to use so many resources is so PC's in the future can run this game using DirectX 10's new promising features. They assume that because Vista uses so many features itself along with FSX that pc's in the future would be perfect for running FSX on.

As for the game: This game has brought new features to the game, new aircraft, new interface and just revamped the whole Flight Simulator series.

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2 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.
8 stars

outstanding product!

by rikkib on February 8, 2007

Pros: great graphics, G1000 training, missions with VFR and IFR capabilities,

Cons: bit slow to load initially, inclinometer ball doesnt do anything

Summary: I am a private pilot now working on instrument rating and I have to say Microsoft has really set the bar on affordable flight sims for the PC. I live ...

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Summary: I am a private pilot now working on instrument rating and I have to say Microsoft has really set the bar on affordable flight sims for the PC. I live in Seattle where the weather is not always VFR and its great to fire up flight sim X and do a couple of runs.

With a none-too high end 2-year old Dell box (P4 3Gz, 2GB RAM, no graphics card), I am getting a pretty good experience with flight sim. Less memory may be problematic as I found when I tried this on another box with 1GB of memory.

My pro yoke and rudder pedals of course do make a significant difference in terms of making it feel real. If you dont have this, and are serious about a great flying experience, I strongly urge you to get it - i got mine new for about a couple of hundred bucks on ebay.

As mentioned, I am working towards my instrument rating, so I was thrilled to find the G1000 module in flight sim X, and several of the missions actually have a glass cockpit in the airplanes. You can build your own custom scenarios all the way from basic to adding weather, traffic,..

The one big thing is that the initial loading takes a bit long, but given the richness of the graphics something that doesnt bother me. One peeve is that the inclinometer ball doesnt do anything. In the real world, flying coordinated is critical. Also for simulating slips I found the response to be less than real. Still these are nits that I hope Microsoft will address in the next version.

Overall, I found Flight Simulator X to be an outstanding product if you have the right setup in terms of the PC and yoke/rudder combo.

Rikki

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1 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
4 stars

Disappointing and Frustrating

by gplpark92 on January 25, 2007

Pros: slightly better than FS2004, more aircraft selection

Cons: runs like crap on even the fastest system, not much better than FS2004, same crappy scenery, overhyped, and problematic

Summary: 1) It's so demanding that even the nicest PC's won't play it.

2) The graphics are not much better than FS2004.

3) It's overall exactly the

...

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Summary: 1) It's so demanding that even the nicest PC's won't play it.

2) The graphics are not much better than FS2004.

3) It's overall exactly the same interface as FS2004.

4) Overall gameplay improvements are minimal.

FSX is extremely overhyped, and extremely disappointing.

Looking for something new? Keep FS2004 and buy some modifications. Just don't buy FSX!

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1 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
3 stars

I really don´t like this game, so full of bugs!

by disappointed2it on July 6, 2009

Pros: Has nice landscapes for all over the world

Cons: Weird size ratios ( If you land with a trike in a city, you will find that your trike i bigger than any skyscrapers and double the size of Trucks
Bug on crash against treesAereoplanes makes turns in a very unrealistic way

Summary: All in all, a crap program for nowadays users. I spent alot of money on a bunch of expansions and the game, but it´s crap. The bugs above mentioned ...

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Summary: All in all, a crap program for nowadays users. I spent alot of money on a bunch of expansions and the game, but it´s crap. The bugs above mentioned are really irritating, expecially the crash bug, where you crash even if you get as close as 2 meters from a little bush, with a 500-1000 kg. heavy plane at 160 km/h (VERY unrealistic, the bush gets just cut off IRL...) alot of troubles with my graphic driver wich FS can´t be blamed (fully) for, and a wrong do in the program, where if you for example land in a city you will experience your little trike being wider than a big skyscraper, and bigger than a truck (????) a weird oversized turning ability for little planes and undersized turn for bigger planes...all in all very disappointing for a game send out at the same time as other games that shows incredible graphics architecture (not talking about colors and details, more size ratio between objects and nature/buildings)..all in all a game I would have been PROUD of downloading from a pirate site instead of using all those money...

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5 stars

Great Game...Bad Specs.

by adscram14 on January 8, 2009

Pros: Great graphics and interface.

Cons: Needs ridiculous specs.

Summary: I have a black MacBook running Windows XP, and I'm not saying this is the fastest machine...but the gameplay is so choppy...I can't play it. Get ...

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Summary: I have a black MacBook running Windows XP, and I'm not saying this is the fastest machine...but the gameplay is so choppy...I can't play it. Get this game if you have at least 2gb ram and an Intel Core 2 Duo.

Updated on Mar 13, 2009
New computer: i7 920 EVGA GTX260----Runs on high.

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3 stars

Huge, Bloated piece of Crap.

by Roadkill_321 on September 21, 2008

Pros: Had a very good advertising campaign.

Cons: Runs poorly on competent machines, takes 15GB on hard drive, crashes, etc.

Summary: Was looking forward to seeing a refined version of FS9 but was disappointed to find out that I now need to buy a CRAY just to run this program adequately.

Summary: Was looking forward to seeing a refined version of FS9 but was disappointed to find out that I now need to buy a CRAY just to run this program adequately.
9 stars

Absouloutly Amazing,

by aarons94 on March 28, 2008

Pros: A way to "laeve the world" and good training for aspiring pilots or pilot "wanna be's"

Cons: lots of R.A.M. needed

Summary: Absouloutly Amazing, and it comes from mocrosoft i have a basic graphics card 2 g ram and the specs ar all very high and it runs smooth as liquid 1....

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Summary: Absouloutly Amazing, and it comes from mocrosoft i have a basic graphics card 2 g ram and the specs ar all very high and it runs smooth as liquid 1.5 g's of ram would also work fine

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1 stars

Total con. Aces/MS are lieing

by General_Sm on December 30, 2007

Pros: None. Don't Buy

Cons: Bad performance on the best machines. totaly mis-represented by Aces

Summary: PLEASE, do not but this. Aces studios have completly mis-represented this title. It does NOTHING it claims too, and is a complete waste of time. On a machine with 3x + ...

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Summary: PLEASE, do not but this. Aces studios have completly mis-represented this title. It does NOTHING it claims too, and is a complete waste of time. On a machine with 3x + the minium specs, latest G-card, Quad core, 4 gig of ram, it will run like crap. flickering textures, lack of V-sync, and the list goes on and on. DONT listen to the "fanboys" at avsim, they have a vested interest in following the MS/Aces party line!.

Check out many small FS community sites, go the FSinsider.com take not of the some of actual developers names (like Phill Taylor) and be sure never to buy anything that these liers work on.

I'LL SAY IT AGAIN, AFTER 20 YEARS PLAYING MSFS, I LIKE, SO MANY OTHERS, WILL NOT BE CAUGHT AGAIN AFTER THIS RELEASE. I HAVE BEEN LIED TOO, MIS-LEAD, AND PATRONISED ENOUGH.

IT'S A DISGRACE AND AN INSULT TO AN AVERAGE PERSONS INTELIGENCE.

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Showing opinion 1 to 10 out of 25

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Specifications

Manufacturer: Microsoft Corp.
Part number: JH7-00044

Product Basic Spec
Platform PC
ESRB rating Everyone -
Genre Simulation
Number of players 1 Player
Difficulty Medium
Stability Stable
Learning curve About 3 hours
DirectX version v9.0
Operating system Windows XP
Customization Editing Tools
Minimum
CPU 1.0 Ghz
Disk 14000 MB
RAM 256 MB
VRAM 32 MB

Recommended
CPU 3.6 GHz CPU
Disk 14000 MB
RAM 2048 MB
VRAM 512 MB
Game
Developer Microsoft Game Studios
ESRB Everyone
Release date 2006-10-17

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