|
After decades (born 1979) Microsoft Flight Simulator finally hits ten with a deluxe edition sized bang, and the whimpering of thousands of computers that tried to run Flight Sim X with all the graphical bells and whistles turned on. Even the installation of the game took a mind numbing thirty minutes and two DVDs.
Fifteen gigabytes of data is a small price to pay for being able to take off and land at tens of thousands of airports, fly dozens of planes, and travel anywhere in the world. That is assuming, of course, that you have a computer that a third world country would use to run nuclear simulations. And that supercomputer probably wouldn't be able to hit 30fps.
This is a series known for pushing cutting edge computers to the limit in pursuit of beautiful vistas and realistic flight models. However, in that pursuit it seems that Microsoft may have pushed the boundary past high-end and into not-yet-existent hardware. To get playable framerates, this reviewer had to lower the graphics well below the screenshots on the box.
Flight Sim X is a product for a niche audience that has very particular demands that don't line up with average gamers.
|
Once I tweaked Microsoft Flight Sim X graphical fidelity down until the brand new game looked like it was being viewed through the eyes of a meth addict after two years of heavy use, framerates held steady enough for me to get down to flying. First of all, let me say that I really like a good user interface, and Microsoft hasn't disappointed me lately.
A slick front-end program let me chose what plane, what airport, and even what kind of weather (you can also download real-world weather) to fly into. Of course I had to wait for the world, plane, and weather to load first. Just a bit of a wait, not too long at all. While we're waiting for my computer to load Earth lets talk about mice and joysticks.
Obviously a joystick is the best way to play a flight simulator, but surprisingly a mouse worked quite well. Given the "simulator" nature of the game you only have to make small adjustments to your pitch and yaw periodically. However, when you're sitting back and watching the world tick by the game becomes a bit boring.
That's where the new mission mode comes into play. Sudden storms, engine issues, and equipment failures will challenge Monday morning pilots... and bore me to tears. It takes a certain type of person to get into flying across the country in real time. I just couldn't love a plane without sidewinder missiles.
Oh, wait! The game finally loaded! Whee! Let's take off, and then forget to put the flaps up all the way. Now we have a crash on our hands. Rather a Grand Turismo style crash featuring rubber planes. Or maybe this isn't the ground. It's hard to tell with these turned down graphics. The sky is usually blue right? Or is that the ocean approaching me at high speed?
To escape the San Francisco bay, I had to wait through another loading screen to get back to the front-end menu. There is no way to change location, flight options, or your ride once you're in the game. The inability to adjust anything while flying is maddening given the insane loading times.
When all is said and done this is a product for a niche audience that has very particular demands that don't line up with average gamers. If you're looking to get into this niche, this is the game for you, and the community is certainly ready to welcome you with open arms. If you're just plane curious, perhaps you should try a game with more dog fights and less control tower chatter.
|
