Microsoft Flight Simulator has returned at long last to the glee of countless aviation and simulation enthusiasts and perhaps the cautious interest of many other gamers. It has been about 14 years since the last new Flight Simulator game launched, but the quality of this new title may just make up for the wait. As a true hardcore simulator, MS Flight Sim 2020 is about as close to perfect as it gets. There are a few wrinkles and kinks here and there, but the potential is massive and the accuracy-above-all approach has paid dividends.
For the purposes of this review, Game Rant was provided with a full copy of Microsoft Flight Simulator and an upgrade to the Premium Deluxe edition, replete with all 30 planes and 10 additional hand-crafted airports to explore. We flew with mouse and keyboard, an Xbox One controller, and a Thrustmaster T.16000M FCS HOTAS flight stick plus throttle, settling on the flight stick as the best option.
Flight Simulator was intended to put the simulation and aviation community first. It is by no means the Forza Horizon of planes; it is intensely realistic and offers very little in the way of traditional video game content. However, this first caveat goes hand-in-hand with the second: Flight Simulator is intended to be a platform more so than a game. It will receive content updates, upgrades, fixes, and mod support for years to come, which means that the experience at launch is more indicative of the game's potential than anything else.
Outside of the complexities of takeoff and landing, much of Microsoft Flight Simulator's gameplay boils down to making fine adjustments as the plane floats gently through the atmosphere, looking down on the landscape below and likely taking a lot of scenic screenshots. It's a good thing, then, that the world as seen from above in Flight Sim is gorgeous.
Water shimmers realistically, clouds waft through the air, and vistas like the Hawaiian islands offer nearly the same unparalleled beauty that they do in life. Live weather based on real-world reports, live air traffic, and an active day/night cycle all combine to make flying over familiar landscapes almost eerie. Soaring over cities at night is magical, and skimming over mountain treetops in a prop plane is exhilarating. The planes themselves are modeled in incredibly fine detail, with cockpit interiors that should look even better when VR support hits the game.
Not everything looks so fantastic, however. Since the ground displayed in Flight Simulator is generated by a mixture of satellite photography and AI, there are some areas that do not fare so well, especially places with unusual topography or that haven't been so meticulously mapped. As more areas get hands-on attention, the glaring issues will hopefully be ironed out, though. Being able to soar over Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro or see elephants meander the African Savannah is still an incredible experience, and any complaints about poorly-modeled regions should be mollified by the knowledge that Flight Simulator achieved the incredible feat of offering the entire globe as its world map.
Flight Simulator does offer varying levels of assistance with the controls, which is especially helpful when playing with an Xbox controller. However, hooking up a flight stick and turning off assists can be both oddly satisfying and at times brutally difficult. Using a flight stick really is the best way to play, but for those who just want to test the game out, a controller still works just fine.
Even after playing through the tutorial missions, which go through the basics of flying and landing a Cessna, trying to figure out how to operate a passenger jet is a true challenge. Occasionally, issues arise that seem to come from the game more than the aircraft. For example, on one particular flight, the assists would intermittently, inexplicably adjust the trim and flaps to send our jet arcing upwards into a stall. Even with assists turned off in later sessions, coming out of active pause occasionally had the unsettling effect of instantly sending our plane into an unrecoverable spiral.
It can be tough to determine what exactly is going wrong, and the fact that the controls menu is so expansive that it necessitates a search bar does not make things much easier to troubleshoot. While active pause is a great feature, there are too many issues caused by physics effects persisting during a pause, only to stack up and send the plane caterwauling into the wild blue yonder once real-time resumes. Ultimately, though, the bugs are relatively rare, and getting over the tough learning curve is rewarded with deep customization and satisfying, challenging realism.
At first glance, there is not much content on offer in Flight Simulator. There are plenty of planes and a whole world to explore, but there are no missions or progression system of any sort. Aside from the tutorials and a few regularly updated challenges, there's not much meat to bite into for gamers used to less simulation-focused games. Where Flight Simulator really opens up is in the options for setting malfunctions to occur mid-flight, testing one's skills in a storm, or trying to navigate by landmarks alone without a map for guidance. Multiplayer carries immense promise as well - flying side by side with a friend or playing with the upcoming pilot / co-pilot co-op would definitely multiply the possibilities.
The developers have promised more content to come, missions included, but players looking for a more traditional video game experience will still be rather disappointed. That kind of content can't be expected from a product aimed squarely at hardcore simmers, but it still seems like missed potential when such a finely crafted product doesn't cater to a casual audience as well. That said, just flying around the world is fun and addicting in and of itself, and plenty of casual players will doubtless be hooked by the fun, even without a robust progression system. We can only look forward to more updates, like VR support, to come.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is well worth checking out. Hardcore simmers will love it, and for more casual players it is still undeniably fun. While the full $60 price tag ($120 for the Premium Deluxe edition) might be a bit much for gamers who typically play more traditional titles, Flight Sim will also be offered on Xbox Game Pass, which makes it a very strong value proposition. As much as we longed for more content, something kept us coming back, again and again, to try out another plane, fly over another landmark, or attempt one more tricky landing.
Microsoft Flight Simulator will be available for PC on August 18, with an Xbox One version in development. Game Rant was provided a PC code for this review.