Microsoft Flight Simulator X Image
Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 28 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
7.3

Mixed or average reviews- based on 140 Ratings

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  • Summary: From award winning game developer ACES comes Flight Simulator X. The latest installment will include the usual genre leading realism that continues to awe real pilots and will serve as the graphical benchmark for games on Windows Vista. Additionally, Flight Simulator X will deliver for theFrom award winning game developer ACES comes Flight Simulator X. The latest installment will include the usual genre leading realism that continues to awe real pilots and will serve as the graphical benchmark for games on Windows Vista. Additionally, Flight Simulator X will deliver for the first time structured game play with more than 55 missions to choose from which will test the skills of players of all levels. [Microsoft] Expand
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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 22 out of 28
  2. Negative: 1 out of 28
  1. Fasten your seatbelt, and prepare for an awesome flight. [Deluxe Edition]
  2. If you enjoy flight sims (remember, no combat), then I have little doubt that you will enjoy the breadth of options, landscape, airports and aircraft that this game will provide for you.
  3. The real bonus for this version of the sim comes from pilot immersion. The focus on high quality 3D cockpits instead of 2D panels combined with some excellent new default aircraft with convincing flight dynamics makes for a wonderfully engaging experience. [Deluxe Edition]
  4. Microsoft's Flight Simulator X provides a mind-boggling level of depth and breadth--if you don't mind some less than stellar frame rates.
  5. Flight Simulator X looks to have touched down six-to-twelve months too early for much of its target audience but, as its score reflects, it's an extraordinarily well-crafted piece of software and one of the most significant releases in flight simming history.
  6. PC Format
    78
    Big on detail in theory, but slow and heavy in practice. [Deluxe Edition; Christmas 2006, p.98]
  7. Computer Games Magazine
    40
    It's designed for people to whom the prospect of merely taking off from LaGuardia and landing at O'Hare is exciting. [Jan. 2007, p.66]

See all 28 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 24 out of 40
  2. Negative: 11 out of 40
  1. Jul 30, 2012
    10
    Its An amazing game so realistic and generally fun to play, unlike most simulators! The planes graphics are more than satisfactory, even on aIts An amazing game so realistic and generally fun to play, unlike most simulators! The planes graphics are more than satisfactory, even on a low end computer. The game has a wide range of places to go 24,000 airports in total. Great fun, no manual but I worked out the buttons. The game is really realistic and is actually used by pilots. I have had it for about a year now and I reckon I could fly a plane now I know where all the buttons are Expand
  2. Jan 14, 2014
    10
    A really good flight simulator still several years on from release. Better than it's competitors as I find the interface easy-er to use andA really good flight simulator still several years on from release. Better than it's competitors as I find the interface easy-er to use and most of the bugs have been ironed out by now . Would still recommend in 2014. The graphics are also still not bad even now. Until there is something better out ill continue to use this simulator. Expand
  3. Nov 13, 2011
    9
    I have had every Microsoft Flight Simulator, dating back all the way to the Radio Shack TRS80 version! To the folks previously **** aboutI have had every Microsoft Flight Simulator, dating back all the way to the Radio Shack TRS80 version! To the folks previously **** about needing a fast computer to run this software...wah! There of course is going to be trade-offs between function vs. flare. MSFS has always been about pushing the limits of the hardware to create as realistic as current computer-possible simulations, and if you're still running Windows 98 or using an 8-bit video card...then what do you expect? Personally, I find this version the best so far with very realistic graphics sound and detail. And am looking forward to the next version, hoping it will be even more impressive. Expand
  4. Sep 30, 2012
    8
    The best training program for pilots, even though it's not like the real aviation at all. With payware add-ons you can go through StandardThe best training program for pilots, even though it's not like the real aviation at all. With payware add-ons you can go through Standard Operational Procedures that are very realistic, but they are very expensive. I bought this game when it was released and back then I didn't know a single bean about aviation even though I am very interested, but through the years this has developed my knowledge. What i don't like about the game is for an example the requirements, 15GB of space and grows to 40GB when you get a few addons. And the RAM it takes makes no sense, while FS9 runs very smoothly and takes only 3-5GB and uses less than 500MB's of RAM, I am very much making videos with FSX, and i'm very unhappy about that i have to play in 20% when recording so it will be smooth when i'll speed it up. FS9 is still the best simulator in my opinion, and the addons for that game are much better. But I like FSX much and the 10 pounds were well worth it, but fs9 is better. Expand
  5. Sep 12, 2019
    7
    As a flight simulator fan i came to love FSX, but this did not blinded me towards its flaws.

    MISSIONS-as you would expect, flight simulator
    As a flight simulator fan i came to love FSX, but this did not blinded me towards its flaws.

    MISSIONS-as you would expect, flight simulator X doesn't have a story with missions being an exception, which have a self contained plot each, which most of the time are nothing special. For the type of game FSX is, this is not really a flaw. GAMEPLAY-The sim itself now is fairly easy to learn. tutorial missions do a fairly good job on teaching you the basics and some more advanced flight techniques. Missions will gradually get very challenging, and the more advanced missions will require large amounts of effort and lots of trial and error to pull off. fortunately, the save feature allows as many saves as you want and whenever you want, sparing you the frustration. Clickable cockpits are a convinience as memorizing each and every keyboard combination might be time consuming and annoying. However many aircraft are legacy, ported from the previous entry FS2004 and often not all buttons are clickable.

    INTERFACE- the interface in the menus is good and it does it's job. The in-game interface on the other hand, is a bit of a chore without a head tracking device, even if you are using a HOTAS joystick. the reason for this is that one monitor cannot fit all the instruments inside it. you will constantly need to turn and zoom the camera to the instruments you need to see and use, forcing you to let the controls of the aircraft. a hat switch on the joystick is a convenient feature, but still you would have to let the controls and grab the mouse in order to use the clickable instruments. final verdict on the interface: you will need at least a decent HOTAS joystick and a second monitor in order, at least partially, alleviate frustration

    TECHNICAL- It mostly feels great to fly in the world of flight simulator X. there are lakes, coastlines, big cities and famous landmarks like Eiffel tower and the Parthenon. There are actual cars on the roads(to a point where the technology allows it) and there is also wild life, though sometimes it feels like it's only placed on specific places to enhance missions. unfortunately the technical is where the most drawbacks are. If you take a close look on the ground you will notice randomly placed low-fi textures . beyond that there are the human models which are exclusively used for missions and they are not very good. in missions where you are supposed to have people entering or exiting your aircraft(heli or otherwise) there is no animation of it and you can't see your passengers and crew. The biggest black mark on the game's technical faults is the performance. Constantly poor framerates and stuttering add an immense amount of frustration to the release version. High end computers had a problem running this smoothly many years after release. Even the first patch which improves the performance and fixes bugs was not enough. Εven if you got past the lag and stuttering, the game is very power hungry and it also does not take proper advantage of multicore CPUs, relying on raw CPU power instead. FSX is not that demanding, but poorly optimized. Lowering graphical settings might not only improve performance, but in fact make it worse. Many guides and fan fixes came out for tweaking the game to run proper. FSX Steam edition did some improvements, but not that much. So in addition to the flying gear and extra monitor you would need a very beefed up PC making it more expensive than the price of the individual game. I tried this on 4 CPU. GPUs are out of the equation because FSX does not rely on them much. Initially on an athlon64 at 2.5ghz FSX was playable, but it looked like something out of the 90s. Next up came the E8500. FSX seemed to like the raw power and the 3.4ghz, but it was still problematic. Next came the i5 750 clocked at 2.66ghz. FSX still hates me for that. All these with a standard HDD, that FSX does not enjoy one bit treating you with stutter. Now I changed to a Ryzen 2600x and a Crutial MB500 SSD and FSX loves it, but its technical issues are more apparent now. Though it is an actually smooth experience, the framerate is erratic, jumping up and down. Fortunately this is not obtrusive.

    FINAL VERDICT-Despite its major technical flaws that can be overcome with lots effort and tweaking by the user, playing this game can be pure magic. the missions are varied without getting boring and i will add the huge number of third party DLC as an advantage as there is everything for every taste. the physics have only a few hiccups, but generally are excellent. This game is not for everyone. you need high budget gear, and the game itself although more accessible, can be unforgiving later, on more advanced missions. hopefully the new Microsoft Flight Simulator will be a major advancement in solving the performance and accesability issues that plagued this game. MS Flight certainly wasn't.
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  6. MarkE.
    Oct 26, 2006
    4
    After owning every Flt Sims made to date, this one requires state of the art, high dollar hardware. Your system better be hot in order to After owning every Flt Sims made to date, this one requires state of the art, high dollar hardware. Your system better be hot in order to push this program. It does have some new, good stuff to go along with some bugs. 1- VOR control operates in reverse. 2 - The gps code input for WPs is too sensitive and double up key strokes. Good Luck! Expand
  7. Aug 20, 2020
    0
    Juego de Juego de Juego de mierda Juego de Juego de Juego de Juego de Juego de mierda

See all 40 User Reviews