Microsoft Flight Simulator X

Don't sink? But I'm a plane...

Simulation fans can be hiding anywhere. My old barber had a flight sim rig, for goodness sake. The closest I've ever come is a cheap flight stick for use once in a blue moon. And would you look at that? A blue moon!

Microsoft Flight Simulator X is the tenth flight sim of the historic Microsoft Flight Simulator series, a run of titles that stretch back to the early 1980s, and, after a bit of a death following this game, continues into the future with 2020's Microsoft Flight Simulator.

But we're not in the future. Not yet. Let's fly all the way back to 2006 and see how skilled we really are.

Fun Times

While I do have what appears to be the Gold Edition on disc - no idea where from - the easiest route for me to take was FSX: Steam Edition, a version released in 2014 that fixes and restores support for multiplayer sessions, among other things, to keep the sim alive.

I don't know where I got this version, either. Games just spawn into my libraries it seems, and FSX:SE just spawned into a weird window of its own. Microsoft must want us to be reminded of what platform we're running this on.

I was expecting FSX to be heavy on the controls, and while it does make use of much of the keyboard, the manuals are flappy little pamphlets that seem to suggest anybody can get themselves into the air in no time at all, with all the realism sliders as options for those who want them.

The best way to dive in is to follow the tutorial missions, which kick off in the middle of the desert with a microlight.

It's not exactly a looker, is it? My little, incredibly clicky hat controls on my flight stick allow me to look around the 'cockpit' here, where I can spy instruments and readouts that are vital for flight. There's also a wee little 'On' button that should have started my engines up, but it didn't seem to. I needed a press of Ctrl+E for that. How immersion breaking, eh?

Whacking the throttle forward and the stick back, we lift off into the desert skies and get to fly through some gates before gliding in for a landing. A simple first tutorial that gives us hope for the future, but one that highlights how I really, really need to find the screen resolution settings.

That's better. I can actually see something now. The big PDA looking thing was my kneeboard, which you can shrink and even remove from view if you don't need reminding of all the buttons and objectives. When it's not hogging the screen, you can see the terrain below, which is covered in real-world aerial photographs and dotted with building models. If you look closely, you can even see cars driving down the highways.

A few turns through the skies and I've got another issue to solve: my field of view.

That's better. That's much better. Now I'm not leaning forward and looking out at everything through a squint, but sat back and soaking it all in instead. This is why FSX gets played for years and years. The joy of flying. Soaring above the landscape in a whole load of different planes, in whatever time of day, in whatever part of the world takes your fancy.

On my way to flying to these balloons, I'm able to admire the views, not just outside of the window (not that there are any in a microlight), but of my own plane too. A bit jarring to find out that I am just a floating camera, but well done for making sure the seat belt is secure.

He's not outside of the basket, is he? That's dangerous. As is my approach to the runway.

Despite lots of pointers about speeds and altitude, landing is always inexplicably trickier than anything else in flight sims for me. I'm sure I get the gist of it - come in gently, float down, slam on the brakes, piece of cake - but executing it never goes the way I think it does.

With three runways to choose from, one nice long tarmac offering and two shorter, more complicated grass runways, I land on neither, touching down on the grass before the actual runway. Still counts, though. Onto the next tutorial.

It's not all about flying in a flight sim. Taxiing to and from runways and controlling your plane on the ground is just as essential for you to learn, as is doing it all in bigger and bigger aircraft.

Wait, what happened there? I was nowhere near it. Crashing, also, is something you need to learn about, preferably in the safety of a flight sim. I clipped a hanger, apparently. I still refuse to believe that I did.

At the end of this little taxi tutorial, I'm flying a big DC-3, and not only am I flying it, but I'm flying it from the external camera. I don't know the buttons for switching between camera views, so I take this opportunity to get a good look at the plane in flight. A real poster shot to remind me of my flight. To show off the majesty of air travel, and the detailed graphics of the mid-2000s.

That went about as well as expected. Skipping through the tutorials a little, I spy one that catches my eye for a number of reasons. Jet planes in Scotland. Sign me up for that.

The mission briefings come with photos or charts, and they're not beginner-friendly if they're of the chart variety. These are aviation maps, and they make sense to pilots, and you want to be a pilot, don't you? You must if you've come from a microlight to a jet in less than an hour.

Spawning into this seat, I start to wonder if I've perhaps jumped the gun a little. That's a lot of buttons. Alarmingly, I'm instructed to ignore all the ones at the top that relate to the autopilot, because 'we won't be needing them'. The displays all contain critical information, and you can be sure that each has different pages worth of information and display options.

It looks overwhelming and certainly makes you appreciate what your pilots do for a living, but I only need to really concentrate on a couple of numbers at any given time, right? At the end of the day, I need to know how high up and how fast I'm going, right? We can make do with those?

Oh, this is an active Edinburgh Airport, isn't it? We're in the take-off queue, aren't we? There's no going back, and my co-pilot is a ghost. I'm doomed. I stop/start my way to the runway (Sorry, passengers. Still not great at controlling my speed when taxiing. The brakes work, though.) and prepare to floor it.

And just like that, I'm up in the air. Sadly, with a complete lack of being pushed back in my chair and hearing the engines roar. I guess you can't simulate everything. A lot goes on during take-off. Important stuff, casually explained by my co-pilot. If you're not doing this speed by this point, you're going into that patch of grass and crashing. Yeah, makes sense.

But there's no grass up here. Except for all you can see out there.

My opinions on how good FSX looks are sadly made with knowledge of MFS 2020 in mind. I've seen how dazzling the recent release looks, even with its early visual flaws. It looks phenomenal, and FSX will always look dated when you know what else is out there.

But in the moment where you've got nothing much to do but look at the window and admire the view, you don't really care how good or bad it looks. At least I don't care, because it feels pretty good regardless. It's always sunny up here. I don't know what any of these buttons do, I don't know how to fly a plane, but somehow I got up here without issue, and up here is magical.

It's not long at all before we spot Glasgow Airport in the distance, our destination for this flight. I guess everything is closer when you're flying. I've no idea whether I'm even flying at the right height at this point in the mission, but at least I've got plenty of room to point this plane in the right direction, ready for... the landing.

What on Earth happened there? This jet refused to point straight as soon as it knew it was coming in for a landing. How is that possible? Every input on the stick was too much or too slow; I was all over the place.

I caused a scene, but I landed and was even granted permission to taxi to the gate. Wherever that was.

It wasn't pretty, but I proved I can fly. Mostly. So let's do what everyone does in a flight sim: Fly around their local area, looking for their house.

This version of FSX comes with a whole variety of planes to choose from, and a nice and nippy jet fighter is something we ought to play around with. At the very least, we'll be able to get where we're going quickly, though with so many airports available to spawn into, the world seems to be there for the taking, so to speak.

I'm not sure how much of the planet is covered, to be honest, but judging by the 'Failures' tab, the focus seems to be on plane realism, not planet realism. You can set up scenarios where you engines catch fire after X minutes, for example, forcing you to put your skills into practice to bring the craft home safely.

Join up with other players and you can fly in formation in whatever aircraft takes your fancy. Just because you don't see 747's dancing through the skies at normal airshows, doesn't mean they can't try in FSX.

Whatever you want to do with a plane, FSX seems to have you covered.

Including flying at night. Not very helpful for sightseeing, this. Edinburgh, everybody. I'm going to need to choose a better time of day if I'm ever going to see any of it, though. You can make out the bridges over the Forth, though, which weren't even modelled in the MSF 2020 footage I've seen.

This is a lovely interior, too. How often do you get to sit in a fighter jet? Absolutely no idea what any of these buttons do either, but what a nice shade of green they are. Anyway, let's switch things up and actually see something.

I don't know how they're mapping these locations, but they're not what you'd call spot on. Murrayfield stadium rises from the land, as do a few of the more prominent, albeit generic, buildings. Edinburgh Castle is there but doesn't look too much like a castle. Everything else needs your imagination to make sense of, but it's something to look at as we whizz by at whatever speeds we're doing.

While I'm here admiring the view, I can actually look at this cockpit.

Even more buttons, good Lord. Where's the eject and can I pull it? Should I, if my seatbelt isn't even clipped in. Guh. Microlight pilots are more safety conscious than these guys. Then again, much easier to fall out of a Microlight...

Oh, that's right. You're still flying when you're messing about with your freelook camera. Well, crashing would have been the next thing everyone does in a flight sim after finding their house anyway...

Final Word

After an hour or so of floating on the breeze or skimming through the trees, my time with Microsoft Flight Simulator X came to an end. I'd not gone into the tremendous depths that it no doubt offers, with its keyboard full of buttons and realism settings that apparently go to the lengths of simulating bending wings, whatever that means, but I had gone above the clouds and had some fun.

I'm not one for sitting in front of a flight simulator and pretending to be a pilot with a callsign and a safety checklist, but I am all for getting behind a flight stick and just seeing what happens, and thankfully, FSX is welcoming for that kind of player too.

You don't even need a flight stick to play it, though it certainly helps. This cheap one has served me well for the seven titles it's been used on over the past five years...

If you're not convinced that a flight sim can be fun, I'll have to direct you to the YouTube content of Airforceproud95, whose videos I watched for longer than I spent playing the game. They're proof that while the game isn't perfect, it's beloved. Heck, a different developer bringing it up to scratch for Steam is proof that the game is beloved. And if that's not enough proof, the revival of the entire series after 14 years must say something, too.

Microsoft Flight Simulator is a strange little series, perhaps, but one that almost has to exist, and definitely has to be played, if only just the once. Why, exactly? I don't know. Because flying is just that fun?

Fun Facts

Prefer to keep your feet on the ground? You can even simulate the role of Air Traffic Controller, with computers and radar and radio chatter and everything.

Microsoft Flight Simulator X, developed by Aces Game Studio, Dovetail Games, first released in 2006.

Version played: Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Steam Edition, PC, 2014.

Version watched: Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Steam Edition, PC, 2014 (Airforceproud95)