Microsoft Flight Simulator review

 

Microsoft Flight Simulator

When Flight Simulator X was released in October 2006, it was the strongest trend in the world of flight simulation games at the time, as it featured high-quality graphics for its aircraft lineup and a 3D design for all of its cabins. And do not forget the presence of three-dimensional drawings of buildings and important historical landmarks as well. After a period of silence that lasted 12 years after the release of the last part of Microsoft's flight simulator, we were surprised by a dazzling commercial offer at the XBOX conference with the effectiveness of E3 2019, as the flight simulator game returned to us in a breathtaking way.

Flight Simulator 2020 is a dream that has come true for all fans of the field of flight simulation as the player is able to make flights from anywhere in the world and enjoy graphics accuracy very close to reality by using Microsoft Azure servers that simulate flight to be similar to reality and simulate planet Earth Entirely using roughly 2 petabytes (2048 terabytes) of Bing Maps data. Yes, you can fly over your residence.

Using the game menus is very easy, because there are large icons with an explanation below them, for example, when you click on the globe icon, you can choose where to leave your flight from anywhere in the world and you can zoom in on the map to see more details in the area that may contain several airports Or important landmarks, and you can do a flight plan from one place to another (example: departure station, King Fahd International Airport, Dammam - Arrival station, King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh), and of course, choosing the plane you want to fly and other available settings.

Did you notice the movement of clouds while using the world map? This is not just a shape, but it is a feature of the modern game, and it is the continuous simulation of the weather all over the world continuously, knowing that you have the ability to change the weather and time at any time you want before or during the trip unless you choose the live multiplayer mode Which forces you to fly in real weather in that country or region you are flying above.

As for the flying experience itself, if you are a new player then there is a training course that contains eight stages that teach you the basics of flying and navigation currently, it is worth noting that education is held on one of the small helicopters only, it is possible to apply what you learned in the course, but the matter becomes complicated some The thing is, whenever you choose a larger plane, but after a period of practice, you will find yourself better than the past.

There are excellent details that increase the harmony of the player on the airport ground and after take off, for example: You can see the ground service crew doing their daily work as in reality and you can do the order over the radio, loading luggage, refueling, food services, ground energy services or all The above at the same time and you see them do their tasks automatically.

If you are satisfied with making free trips and exploring the world, there is a challenges phase that contains various challenges and with different degrees of difficulty, such as a routine landing at an easy airport or a complex landing at an airport with a location between mountain heights that require precision and focus to reach the airport runway safely. Evaluate the player on his performance and the ability to see the score and the ranking in this challenge in the world or friends. And of course it contains achievements and this is a new and welcome feature in the series. And one of the features that I liked is that each player has a personal file in which he records his achievements, whether they are completing challenges, exercises, etc. and the number of flying hours that you complete are recorded, and of course there is a record in which all the details of the trips that you have taken are mentioned.

Of course, after you complete the challenge and land, for example, you must be eager to see a replay of landing, take off, or even the entire flight to evaluate your performance yourself with several different camera angles, but unfortunately the replay feature is not currently available and I hope that it will be released in an update soon.

And do not forget the presence of the online store inside the emulator, which will bring us more content provided by Microsoft and third-party developers, which will be a combination of new aircraft or important milestones designed with high precision and others as Microsoft has contracted with many companies and third-party developers such as PMDG Which will bring Boeing 737s and 777s and two more in the future.

As for the performance of Flight Simulator 2020 on a personal computer, it requires a medium to high power device to be able to operate it with acceptable performance, in addition to the load times in running the emulator or when starting a new flight takes more time than usual.

In conclusion, Flight Simulator 2020 has accomplished the impossible and surprised everyone with its amazing shape that none of its competitors could currently manage, i.e. a simulation for all parts of the world, a variety of helicopters and jets with a total of 30 aircraft and 40 airports that were designed by hand (Note: Availability The planes and airports depend on the version you have) and in addition to more than 37,000 airports around the world that are designed automatically, stick to your seat belt because this is only the beginning of the journey, and we will definitely see great support from Microsoft, third-party developers, and companies related to aviation and navigation In the quality of content for the coming years, God willing.