Players can fly over the largest cities or the house they lived in during 3rd grade and expect to find everything just where it's supposed to be. Microsoft has flexed its considerable muscle this time around, leveraging the strength of its Azure artificial intelligence and Bing mapping capabilities to draw the majority of Earth in loving detail. But even the most ardent fans had to admit that the world they flew in was often flat and uninspiring. The flight models and airframes always looked like the real thing back then, and that's still the case today. Released more than 14 years after the last iteration (FSX) of the series, the 2020 version is a stunning accomplishment of realism.
The once and future king, Microsoft Flight Simulator once again undeniably rules the genre. Nothing dulls this experience more than a flight game that doesn't immerse the player in a realistic environment at that point, you might as well play Ace Combat or GTA (not that there's anything wrong with the Ace Combat series). There are no boss fights, or spells to memorize, or inventory management - just the pure experience of soaring amongst the clouds in your own personal airplane. Many players enjoy flight games because they don't have stages or storylines. Unlike most games, where the challenge of the game is the focus, flight games are more about the experience. Updated on November 7, 2021, by Jeff Drake: Flight games (or sims) are an interesting type of game. Both old and new simulators now dot the landscape, and with both combat and civil aviation represented, there is truly something to be found for every taste The focus of these entries is realism, of the highest order, in both the graphics and the aircrafts represented on screen. This growth peaked sometime in the 1990s, but it still thrives thanks to a few dedicated developers and a huge modding community.
RELATED: Best Farming/Simulation Games (According To Metacritic)Īs home computer technology quickly improved, and along with it the realism of control systems, the genre blossomed into one of the largest in the PC space.
The early entries were extremely crude by today's standards, but realism was always at the core of the endeavors, and the seeds had been planted for a vibrant future. Suddenly, millions of would-be pilots could satisfy their curiosity and desire to be free of terra firma just by turning on their computers. Went away for the Air Force in 2002 and didn’t really keep up with pc gaming nor simming again until 2006 when FSX released.One of the earliest tentpoles of PC gaming was the flight simulator genre, with the first acknowledged example, Sublogic FS1 for the Apple II and TSR-80 systems, debuting in 1979. Then it happened…I discovered Microsoft Flight Simulator 1998 and have been hooked on civilian sims over combat sims ever since. Joint Strike Fighter by Eidos(Another title that was totally advanced and before its time) The PC version was actually pretty ■■■■ intense and cool for what it was back then. Top Gun for both PS1 and PC(Two totally different games/sims)
Honestly this very piece of military aviation software alone was my motivation and driving force into pursuing an Air Force career back then as a kid.
I studied each aircraft and pretty much read that thick manual twice. Which till this day is by far one of the most detailed advanced sims for its time back then, as in no combat flight sim dev has ever attempted such a sim on a huge scale again.(No DCS doesn’t even come close to the amount of content this sim had)Ĭomplete with pretty much every Nato Aircraft and weapons system layout. Then in 1997 my father bought me my first PC