Flight Simulator X

"The devil is in the detail" is a saying that all gamers should take to heart.

Every day, we're superficially doing stuff in-game that takes years to master. Kung fu. Flying attack choppers. 360 degree between-the-legs dunks. F1 racing. The elastico. All activities that are fun to do on the surface, but less attractive once you break them down to the nth degree of detail. Real life makes things more complicated, with more variables. And don't get me started on how long it takes to communicate with the devil in real life. Hardly worth your effort, even if you have a fold-out pentacle.

Detail is hard. Detail takes time and money. And usually, the more detailed you get, the narrower your appeal. Let's face it - the most boring part of any game is the tutorial section - usually the spot where game makers argue away the detail elements. Unless it's a really bad game, and we don't like to talk about them here.

So you can probably count on one hand the games out there that do celebrate a given pastime or activity with real authenticity. And without a doubt, the head of the class has always been the Flight Simulator series. It's had plenty of time to get there. If you think FIFA soccer has been out awhile, think again. Flight Simulator began its commercial existence in January 1980 on the Apple II. Think - monochrome display. Lots of vector lines. Microsoft got involved in 1982, and started pumping out PC and Mac versions... and the rest is history.

Flight Simulator has an awesome rep amongst PC gamers. And sometimes it's easy to suspect that this rep comes about because you need to know your stuff to have any fun with the game. You never master Flight Simulator, you only really ever control the moment/situation. It's complex, it’s difficult, and there's plenty of e-bragging rights if you can do this stuff. And while there is the occasional story about how Flight Simulator player Billybob from Albuquerque landed a plane after the pilot had a heart attack, in reality there's a big gulf between sitting at home with a keyboard and joystick, and being on approach at Heathrow with the tarmac rushing towards you at a couple of hundred knots, with a healthy level of wind gust. Microsoft says as much itself, telling people the game should and can not take the place of professional flight instruction.

So respect to the real pilots, and respect to the people who demonstrate the perseverance to play Flight Simulator for more than a couple of hours before shamefacedly putting it aside to gather dust. The question we need answered is how has Flight Simulator X managed to grab a new audience - if at all. Is it only for the real life flyboys and the dedicated core of sim pilots they have amassed over the years, or has the team managed to broaden the appeal without losing the complexity that is the hallmark of the game?

Like most, when I step aboard a plane, I always turn right. The closest I get to the cockpit is when I enter and leave the plane. It's an arrangement that works for everyone. I get a pilot who knows what they're doing, and the cabin crew gets a passenger crammed into a seat that would make a smurf feel claustrophobic.

It's safe to say my level of piloting ability is minimal. We gamers do understand basic flight theory. Haul back on the joystick to go up. Push forward to go down. Roll right, roll left, rudders, landing gears, arm doors and crosscheck. Cake, really. But as we said before: the devil is in the detail. So on the complexity front, it's an easy answer. Yes - it's not been dumbed down so folks like me can have an easy ride. That said, there is a great deal of hand holding available in game, but if you're hardcore and gagging to do it right - you'll have your hands full. Even with all the idiot options on, takeoff and landing isn't for the faint of heart or PC spec.

Note that previous Flight Simulator versions have also offered a similar array of tutorials and aids as Flight Simulator X. But this version seems to make things a lot easier to get into and mess around with. This time around you also get some slick tutorials from "real" instructor Rod Machado (note: not to be confused with the most awesome Rob Machado). The big difference is this time around you're getting missions to play through. Not just half assed ones like previously, but ongoing, "put some thought into it" type scenarios.

So instead of going there and back to see how far it is, you have some real meaty context to sink your teeth into. Ultimately, you're still flying from point A to point B, but it's a good starting point for opening up Flight Simulator to a crop of attention-deficit wielding game players, for sure. It takes the game from intimidating "why would I want to simulate flying a plane for hours on end?" to - "wow, so this is what search and rescue guys get up to". Missions take advantage of the variety of aircraft on tap. So while you'll be able to log airline pilot miles in a 747, you'll also be puting acrobatic planes through their paces, and riding to the rescue in your chopper(s).

There's also an increased emphasis on multiplayer. Now you can mentor learner flyers by getting in the plane with them. Because getting airborne isn't as easy as holding a button and pulling back on the stick, it's an awesome feeling coaching someone up into the air. Especially if you drop when they're getting ready to land. You can also interact with players acting as air traffic controllers in multiplayer - playing as ATC is one of the many things you can do in the Deluxe version of the game - more thoughts on that below. In a perfect world, this series would stop pussyfooting around and jump to a Massively Multiplayer model. Instead of AI aircraft, you'd have real people flying in and out of airports all over the world. It would be an absolute trip - if you could get enough punters to play, and network code that supported it.

Moving right along, making the jump to FSX isn't without some issues. In its eagerness to take the fiddly bits out of getting started, my startup (I chose the newbie option - the other two are for returning players and real life pilots) auto selected a very low resolution and quality level. I was treated to a pixellated, blocky plane with murky markings taxiing jerkily down a smeared texture runway. Yes, it was easily fixed by a trip to the settings menu, but it's hardly the best start. Also the voiceover that introduces you to the game is so sonorously deep and low tempo it sounds like Microsoft hired a carnie hypnotist to do the vocals.

Beyond the fidelity of the control and flight characteristic, what is mind blowing about Flight Simulator X is the mountains of data on tap. Weather conditions can be pulled off the 'net for realism's sake. Next time there's a hurricane, I know what I'll be doing, put it that way. As for destinations, you literally get the entire world to play with, with a ridiculous amount of airports to touch down in. Microsoft are claiming over 24,000 - I'm just flying back to each one to double check, but it seems like they're telling the truth. Graphic detail dumps on FS 2004 from a great height, as you'd expect - but a few more objects wouldn't hurt. And the mix of satellite style imagery and 3D graphics that forms the landscape does look like a weird compromise. The objects that *are* in the world however are capable of movement, which makes a nice change to the static days of yesteryear. The further you get off the beaten track, the more dubious things get - but if you want to span the earth with pixel perfect precision, get Google Earth.

One thing you will notice is that this pumps your CPU and video card pretty hard when you juice all the settings to max. Low level flight with loads of stuff moving on at ground level coupled with plentiful cloud cover at 1280x1024 gave the review spec machine (Core 2 Duo 2.1GHz, 2GB RAM, 1900XT video card) a pretty good thumping. Really, with a game like this you make compromises with hardware because you will get years of playability out of it, if the concept floats your boat - more than enough time to upgrade and download a bunch of extra stuff.

"Extra stuff" brings us neatly to the Standard/Deluxe model of selling the game. In the Deluxe version, you get air traffic control functionality, as mentioned before, as well as 20 extra missions, 24 aircraft over the standard version's 18, more high detail cities and airports, and a flashy glass cockpit to look out of. Essentially, if you're passionate enough to buy the game in the first place, you might as well go the whole hog. At least you're not getting sold this content later as a $50 expansion pack - think of it that way.

Bottom line, it's not as if you're going to walk into this game with false expectations. It's worth repeating that there's a certain peace of mind and sense of achievement you can achieve in this game that you rarely get in others. You're against the elements, and its obvious that a lot of time and expense has been poured into making the experience seem as realistic as possible within the constraints of your control setup.

Asking if this game is worth the money is a pointless question if you're a flight enthusiast or someone with an interest in aviation. It's almost insulting comparing the amount of material and content I here to some games at the same price mark. Some polish flaws you wouldn't expect from this franchise undermine things ever so slightly, but nothing that wouldn't be fixed by the time a Vista/DirectX10 update is released.