I visited all over Los Angeles to Tokyo this past week, all without leaving my bedroom in Queens. That’s thanks to Microsoft Flight Simulator, a wonderful PC simulation game that is the perfect escape from these pandemic times – and may soon be the ultimate showpiece for the Xbox Series X.
I’m not much of an aviation enthusiast, but since Microsoft Flight Simulator is part of my Xbox Game Pass subscription, I could not help but dismiss it, just to see how beautiful the whole world’s recreation is on my PC. And beauty is an understatement – The gameplay of Asobo Studio is absolutely breathtaking, recreating every mile of the planet with almost photorealistic accuracy.
Microsoft Flight Simulator can be as realistic and hardcore as you want it to be, allowing you to complete an international flight in real time while managing every part of your flight, from takeoff to landing. But I did not play that.
Instead, I will choose a city and just hover, looking back to places like San Francisco and Nashville, while remembering times when I hopped on a plane, was a regular part of my life. It both overwhelmed me with nostalgia for a simpler time, and in fear of the technical performance that Microsoft and Asobo were able to pull off.
Since I started Flight Simulator, I have been able to determine my apartment, my childhood home, my college campus and some of my favorite favorites all over the world. And thanks to the game’s Active Pause and drone camera features, I can freeze the action and zoom freely in New York City to find the office I’ve not been to in months. Playing Flight Simulator is like using a much more immersive, detailed version of Google Maps, and I can not stop.
That is also no coincidence. Flight Simulator uses Microsoft technologies such as Azure cloud computing and Bing Maps to realistically map the entire planet. It’s not perfect because some players have tracked it down structural anomalies en obsolete areas. But when you fly from a distance over New York or California, it feels like you’re looking at the real thing.
That’s if you have the right rig to execute it, of course. My system with a Core i7 CPU and Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti graphics card runs the game by default at medium settings, and Microsoft recommends an RTX 2080 or AMD Radeon VII for the ideal experience.
The Xbox Series X Factor
This is where the Xbox Series X comes in. It is called Flight Simulator finally joining the Xbox family, but does not yet have a release date. If it did, it could be the ultimate technical showpiece for Microsoft’s new box, just as the Forza Motorsport series has been for the Xbox One generation. And with Halo Infinite delayed until next year, a surprise fall console release for Flight Simulator could be a great way to sell gamers on the power of the Xbox Series X.
Sure, a flight simulation game will not get the same hype as a Halo, Spider-Man or God of War. But thanks to Xbox Game Pass it does not matter. Microsoft’s subscription service (which costs between $ 5 and $ 15 per month) already has more than 10 million subscribers and includes all first-party games the moment they are released. As such, people who would not normally pay $ 60 for a hardcore simulation game may decide to cancel it because it is already part of their subscription. I’ve really fallen into that camp, and I do not think I’m alone.
In short, Microsoft Flight Simulator is a wonderful technical achievement that everyone with a solid gaming PC and a Game Pass membership should check out, especially if you crave to see more of the world at a time when we are all inside. And that breathtaking exploration experience could very well prove that the Xbox Series X’s ace is in the hole.
