by George Platanitis

Created on: January 02, 2009

It only seems like yesterday that I received my own copy of Flight Simulator X as a birthday present. Having already tinkered a little with the previous edition (FS 9), I found myself blown away by this latest edition (of course, Delux is also available with additional features such as multiplayer ATC, etc.). Flight simulator games have come a long way since the early editions of the 80's (I can even recall playing such an edition on a cousin's Tandy computer). There was only one aircraft type - a single prop private plane, of the same class as the Cessna 172 that you start out in these later editions when you try the virtual lessons. Now, you have a variety from the Cessna 172, to the Beechcraft King Air, Mooney Bravo, and a variety of Boeing and Airbus aircraft.

The number of options available to set your game up is outstanding - you can pick air traffic density, weather, scenery detail, as well as road and water traffic. I try to use as much detail as possible in my own play to maintain the realism, and make the scenery come alive, but you have to weigh this with your available processing power on the machine you have installed the game (some of the minimum requirements are DirectX 9.0 video card and 1.0 GHz processor). You can even get real-time weather, flying in the actual weather of the chosen location.

One of the great features of the game are the virtual lessons, which I have been attempting to get a better idea of how the different aircraft are flown and the variety of procedures involved with each aircraft type. You begin with learning basic flight skills on a Cessna 172 Skyhawk, working your way up through private pilot, instrument flight, complex aircraft (on a Beech King Air twin prop), and finally Air Transport Pilot on a Boeing 737. Once you have gone through each type of lesson set, you can attempt the virtual "Check Rides" to try and get each level's virtual certificate if you wish. I have attempted those myself, and I must say, it is very difficult; you would have to really commit yourself to mastering each skill type to pass the virtual exam. The skills become more difficult to master (I can't say I ever had that kind of time commitment) as you progress to more difficult lessons, but you do get an appreciation of what real pilots have to go through to achieve each rating (certainly many more hours, and on real simulators and aircraft, than that of a casual player).

Once you have learned some necessary skills and procedures, the choice of missions and flights are virtually endless. You can pick your own flight mission by choosing, an aircraft, a departing airport and a destination airport, a flight plan type (visual or instrument), or pick one of the many missions predefined in the game itself.

However you choose to play the game, you are sure to have hours of fun. Happy flying!

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