Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 review: now boarding

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 Review

When it comes to products like Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, there are three main groups of users. The first group is made up of demanding enthusiasts who want realism in every switch and aspect of flight modeling. These are the people with high-end peripherals and home setups that are essentially flight cockpits without the airplane. In the next group are more casual aspiring pilots. Maybe they dream of getting their private pilot's license, but they certainly enjoy the experience of flying different planes in their virtual neighborhoods and in a world they will probably never see in person. Then there are the players. They love airplanes too, but they enjoy the experience of flying as a game with challenges, leaderboards, and rankings. Like the 2020 edition, Flight Simulator 2024 offers at least something for all of these people.

Strap on

Two years ago, on the eve of the release of the MSFS 40th Anniversary Update, I had the opportunity to attend a sponsored event and preview it alongside a large group of journalists and hardcore sim enthusiasts. I realized that there was a pretty huge chasm between me (belonging to the casual cohort of flight sim gamers) and the real armchair pilots. They could tell you the number of rivets on the fuselage of a triple 7 and pronounce arcane acronyms. I was just proud to have successfully taken off, flown level and landed. All of this is to say that if you're looking for an informed review of FS 2024's accurate flight modeling, look elsewhere. Like its predecessor, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 aims to please as many users as possible. The flying experience can be adapted to almost all levels of difficulty.

There has always been a bit of tension between Laminar Research's X-Plane and MSFS. The former claims the title for most ultra-realistic controls and physics, but at the expense of graphics and casual accessibility. This contrast became even more obvious with MSFS 2020, which upped the ante on visuals and ease of entry for new pilots. The 2024 edition goes even further in this direction by adding an RPG-like Career mode and gamifying even more elements.

Stay in your seat, prepared for turbulence

Perhaps the biggest change for 2024 is probably its most controversial feature. MSFS 2024 is only available online, because most of the game data is streamed from the cloud. This reduces the game's footprint on the computer and makes updates and patches easier, but becomes a major problem for those without fast Internet. The system specifications are also quite high. To max everything out, you'll need a 100Mbps internet connection, an AMD Ryzen 9 7900X or Intel i7-14700K2700X, AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT or NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, and a whopping 64GB of RAM.

You've probably heard that on launch day, excited players were disappointed by long queues, extreme loading times, and disconnections. You know, all the features from developers that are apparently not prepared for a large number of users. Things have since calmed down, but it left a lot of people rightly angry and frustrated. You may be one of the lucky players who had minimal issues aside from some long initial loading times, but you're probably the exception.

Aside from that, the game itself is in some ways a major upgrade over the 2020 edition, in others, not so much. Let's start with the new features and improvements. The selection of both fixed wing aircraft and new additions such as hot air balloons, gliders, helicopters and even blimps is impressive. There may not be just the particular plane you want, but there is definitely something for everyone. Microsoft claims that all add-ons in the 2020 version will work with the new game, although mileage may vary with third-party products.

Parked on the runway

As a relative newbie, I can't attest to how authentic the flight modeling is for each new aircraft. Visually, they are all stunning and detailed, inside and out. I especially enjoyed learning about the new propeller-powered hot air balloons. If flying can ever be considered a relaxing activity, floating in a virtual balloon is it. There are also some fantastic new planes, like the Airbus Beluga transport. My experience was that whether using a controller or a flight stick, the controls were very sensitive and required the player to adjust them from the get-go.

Window or hallway?

MSFS 2020 was a major visual update and the 2024 edition improves almost everything, especially soil textures, weather systems, and water. If you have a powerful machine and fast internet that can load the textures correctly, everything looks fantastic. Side-by-side comparisons reveal that the graphs are a bigger jump than you might think.

There is one area where MSFS 2024 takes a nosedive. The character models (especially the faces) are pretty awful. The character creator is rudimentary and the co-pilot sitting next to you is a dead-eyed mannequin. Voice work, whether air traffic control or flight instructors, is done thanks to fairly primitive AI-generated voices. It's surprising that developer Asobo settled for marginally AA game level character models.

So, you have many beautiful airplanes and the whole world as your playground. What's next? Of course, you can choose a plane and fly anywhere, making the experience as down-to-earth or casual as you like. You can fly over herds of migrating elephants in Africa, land in a wheat field in Nebraska, or fly around your neighborhood in a 737. At the other end of the realism scale, you can disable all assists, file a flight plan, and execute the simulator as you want. a 1:1 recreation of commercial or military flights.

Boarding pass

You may have seen trailers for MSFS 2024, showing planes and helicopters on search and rescue missions, spraying crops, fighting fires, and performing coordinated aerobatics. Those activities are part of the new Career mode, which starts with the basics of earning a PPL. The career then branches out, RPG style, to other certifications, aircraft, and mission types. While you can't choose your plane for specialized missions, if you follow the various career paths you'll end up flying almost anything.

If you are looking for something more directed than free flight, there are several options. Players can participate in the Challenge League, chasing times and scores in weekly events like Top Gunning through leaderboards in the Grand Canyon. World Photographer tasks the player with flying to a location, landing and capturing various animals in the wild, or simply seeing some beautifully rendered iconic locations. Finally, there are the activities, short flights directed as sightseeing tours to the Irish Cliffs of Moher. All of these modes suggest that while MSFS 2024 might have the ability to be a hardcore simulator, there's a pretty strong focus on casual flight sim enthusiasts. Anyone expecting the new game to be X-Plane with better graphics ignored where MSFS 2020 was taking the franchise.

Leaving now

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 offers improved visuals, a larger hangar filled with aircraft types, and more details. For some, high system requirements and the constant need for a fast Internet connection can be a deal breaker. Previous investment in many third-party plugins for the latest edition could also warrant some caution. Caveats aside, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 offers a wide range of structured activities, plenty of guidance, and, you know, the whole world to explore. It's a great entry point for armchair pilots and quite satisfying for all but the most hardcore flying enthusiasts.