Product Description

Flight Simulator X is the culmination of nearly 25 years of the landmark Flight Simulator franchise and its most significant addition to date. The 10th addition to the highly successful Flight Simulator franchise, Flight Simulator X will immerse players in a beautifully rich and realistic world, offering a completely new and innovative gaming experience with dozens of new aircraft to choose from, including the AirCreation 582SL Ultralight and Maule M7-260C Orion with wheels and skis. Gamers of all ages, types and skill levels will experience firsthand what it is like to be an aviator travelling the globe either alone or online with others.

• This version of Microsoft Flight Simulator X features: 22 airplanes, 21 detailed airports, 38 detailed cities, 65 structured missions, glass panel (G1000) cockpit, and tower controller.
• Immersive world. Flight Simulator X offers players a rich and innovative gaming experience with new technological advancements, incredible graphics and added realism including weather, time of day and seasons. Pilots can watch moving cars and detailed buildings in cities below, traffic on highways, indigenous houses, farmland and livestock, and wildlife in its natural habitats.
• Mission-based gameplay. With the addition of new mission-based gameplay, players will have a specific purpose as their world comes alive for the first time with automobile traffic, moving boats and ships, and animal life. With more than 50 new missions to choose from, aviators can build their skill levels and engage in even more stimulating gameplay than before. Players can choose to compete in the Red Bull Air Race or bring relief materiel to the Congo, keeping track of their progress on each mission.
• New aircraft. Flight Simulator X will enable pilots to fly the aircraft of their dreams, from the DeHavilland DHC-2 Beaver floatplane and Grumman G-21A Goose to the

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #539 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Microsoft
• Released on: 2006-10-13
• ESRB Rating: Rating Pending
• Platforms: Windows XP, Windows Vista
• Subtitled in: English
• Dimensions: .0" h x .0" w x .0" l, .40 pounds

Features

• Flight Simulator X Deluxe, EN
• Flight Simulator X Deluxe, EN

Amazon.co.uk Review:
In a nutshell:
Microsoft’s original civilian flight sim is still clocking up the air miles with the most significant sequel for years and a genuine attempt to make it more accessible for non-propellerheads.

The lowdown:
While almost all other flight simulators have fallen from grace on the PC, Microsoft have never given up on the genre with a game that’s as ruthlessly realistic as it is completely free of any kind of violence. Every major, and minor, airport in the world is simulated and every major city has its share of recognisable landmarks, allowing you to fly anywhere in the world. There’s a huge range of different aircraft to fly too: from jumbo jets and seaplanes to helicopters and everything in between. The only problem is that the game needs a seriously powerful PC to run at full whack, but even on lower detail levels this is still a stunning achievement.

Most exciting moment:
Despite the realism, the game isn’t all dry simulation. There are a lot of fun missions to try out, including acting as a Hollywood stuntman, going on search and rescue flights, fighting fires and even flying over the infamous Area 51.

Since you ask:
The deluxe version of the game includes more cities, airports and aircraft as a well as an extra series of twenty-odd missions. There are also some additional multiplayer options, including the chance to share aircraft and have a go in the control tower.

The bottom line:
The most realistic commercial flight sim ever. Again.-HARRISON DENT

Manufacturer's Description
Flight Simulator X is the culmination of nearly 25 years of the landmark ‘Flight Simulator’ franchise and the most significant addition to date. Fully optimized for Windows Vista, Flight Simulator X presents players with a wide array of new aircraft to fly in a beautifully rich and believable world containing greater detail than past entries in the franchise. Players will be able to experience what it is like to be a pilot and have real distractions, to shade their eyes from the glare of reflective paint and the glint from glass and chrome. Players will enjoy the opportunity to fly their dream aircraft, from classic seaplanes like the de Havilland Beaver and Grumman Goose to the Cessna 172 there is a plane for every terrain and every player.

Flight Simulator X will also enable players to enjoy a connected world through an improved online experience. With more than 24,000 airports located on every continent, players will be able to explore their home town or a favourite far off city.

Customer Reviews

Beware-Licence for only 1 PC system. Read the small print!
I have FSX Deluxe and am delighted with the FS detail and playability. What many people do not know or realise is that you can only install the game on one PC system!!! I have just purchased a Laptop and have been unable to activate the second installation to my Laptop online due to MS putting a 1 system installation restriction on the software package! I argued the point with MS helpdesk and got nowhere. Subsequent invetsigation revealed this little gem of info on the Installation readme file which is useless guidance because you will have to open the packaging before knowing!! Come on MS, play the game and clearly state on the packaging that you can only install it on one system.
Most frustrating! Back to FS2004 for the laptop!

Review FS X Deluxe
Having waited for ages for the latest installment of the game which i have been collecting since '95, I can honestly say that whilst the game physics are superb- if you don't have a hi-spec pc, you will be wasting [money]. I myself, was captivated by the screens, the unparalleled graphics, real-life like jetways and moving baggage carts- it does look superb however on starting a free flight from London Heathrow I noticed that all of the airport terminal buildings were missing, the jetways were nowhere to be seen and the scenery looked like we were going back to fs 2002. I then decided to tweak the settings a little to see what this would produce. I have a mid-high spec PC with an Nvidia graphics card and I have to say that I put everything up from the defult medium low graphics to the medium high (the next one up) and what a difference it made. It looked fabulous, I thought all of my worries had ended about wasting my money and my time saving up for the game...... and how wrong I was. My frame-rate went from 17 to 6 and then when I tried to move around the aiport it went to 3 frames/sec. Yes the game is superb, the missions are brilliant and realism is even better but I was not expecting to fork out the cash to upgrade my Nvidia graphics card. If you don't have a seriously good gaming Pc or graphics card i.e. something like an Alienware, you're going to be stuck on losing certain aspects of your realism settings be it glare from the sun, the buildings at the airport or land scenery you will have to drop something right down low. So overall, buy it by all means but don't expect to get the results on the screens because for the average pc user- you won't. Perhaps Microsoft should run its screens on a variety of PC specs so that all users can see how the game affects their type of machine not Micrsoft using the most amazing super computers to show their graphics. As I said, by the game and you will be getting something amazing but be prepared to put up with dodgy shakes and frame-rate if you want it to look realistic.

you don't need a top spec PC
I decided that I'd have a go and see what flight simulator is like (being bored of shooters etc.) But what do you buy? I thought that Microsoft would make sense as you can add to it more or less whatever you like. However, I've red many reviews that unless you have a top spec machine, you would be disappointed. I was playing with the idea buying the 2004 instead of FSX. When you look at websites, magazines etc., time moves on and everything out there is about the FSX. So, I decided to go for FSX. And I was not disappointed! I have P4 3.4 GHz, 1GB of RAM, ATI X800XT card. No duo core, no top notch graphics card and average RAM. Ok, the graphics options are not all turned right up, but they are pretty high and the game looks good. Actually very good! It takes some time to install it, it takes ages to load the game, it takes some time to load the flight, but after that, it's fine.
I'm not writing this review to tell you whether the game is good or not. You can read about that on websites that review flight sims. I'm here to tell you that if you have an average PC like me, you don't need to worry, the game will work fine. Perhaps all the hype that the game needs the latest hardware is before service pack 1 was out. I can't comment on that. I bought the game and installed the service pack before playing it.
One matter to consider, I bought the Saitek X52 Pro Joystick. They are releasing a really nice yoke in a month or two. If you are going to fly commercial aircraft from Cessna to Boeing, I would wait for the yoke as most of the aircraft use one.