Customer Reviews

Microsoft Flight Simulator X Standard DVD

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(20)

 

 

Let me get something of my chest first. I have noticed a lot of bad feedback on reviewers who give higher ratings to products that are developed by Microsoft. So just to make it clear - I am not reviewing Microsoft, I'm reviewing the simulator.

So.. how fun is this game? Well it's your system that can actually answer this question. This game is amazing from my point of view. I have used everything, from FS98 to latest X-Plane.. and nothing is as good as this.

The Good:

- Stunning graphics. This is the most beautiful game I have ever played. From the water effects to shadows from the plane.. every effect and particle is breathtaking.

- Gameplay. It is an amazing gameplay, indeed. You can now fly in any seat you like, control literally any view of the airplane, most of the cockpit controls work and function the way they are supposed to. The weather system is amazing.

- Multiplayer. This one speaks for itself: FUN FUN FUN. It is very entertaining since you get to see people from all over the world. However, there are few cons.. like the Bad ATC guys who often mislead you and cause you to crash etc. It was foggy, so I depended on A/P. I was told to turn 074R, which I did. I heard the ILS Frequency so I put it on APP but ultimately, I was put into wrong direction and as much as APP fought to align me to the right direction (while keeping up with sped and altitude) i still landed in the ocean.. and of course crashed (since you're not able to actually land on water in this game). Of course, there are plenty of pefect ATC's out there but even with few that are not as good it's still VERY fun to play. Try it and see for yourself.

The Bad:

- ATC. ATC has not changed much from FS2004 other than a new "window" that it displays in. Still no ability to declare an emergency which is sort of a disappoint since you ARE able to set engines to fail or to run out of fuel (or both). So.. if your engines die out on you don't you think you deserve a right to report the situation to ATC? LOL

- Crash dynamics. If you're hoping to be able to crash your plane into a mountain and see a giant explosion and earthquakes then I have to disappoint you. While I almost never crash in Flight Sims I still wish there were better crashing dynamics to make it more realistic. For example, if I land heavily on my nose I'd love to see my plane's nose gear to fail and act like it would in physics.

Also, why can't we have the ability to land on water? Boeing 737 CAN do that (if propely executed). Here, no matter what amazing pilot you are.. as soon as you touch the water - you crash. Oh well. It's a very small thing but I wish it was improved a bit.

The Ugly:

- System requirements. I agree with what many reviewers said - this game depends more on CPU than it does on video card. This game will most likely NOT work at the Max settings if you have a brand-name PC (eMachines, HP, Dell).

When I first installed the game I had AMD Sempron 3300 (2.01GHz); 2GB DDR, Radeon X1650 Pro with 512MB. I ran the CanYouRunIT tool from System Requirements Lab.. the report said that I exceed RECOMMENDED requirements and should have a great experience with the game. I didn't really believe that since I have a 3rd class CPU but I played FS2004 and HL2 on the HIGHEST settings with absolutely NO lags so I thought it would work fine.

I was.. wrong. The game was not playable unless I set all of the aircraft, transport and texture settings to Minnimum Low. It lagged horribly on my native resolution of 1680x1050 32 which I had to put into 1440x900 16bit.

I purchased a new video card which is Geforce GTX 8800 with 740mb of RAM and can now play without any lags on my native resolution with settings set to Medium High but still not maxed out. Why? Because this game needs CPU. In this case, the CPU is the heart not the video card. If you buy it make sure to get the SP1 for this ASAP.. there are few performance updates which could be crucial if your video card or CPU isn't the best.

So to wrap up - I highly recommend this simulator to any Aerolover as myself. But make sure you have a GOOD CPU and card. If you have them you'll find yourself spending hours and hours flying above gorgeous landscapes, commmunicating with people all over the world, surviving a dead engine and/or faulty mechanics and generally having fun. This amazing software is both entertaining and educational.

Let me start this review by saying that FSX is really a great product with much growth potential for future development. I have been using Flight Sim from the early days of the Commodore 64. I have purchased every version since it was created. Every version starts a bit rough but between updated patches and some tweaking it performs beautifully.
Each version is usually a year or so ahead of existing hardware, which basically means that you will not be able to achieve the maximum performance with your one-year-old computer even if you think you got a great system. If you search the flight sim forums you will read how even those with gaming machines complain about not enough frame rates or hi resolution scenery or stutters during flying. Here is what I have:
Microsoft® Windows Vista(tm) Home Premium
System Manufacturer Dell Inc.
System Model Inspiron 531
Processor AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4400+, 2310 Mhz, 2
Total Physical Memory 2,045.88 MB
Available Physical Memory 1.33 GB
Total Virtual Memory 4.21 GB
Available Virtual Memory 3.53 GB
Page File Space 2.29 GB
Video Card NVIDIA GeForce 6200 LE
SATA 260 Gig Hard Drive
If I set all display sliders to Medium High I get very smooth frame rates of 20-25 FPS with very nice scenery resolution. If I put all sliders to Ultra High my machine almost comes to a stand still. This really is normal for Flight Sim. So unless you have a computer twice as powerful as mine do not expect maximum performance from this sim. At that level it would be like you were flying in the real world.
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You might ask if I am so satisfied with FSX why do I give it only 3 stars.
Allow me to explain as best I can. Microsoft has done something that I find a bit upsetting. I have been playing with adding scenery and aircraft to Flight Sim for years. I have Flight Simulator Design Studio Ver 3.5 and EZ-Scenery both programs I paid for and that was OK since they are great programs for enhancing the scenery in Flight Sim. I also use lots of other freeware utilizes to help in modeling scenery. All these programs rely on a set of Microsoft development tools called SDK. You really do not need to know what the details of these are other than you need them on your computer to use all these other modeling programs. Up until now these tools SDK were free from Microsoft except with FSX. I purchased the "STANDARD" version with out even considering this issue of obtaining the SDK tools for FSX; I just assumed the "DELUXE" version was more expensive because it had more Aircraft and more Airports with greater detail. Infact if you read what the difference id between the two that is exactly the impression you get.
I installed the STANDARD version with no problem than started to use my other software for adding and modifying scenery and lo and behold. The programs asked where FSX SDK tools were.
Well I did not know so I researched the subject and was told it was on Disk one and had to be installed separately. So I looked on disk one and no SDK tools. Than I found out it ONLY COME ON THE DELUXE VERSION.
No problem I said, just go to Microsoft's web site and download the FSX SDK just like I have done with previous versions. Now I find out that you cannot get this set of tools unless you buy the "DELUXE" version. So no what. I now need to get the DELUXE VERSION. You can download the PATCH for SDK but not the original set of tools.
If you do plan on modeling and modifying the scenery of FSX DO NOT BUY THE STANDARD VERSION. If any one out there can show me I am in error please do. But so far I have found 12 incidences of other persons buying the STANDARD version and finding out they should have bought the "DELUXE" version because they needed the FSX SDK for their other designing software.
Personally I think this is one big rip off from Microsoft but I did buy the DELUXE version even though I had initially purchased the STANDARD version and will use FSX because it is in fact a good product. Because I think this was a deliberated deception to force users to buy the deluxe version instead of the standard version I can only give three stars.

Microsoft Flight Simulator X is the tenth editon to the Flight Simulator franchise, and it certainly delivers. Like previous installments, FSX puts you in the cockpit as a pilot for any number of aircraft, including Boeing 747s and the LearJet 45. New this year, however, is an Airbus A321 and an AirCreation Trike Ultralight (think of a waterski with wings and wheels attached). Flight Simulator 2004 had many commemorative aircraft for the one hundredth anniversary of flight, but these are gone for FSX. I wasn't really bothered by the removal, although some will be disappointed that you can't recreate the Wright Brothers' Kittyhawk flight anymore.

Graphics-wise, Flight Simulator X is a great improvement over Flight Simulator 2004. You may now see animals on the ground and traffic on major highways, depending on the age and quality of your graphics card. Make sure you have a DVD-ROM drive, because FSX is a gigantic game and takes up two DVDs. In comparison, FS2004 took up the equivalent of about half of a single-sided DVD.

One can make almost any decision they want in Flight Simulator X, from using the provided Air Traffic Control feature to choosing to make your experience as realistic as possible. Veteran FS gamers will feel instantly at home with FSX, mostly because the general look and feel remains untouched. Its only flaw is that it is not fully enjoyable unless you spend an extra twenty dollars or so for a joystick. Even so, you can still use a keyboard and mouse to control the plane. As a side note, the deluxe DVD is not much of an improvement over the standard version. Really, the only added feature is more aircraft.

Since it also is compatible with Windows Vista (provided you have met all of the requirements), I recommend that you go out and buy it today for yourself or an aspiring pilot.

Before I purchased Standard FSX, I downloaded and ran the trial version. Like others that have posted, I was very disappointed in the performance. At first I was thinking it was my graphics card (ATI Radeon X800XL, 256MB) so I ran the game with Task Manager Performance Monitor displayed. I discovered that my CPU was max'ing. This didn't make sense because I felt that I had plenty of processing power (Pentium D 2.80GHz, 512 RAM) and the game was not consuming more than 40% of the memory. So I loaded a second clean install of XP and loaded only my drivers and then the game. Bingo! The game ran great.

I can still overpower my CPU if I run the graphics detail to full on all settings (and it looks damn good when I do) but running at the default settings or a little higher is not a problem.

I appreciate the ability to adjust individual graphics settings. This allows me to distribute the power to graphics which are of the most importance to my desired gaming experience.

On a side note, after I loaded a clean version of XP and verified the game ran properly, I then began to load my other applications into the new OS load. BTW - I have most of the apps loaded again. The one app that had the most negative performance impact was Norton Internet Security. I use McAfee now and keep it at minimum settings.

Most importantly, I discovered my system registry had tons of old entries from previous installed drivers and apps. Once I installed a clean OS, my boot time decreased by 50% and other applications ran much faster.

I blame the performance problem on me not keeping my system and registry clean.

Then I purchased the Standard version of FSX and installed it. I think this game is fantastic. The experience is challenging and educational. I enjoy flying over areas that I have visited in real life and seeing the details the developers put into recreated real-world locations.

Intel recently announced their quad-core processors. At some point in the future, I will upgrade. I am thrill to know when my system is upgraded; my FSX experience will take advantage of that upgrade and provide an ongoing better experience. Since the game has very detailed adjustments so you can run it on slower machines, in my opinion, it makes the game future-ready so you can play now and enhance later. Others may disagree with this line of thinking.

Cleaning your system may also solve the installation issue that some are experiencing. This sounds like driver issues. However I don't know for certain because I didn't have that issue with my install.

I hope this information is helpful to others.

i received fsx as a gift for christmas. i've owned fs2002 and fs2004, and am relatively familiar with the game. first of all, as clearly stated in the product title and specs, the game comes on dvd format only. i had no problems installing it on my dell dimension 4800 (P4-3.2, 2GB ram, ATI 9800PRO). however, the new FSX is definitely a beast. with all the quality settings turned down and running at 1024x768x16, i got < 15 fps so the gameplay was unacceptably choppy. i have read that with all the settings turned down you should get similar performance as fs2004.

i was disappointed by the performance and contemplated returning the game. but what microsoft has done here is produced a next generation flight simulator. did we really want another fs2004? i tried the game on another system which had an ATI X1650XT, which is relatively old, but a lot newer than my 9800PRO. the game ran well with medium settings at 1024x768 (>30fps), acceptable at 1280x1024, and barely playable at 1600x1200.

i ended up building a new system (it was overdue anyway), and have been playing on an 8800GTS, which gives 25-35 fps at 1600x1200x32 with the highest quality settings. there are a couple guides on the internet that provide tips/tweaks for increasing performance, particularly on older systems. here is one of them:

http://ops.precisionmanuals.com/wiki/Talk:FSX_FPS_Guide

i have to say that the graphics are phenomenal. microsoft intends on releasing a direct x 10 patch in the next few months, which should improve the quality and performance even more on vista.

as far as game play, i haven't noticed any major changes. the full set of lessons from fs2004 still exist, but now there are missions you can fly for practice. i don't recall how detailed the pilot record tracking was in fs2004, but it is awesome in fsx--tracking landings, hours, and certifications/awards from completing lessons and missions. the introduction of multiplayer play in fsx has been quite fun as well.

i highly recommend this game, with the caveat that you should test the demo (free download from microsoft's site) to see how well it performs. this game is a beast and requires a nice system with a nice graphics card, but you won't be disappointed in the results!

I read a review in PC Gamer saying that this game was released a year too soon. And I have to tell you, they were right on the money. I have what I consider a mid-level gamer's rig (3.2 Ghz processor, 256 MB graphics card, and 1 gig of RAM), and still I receive graphic "glitches" when I run this game. Beware: If you just meet the system requirements to run this sim, be prepare to turn all the graphical "goodies" off. From what I've seen, this sim is a system hog. On the plus side, I'm impressed with the sheer number of airports available. And the real-time weather feature seems like a nice touch. Lets hope when I upgrade my graphics card, ram, and my OS to Vista, this game shows its true potential.

Note that this comes on 2 DVDs, not on CD-ROMs as the tech details say. If you do not have a DVD reader in your machine you will not be able to install this game. As a side note, it also has Microsoft's "registration" copy protection just like Windows XP.

I purchased Micro. Flight Sim X with great expectaions of improvements from the 2004 version. Install was flawless, other than activation. I was VERY disappointed at the performance. Im not sure what kind of system is needed to play this game with decent graphics, but I can't find one. I have 2 high powered machines (Intel D core, 2GB Ram, PCIExp 256MB video). I can currently play pretty much any game on the market with no problems and good performance with decent frames rate. THIS SIM is BAD. I had to jack down all the settings to make it perform even so-so. Flight graphics very choppy and sluggish. Turning performance settings WAY down helps, but does not completly cure the issues. I installed it on a gamer friends system, with the same results. He actually has a very expensive video card, with same results. Both of our systems WELL EXCEED requirements for the SIM. Buyer Beware..

Microsoft's Flight Simulator X may be the best Flight Simulator currently on the market. With it's awesome graphics and unique structure, it is taking the gaming industry by storm. The only drawback would be the Two-Disk DVD set. Many computer users, expecially those who use notebooks, do not have a DVD-Drive avaliable. Apart from this, it is a great game. I have two computers, an Hewlett-Packard Desktop with an AMD Turion 64 Processor and 1024MB of memory, and a 100GB hard drive. It is running on Windows XP Media Center SP2. It works well, but works even better on my notebook. The notebook is a Gateway with an AMD Turion 64 Processor and 1024MB of memory, and an 80GB hard drive. It is also running on Windows XP Media Center SP2.

The gameplay is great. Many different views to enhance your flying experience. Solo play and Online play are both excellent, but, as a warning, do not try Online play with Dial Up. Broadband is recommended, as it gathers many packets online, and Dial Up cannot recieve them fast enough, so you will experience a high rate of Latency, or Lag.

All in all, if you are looking for an exceptionally fun and enjoyable flying game, this is the one to grab. Five stars easy.

After installation, taking about 30 minutes, MSFS X Deluxe Edition started and asked for product key.

The Product Key that is printed on a bright yellow tag is easy to find and to read.

The product key was not recoginzed after at least 10 attempts to enter the Product Key:

THEN after attempting to uninstall, errors occured and now it will not repair, uninstall, or install.

I did get to run it in trial mode the first time with all settings to maximum and it looks very good, but for all the insanity with the completely malfuntioning registration process and poor support I'd rather use X-Plane 8.