Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 Review – To the Skies

My initial experience with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 on launch day was filled with frustration and disappointment. If you were amongst the unfortunate ones that tried to play the game on day one, you would have been most likely greeted with excruciatingly long loading times and freezes. Fans and new players alike were frustrated with Microsoft’s inability to handle their servers, especially for a game that requires you to be constantly connected to the internet. Microsoft was quick to tackle the issues head on and by the next day, I was able to access the game without too much trouble.

However, at the time of writing this review, there are reports that some players have not been able to undertake even a single flight. Even if they managed to get on an aircraft, their flight experience has been slaughtered by audio issues, uneven textures and character models sticking out of the aircraft’s roof. You don’t believe me? Just take a look at the various gaming forums and you can treat yourself with absurd glitches and bugs. The developers are looking into procuring bigger server capacity but for a game that is dependent on cloud, why wasn’t the system put in place earlier? Could they have used their prior experience with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 to ensure a smoother takeoff? Perhaps?

"Aircraft models, too, have also seen a noticeable bump not only in visual quality but also in its support for various physics parameters resulting into a more realistic flying experience."

Fortunately for me, I was able to get a lot of flight time without facing much trouble or glitches. And when Microsoft Flight Simulator 24 works, it’s an experience like none another. There is some weird satisfaction in piloting an aircraft over the serene scenes of the Golden Gate Straight or looking at Mount Everest through the window of aircraft’s cockpit. Once my aircraft hit cruise speed, I found myself looking at the beautiful vistas, the tall Pine trees, or the rushing current below, as my aircraft made its way through the clouds.

The level of detail could be downright outstanding at times, almost bordering real-life visuals. You can also get out of the aircraft and walk in specific biomes and grasp in all the visual goodness. However, it must be noted that not all the objects and architecture are detailed. Given that most of the world details are being pulled from the cloud, missing data and textures might be the norm unless the Asobo fixes the server optimization issues.

Aircraft models, too, have also seen a noticeable bump not only in visual quality but also in its support for various physics parameters resulting into a more realistic flying experience. Now let me get this straight. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is not a game for everyone. If you are a newcomer to the series, you will most likely struggle with its intricate, slow and precise gameplay. Fortunately, the game has a lengthy tutorial at hand which will take you through most of the basics of flying. However, for a more in-depth flying experience you are expected to have a certain level of knowledge about aircraft which could be deal breaker for those who are not familiar with this field. Don’t get me wrong. Casual players can get into the game just fine, but it will require a lot of learning, patience, trial and error to get a grip on the simulator’s different gameplay mechanics.

"Microsoft Flight Simulator 24 features an extensive career mode where you take on a multitude of tasks. If you manage to complete them, you will be awarded with grades and credits."

Flight Simulator 2024 begins with a bit of a surprise: a rather in-depth customization system wherein you can select all sorts of options for your character. Be it the headwear, eyewear, tops, legwear, footwear, body type, voice or your co-pilot’s appearance, a lot can be customized. This customization doesn’t impact gameplay in any way, but it is always pleasant to have more options. However, I would love to see Asobo use a traits-based system in the future that could actually define pilot characteristics and thereby create an impact in the way they fly.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 24 features an extensive career mode where you take on a multitude of tasks. If you manage to complete them, you will be awarded with grades and credits. The more missions you complete, the more licenses and specializations are there to unlock. Initial missions feature simple mechanics like taking on a bunch of people for a ride for sightseeing but later on, tasks evolve into complex scenarios involving search and rescue. This system of unlocking new missions and earning licenses is addictive and adds an intriguing gameplay loop to the proceedings. Besides the Free Flight mode, the career mode is where you will be spending most of your time with Microsoft Flight Simulator 24 and it’s absolutely worth it.

There is also a challenge mode which will likely refresh every week and some of them are brutally difficult. The journey through Grand Canyon like a speeding bullet was specially demanding and I have no qualms in admitting that I was rather underwhelming there. Other challenges like Precision Landing are fun filled scenarios where you need to pull off difficult landing feats like on a hilltop. Then there is the stunning Photographer mode which allows you to not only take photos of some truly stunning locations but also complete objectives in a way that complements the photo. For example, while taking a photo you must ensure that the moon or the Tokyo Tower must be in the frame. Completing these tasks is a lot of fun although admittedly may be challenging for some players.

"With the in-depth career mode, the addictive Photographer mode and Challenges, the game obviously has plenty to offer."

I reviewed Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 on a Ryzen 5950x, RTX 3080 Ti and 32 GB of memory. I set almost everything to Ultra with DLSS on Quality mode at 4K resolution. My PC was able to extract decent performance with frame rates largely ranging from 30 to 45 frames per second depending how intense a specific scene was. However, the game suffers from occasional stutters.

So, one moment I have everything running okay at 30 fps and then all of a sudden, the game will miss a frame resulting into an uneven experience. Even loading in and out a map is abrupt, making me feel that the game is about to crash. Whether these issues are related to my hardware, or a server-side issue is something that is not clear. Regardless, optimization patches are needed to make the experience smoother. Out of curiosity, I also briefly played the game on an Xbox Series X and I found the frame rate to be largely stable compared to my PC build. In fact, it had less issues loading in and out of map resulting into a smoother experience.

I quite enjoyed my time with Microsoft Flight Simulator 24. With the in-depth career mode, the addictive Photographer mode and Challenges, the game obviously has plenty to offer. However, at the same time, the various tech issues are something that needs to be addressed. There is an ongoing debate on whether all of the game’s assets should be available as a download instead of using the cloud to stream most of the in-game assets. On paper, this may sound like an ideal solution, but its implementation may require Asobo and Microsoft to make drastic changes to the engine’s framework. Regardless, Microsoft Flight Simulator 24 comes off as a recommended product but is in desperate need of optimization.

This game was reviewed on PC.