Microsoft Flight Simulator | The Power of the Cloud(s) (PC, Xbox Series X|S, The Cloud)
- Thread starter Responsible Allen Iverson
- Start date
FS2020 lit a fire under their asses at XPlane. 2024 may mess around and put them in the ground
. I haven't touched the game in too long because of having to set up/tear down all my peripherals. This might make me reconfigure my office to make that a non issue...
Tech alpha is available for this weekend only, they have instructions in their forums. Expect to spend 15 or 20 minutes mapping your controls and adjusting your yoke sensitivity. There's limited functionality but you can get hands on with the career.
I may have a couple flights left in me before the weekend is out. I really feel like 2024 is about finding your purpose as a pilot. For the majority of players there's only so long you can make your own fun in free flight. Career mode pushing you through First Flights, Ferry Flights, and Flightseeing tours to start is good to build the basic skill set. The certification paths and specializations you can unlock make it enticing to move into new areas. Early progression is quick and even bad pilots can level up quick.
Where it's lacking is in actual training for the certifications. Getting your PPL was a matter of takeoff, fly the pattern, and land. CPL was just takeoff, fly a long final to another airport, and land. But beyond telling you the controls for the game, you don't get taught anything. No explanation on understanding taxiways, runway numbering, pattern terminology, the list goes on. FSX outclassed both 2024 and 2020 in that regard. If training is missing from the full game then they will have built the foundation of career mode on sand.
I like the idea of randomly generated missions but you have to pay attention to the arrival and departure locations, and sometimes even the mission path itself. I had a Ferry Flight where they positioned me effectively on the runway and told me to taxi to the hold short location, which I was basically on top of. Then I had to back taxi but I had almost no room to turn around. A different Ferry Flight I had to land on RWY12 of some airport near Twenty nine Palms, but all the runway markings looked like they showed the airport as closed. But the one that made me say fukk this shyt is the first Flightseeing tour they had me do. Take off, hit some landmarks in Italy, land. Problem is, you don't get told where to go before hand, and the flight plan it puts in your G1000 doesn't even go near the points of interest. I had to skip through that one.
For being an alpha it's a positive look at how they're evolving the game. To do everything I did and only installed like 10GB of game, it's wild.
