Today is the expected release of Microsoft Flight Simulator for the Xbox Series console. Although this plan seemed feasible from the beginning, the release of the PC version must have raised concerns among fans. Even computers cannot cope with the latest work of the Asobo studio without compromise, and for playing in 4K resolution you need a set whose price rises to the upper tens of thousands of crowns. However, this does not apply to the console version, which in all respects and details cannot be compared to how Flight Simulator can be set up on a PC, but there are not enough compromises to talk about influencing the gaming experience, let alone in a negative sense.
On the most powerful Xbox Series X, the game delivers great performance, holds the framerate at 30 frames per second, and only occasionally does the whole game fall or freeze for a few seconds. However, this happens especially during flights over large metropolises, which benefit from photogrammetric data and take part of the data for rendering from the cloud. But there are not many such moments and Flight Simulator offers almost everything that PC gamers have known for less than a year. You can go wherever you want, as well as set all the flight rules, weather conditions, possible aircraft breakdowns and enjoy the landscape, which at a height of several hundred feet looks real. We are not so happy with the offer of new sightseeing flights or a revised tutorial, but in combination with placing the game in the Game Pass, literally all Xbox Series owners are offered the opportunity to taste a real next-gen experience.
After the official release of the game on July 27, the free improvements of selected regions were updated and the in-game store was filled with the first paid add-ons. Among them, you can find both individual aircraft and scenarios, for example, for jets. In a similar vein, support from Asobo developers will continue to work in the future.
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- An unprecedented level of graphic detail and a real next-gene feel
- The game mostly holds the promised 30 fps even in 4K resolution
- Support for keyboard, mouse and (for now) two available aircraft controllers
- The in-game marketplace promises further expansion and improvement of individual regions
- On a computer for 7500-13500 crowns, the game would never look so great
- The control is quickly accessible even to those who are not used to playing simulators
- Navigation flights are a great attraction to get the most out of the game
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- The content to attract players – sightseeing flights or a tutorial – is not very elaborate
- Regardless of stable performance, it sometimes comes with lengthy jams of a few seconds
- Streaming data from the cloud, despite the fast connection, is not always completely smooth, which creates unsightly lumps from photogrammetric objects
- A big difference between developers modified parts of the world versus those that haven’t changed since the release
- The control could not be completely transferred to the console – it is still essentially a PC game, the cursor is ubiquitous and does not move smoothly
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Microsoft Flight Simulator on consoles would have seemed a joke a few months ago. The fact is, however, that the developers from Asobo have managed to reach a huge technological milestone and make this famous affair accessible to the owners of relatively cheap game consoles. It is not without compromise, but it is nothing dramatic that would spoil the experience of sandbox flying. All you have to do is take off a few hundred feet above the surface and a completely “functional” landscape will spread around you, which can be admired and used for VFR flights. At the same time, you can go anywhere in the world and change the weather conditions or time of day relatively smoothly even during the flight. All of this, even on the console, is surrounded by the huge potential of the section with add-ons and modifications, which will undoubtedly grow beyond the official additions, and from this version of Flight Simulator, the expected big thing can happen.
9 Verdict
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