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4 months ago
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After being parked on the runway for 14 years, the Microsoft Flight Simulator series finally returned in August 2020 to great critical acclaim.
With Metacritic scores of 91 on PC and 90 on Xbox Series X/S, it’s generally agreed that the new Flight Simulator is the best example of the genre to date, a feat achieved by combining a highly customisable and scalable control scheme with breathtaking graphical detail.
The game’s combined use of Bing Maps and AI technology makes for a brilliantly convincing effect, with landscapes looking impressive from 30,000 feet, and the AI adding 3D buildings as you descend to give an impressive illusion of depth (at least from a height – fly down to street level and the buildings look like the aftermath of a nuclear war, but that’s why it’s called Flight Simulator and not Bus Simulator).
Our favourite aspect of the game, however, is the way it can be played with an Xbox controller. Those who want to take it seriously and have an in-depth experience that makes use of every key on a keyboard (and then some) absolutely can, but the addition of controller support means players who always liked the idea of a flight simulator but didn’t have the stomach or the patience to learn the ins and outs finally get the chance to just jump in and fly wherever they like.
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Long story short, then, we love Flight Simulator. There’s just one problem, though, and it’s a fairly big one. What happens when you run out of ideas?
As a sandbox, the game is great. Choose where to start, choose where to end, and enjoy the flight. But not everybody is comfortable with setting their own parameters like that in a game. Some people play games for the satisfaction of completing challenges set for them. In other words, some players like being told what to do and seeing if they can successfully do it.
The 2020 release has some of this – there are around 50 Landing Challenges where you’re placed in front of a runway and have to land in difficult circumstances. Then there were the Reno Air Races and Top Gun Maverick DLC, which added racing and fighter jet missions to a game that previously didn’t have any.
Some players – including us – are looking for something a little more, however, and from what we’ve seen, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 looks set to provide exactly that. Rather than a major update to the existing game, Flight Sim 2024 is an entirely new sequel, and this time it plans to give us a purpose for playing.
Specifically, Microsoft says the next game will focus on “career aviation”. While it’ll still be possible to pick any plane you like and fly anywhere you like, the 2024 edition will also add a bunch of new careers that go beyond simply ‘pilot’ – careers that will have clear win and lose conditions.
When we say “a bunch”, we mean it. The first trailer for Flight Sim 2024, which was shown during the Xbox Showcase in June, listed no fewer than 19 separate jobs the players can choose to try out in the next game, from roles that may differ wildly from the core gameplay – glider pilot and VIP charter pilot, for example – to some that may completely revolutionise the way it’s played.
The 2024 edition will let you play as a firefighter, putting out massive flames from the air. It’ll let you go on search and rescue (and mountain rescue) missions as you look for people who are trapped in dangerous environments. It’ll let you transfer cargo via helicopter. It’ll let you fly an air ambulance service, where getting to your destination in time is literally a life-or-death situation.
You’ll be able to try a spot of agricultural aviation, where you’ll get to do some crop dusting with pesticides. Or you’ll be able to fly a plane for skydivers, making sure you get them to the right altitude. Or taking part in industrial cargo transport, with the enormous extra weight no doubt having some impact on your plane’s control.
This is seemingly scratching the surface. The game will also feature air racing, low-altitude training, remote cargo ops and even the opportunity to carry out airship or hot air balloon tours. It really does feel like anything you can think of that can be done in a plane (Mile High Club shenanigans aside) is being ticked off here.
It’s exciting to see that a game that specialised in one specific action – picking a star point, picking an end point and flying between them – is now preparing to apply it to a wide range of disciplines. If Flight Simulator 2020 was about letting players take to the sky, it seems that Flight Simulator 2024 will be about giving them something to do while they’re up there.
