Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024

What could have been a diamond is ruined by abysmal voices in Italian and several bugs that have not been solved a month after release. A real shame.

Although the flight model and therefore the simulation is better than ever, there are too many small irritations in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 that affect the experience. The career mode is a valuable addition and the game is almost endlessly replayable for both casual and hardcore simmers. With a lot of love and dedication from developer Asobo and support from publisher Microsoft, it could well be that this is the absolute top in the field of flight simulations in a few months. The game does not reach those heights at the moment.

Our impressions are generally positive, partly because it works more often than not, partly because it creates great gaming memories, and partly because it improves on many of its predecessor's gameplay systems. It's the amount of technical issues that prevent this from reaching higher heights than its predecessor.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 offers enough innovations to justify its arrival, with an impressive career mode and endless options to lose yourself in the skies for hours. However, weak localization, clunky AI voices, and long loading times show that perfection is not yet within reach.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 builds on the engrossing flight model of its 2020 predecessor and finds substantial new ways to turn the impressive 1:1 Earth replica into a structured experience. But even after its disastrous launch, the streaming tech powering it seems determined to keep you from the good bits.

There is potential with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, but for every positive thing the game does, there's at least one big negative to counteract it. The variety of aircraft you can pilot is more varied than before, but you'll need to brush up on the various controls to get the most out of each craft. The ability to take photos while flying and on the ground is neat, but be prepared to only be wowed in certain areas. Those hoping for some detailed shots in more populated areas on foot will be sorely disappointed (or horrified). The inclusion of actual people would've been nice if they didn't look so last generation, and while the game has an abundance of activities and a full-fledged career mode, it would have been nice if the experience had faster loading times and was more stable overall. If this follows the trajectory of the previous game, then what you'll get in time is a flight sim that will cater to the hardcore but still be accessible enough for the casual player. Unless you're dedicated enough to want to get in right now with the latest and greatest or need more variety and objectives in a campaign, you might want to stick with the 2020 edition of Microsoft Flight Simulator for a little while longer to get your casual flight fix.

If there is a piece of good news here, I feel confident that Asobo will continue to resolve these issues and, given enough time, we'll end up with a Microsoft Flight Simulator that is as stable as 2020 and benefits from all the additional technical improvements. We're not there now though, and now is when folks have spent their money on this product. The '2024' title feels premature; this game needed another 6-12 months of development and testing. It's apparent that it's simply not ready and much more work is required before it is. Flight simmers now have to decide if they want to go back to 2020, like many have, or be the beta testers for 2024 and accept that it'll take time before things are better.