Flight Simulator X demo logo

Flight Simulator X demo

By Microsoft Game Studios Free to try Editors' Rating

Editors' Review

Download.com Staff Nov 9, 2008

Microsoft Flight Simulator X makes a major break from tradition with the inclusion missions to complete all over the world. The prerelease demo for Flight Simulator X offers you three of those missions, one of which is a tutorial that introduces the basics of flying. Although the demo for the in-progress game includes minor graphical errors that can make aircraft and scenery look slightly askew, there's more than enough fun to have with the four provided planes. The 625MB download is a bear, and the installation process is considerable, but once it's on your machine you'll be up in the air in no time.

The provided planes in the demo are the Air Creation Trike Ultralight, Beechcraft Baron 58, Bombardier CRJ700, and the deHaviland Beaver DHC2. The areas available to explore are in the Caribbean, including the Netherlands Antilles and surrounding islands. Most notable, perhaps, is the inclusion of the famed Princess Juliana International Airport, with its tiny landing strip and low approach over the beach. Aside from an introductory tutorial, the demo includes two other missions that let you drop flour bombs and fly to (and land at) various airports. We experienced minor frame lag even on the lowest graphical settings on a machine with plenty of processing power, good memory, and a reasonable video card, and graphical glitches are evident at the highest settings. However, the excellent interface, user-friendly missions, and free-flight options make this demo a can't-miss for flight-sim fans.

Full Specifications

What's new in version

General

Release November 9, 2008
Date Added August 13, 2006

Operating Systems

Operating Systems Windows, Windows XP, Windows Vista
Additional Requirements None

Popularity

Total Downloads 1,644,099
Downloads Last Week 236
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Developer's Description

From award winning game developer ACES comes Flight Simulator X. The latest installment will include the usual genre leading realism that continues to awe real pilots and will serve as the graphical benchmark for games on Windows Vista. Additionally, Flight Simulator X will deliver for the first time structured game play with more than 55 missions to choose from which will test the skills of players of all levels.

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