Like its predecessor, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 offers a ton of activities, including the ability to tour the entire globe Earth. The first (and so far, only) 10 I have given in a review was for Microsoft Flight Simulator in 2020, and the magnitude of the possibilities available in this year’s follow-up has only been lessened by the persisting issues that come with them. I am currently working on this evaluation and my upcoming aviation career because codes were not accessible early and unexpected turbulence during takeoff made it practically difficult to play for the first 24 hours. As of right now, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 stands out because of a few unique features, but it also falls short of how amazing the previous version was, and I wanted to be amazed. I am “merely” impressed instead.
First of all, Flight Simulator 2024’s career mode is its most significant new feature. You choose a beginning airfield to serve as your home base, land a job with a made-up aviation corporation, and start your piloting career. It functions similarly to a standard video game skill tree: as you complete the novice objectives, you can access more possibilities, and finishing them can lead to even more opportunities. After completing the requirements for a commercial pilot’s license, for instance, you can obtain a tail wheel endorsement, which opens up opportunities for more modern aircraft and occupations like search and rescue. You can also become certified in rotorcraft (helicopters), which opens up opportunities for things like operating a sky crane. which personally makes me say “hell yeah.” You can choose from a variety of vocations with each additional qualification or endorsement, from easy ones like flightseeing to more complicated ones like, well, everything that has to do with helicopters.
You eventually make enough money and establish enough credibility to break free from the constraints of your job and launch your own aircraft business. Although I have not made much progress yet, I am making solid progress toward my fixed-wing endorsements. I have not determined to what extent, but I am excited to start my own business and keep the majority of the earnings. Your company can expand thanks to those profits, and I am eager to acquire my fleet of airplanes.
Eventually, you earn enough money and build up enough reputation to leave the confines of your employment and start your own aviation company. I am making good progress toward my fixed-wing endorsements, even though I have not done anything yet. I have not determined to what extent, but I am excited to start my own business and keep the majority of the earnings. Your company can expand thanks to those profits, and I am eager to acquire my fleet of airplanes. Since there are a million buttons that can accomplish a million different things and I used to have to utilize Google to figure out how to release my parking brake, I do enjoy the default tooltips in 2024. (I am a forgetful person, so I doubt I will even end up turning them off as I did in 2020.)
More mission types become available as you progress through career mode.
You complete a few flights following the initial training missions to accrue enough hours to pass the test for your commercial pilot’s license. It costs in-game currency to take the tests, but you can do it as many times as you like and only have to pay once. Additionally, you must have sufficient experience and do well enough in the training missions; however, if you are an experienced pilot, you can bypass the lessons and go straight to the exam.
More tasks and different kinds of missions become available as you go. But the fact that they do not all open up close to your home airport struck me as a little odd. I chose KMVM Machias Valley Airfield, a little airfield in the darkest regions of eastern Maine, but following my first flights, I was deployed to Europe to finish jump and aircraft delivery operations. Although I am not very bothered by it, it did seem strange, which caused me to lose the “professional” illusion I had created for myself. Bad imagination!
Current Thoughts
I am already pretty much in love with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 despite what can be considered a disastrous launch; I am just not as impressed as I was five years ago when I was originally presented with the possibility of flying to any location on Earth. Of course, that option is still available and has been much enhanced by some clever new features, but it still lacks the same punch. I am having fewer and fewer problems now that the difficult launch is behind us, which allows me to concentrate on the aspects of Flight Simulator that I enjoy the most.
Normally, that means circling aimlessly, but this time, professional mode is also providing me with compelling reasons to take off and a deeper comprehension of the commercial aviation industry. I will continue to work on it before I make a final judgment, but as of right now, despite its early issues, I believe Flight Simulator 2024 is pretty damn excellent, even if it has not yet surpassed the previous Flight Simulator.
