It made the planet feel accessible yet impossibly vast. I'd never heard of the islands before, and it felt fantastic to learn more about the world in a random flyby.įlight Simulator had that effect on me time and time again. I paused the game briefly and turned to my phone, where I learned this was one of the Palm Islands, a trio of man-made archipelagos hosting hotels and fancy residences. I dropped low along the coast and spotted curious shapes in the water that eventually coalesced into a giant, stylized palm tree. As I approached, more buildings popped into view. It felt fantastic to learn more about the world in a random flyby.Įven through heavy vapor and moisture, the Burj Khalifa was easy to spot, shooting out of the desert landscape like a shining silver beacon. Every trip began with a real-time representation of the actual weather and time in each location, but I wanted to see sunsets and clouds. Again, I took off, switched to a third-person view, and shifted the environment to my liking. I crashed my plane into a South Phoenix neighborhood - landing is by far the most difficult aspect of Flight Simulator - and booted up a location I'd never visited in real-life: Dubai. The roof of Chase Field was open, baseball diamond clearly visible within.Īround me at the Flight Simulator preview event in Seattle, other journalists were checking out their own hometowns, buzzing The Vatican, marveling at Machu Picchu and getting a feel for the geography around the Egyptian pyramids. I flew over my former condo complex and saw the exact balcony where I would sit and listen to podcasts while watching the city lights flicker on I soared over Central Avenue and through the gaps between buildings that I've only ever viewed from below. The engine whirred and I pulled the nose of the plane upward, compensating for power lost in the turn.Įach prominent building was accurate and in the correct location, including unique architectural details, company logos and store names. I clicked back and continued flying, tapping the rudder and shifting the wings gently to one side, aiming for the row of high-rises marking downtown. I chose scattered clouds, just as the fading light turned golden. Keeping my tiny plane aloft, I clicked through the settings menu at the top of the screen, and shifted the weather and time of day, making the sun and stars streak across the sky. Not only did I recognize the airport immediately, but also every side street, skyscraper and mountain range that came into view. Besides, Phoenix is gorgeous, especially at sunset - the airport sits at the heart of a desert valley, saguaros and skyscrapers highlighted from the west in brilliant purples and reds. I wanted to see if the map in Flight Simulator would be accurate enough for me to recognize landmarks, follow highways and even spot specific houses. The first location I loaded up was Phoenix, Arizona, my hometown. And, even in pre-alpha, that seems to ring true. But, after soaring around a digital Earth for four hours, casually exploring exotic and familiar locations, it's clear that the game offers plenty more than mere relaxation - though developers at Microsoft and Asobo Studio would recoil at the term "game." Flight Simulator is too deeply researched and technically detailed to be anything less than a full-on simulation experience, in their eyes. It feels like Flight Simulatorwas made for exactly this scenario: coming down after a long day. Above, an infinite sky is peppered with layers of mist and clouds. Suddenly, the land below stretches 600km in every direction, alive and dense with realistic detail. As soon as you're in the air, you flip the perspective from inside the cockpit, surrounded by dials and gauges and window frames, to a third-person view just behind the plane. You throttle the small plane forward, straighten out, and take off. The screen boots up and - click, click - it's filled by a long stretch of asphalt backed up by the mechanical hum of a single-engine Cessna. You grab a drink and sink into the chair in front of your PC. You get home as the sun is setting and close the door behind you, throwing down your keys and sliding off your shoes.
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