microsoft flight simulator x vs x-plane 10

Think of Microsoft and video games and you might think that Halo's the flagship, though I've often thought Flight Simulator is where you'll find its real heart.

But there's an alchemy here that goes beyond bullet point feature lists or plain numbers, blending together to create one of those rare wow moments that come along once a generation, or that maybe herald the next. Microsoft Flight Simulator isn't the first game to pull in real-world map or weather data to make for a more authentic simulation, nor is it the first game to try and bring us the entire world. I step away from the controls and out into my garden, slightly dizzy from it all, only to see the sky has darkened to the exact same shade of hazy blue as the one I was just flying through. In a video game, for what I'm pretty sure is the very first time. Then it's simply a case of looking out for the cluster of buildings that marks Lewisham to the right, dipping right then left once again to pick up the Waterlink Way. Skimming The O2, then grazing the tips of Canary Wharf's mob of skyscrapers before banking left over the Isle of Dogs, buzzing the Royal Naval College as we head up over Greenwich Park and then Blackheath as London blooms into parkland south of the Thames. Heading out from London City Airport in the nimble, aerobatic Extra 330LT, and up into the late evening sky to see the sun melt into the horizon.

Of course, the first thing I do in the new Microsoft Flight Simulator is fly over my house.

Microsoft flight simulator x vs x-plane 10