Names in gaming generally don't mean a whole lot. Let's face it, many are cliche, vaguely embarrassing, or some incomprehensible amalgam of both dreamed up by a focus group. That is not the case when it comes to Microsoft Flight. This revival of the famous flight simulation series that has been dormant for more than half a decade drops the dreaded "S" word from its title in an attempt to draw in those scared off by the rather somber reputation of its exacting forebears. The name change is not just for show, either. The game refreshes what was once a frightening encounter with knobs, dials, and eventually terra firma. Diehard simmers won't like the changes, but Microsoft Flight is a success in its own right. It has converted a demanding simulation into a free, easygoing game where you get to play pilot in sunny Hawaii.
Aside from part of the name and the long association that Microsoft has had with flight sims, there are very few connections between the new game and 2006's Microsoft Flight Simulator X. That game was the last in the venerable series, which made its debut way back in 1982. Whereas the old series focused on the grueling realism of flying, right down to letting you take the helm in a 747 pulling the red-eye out of New York bound for Tokyo, this fresh start feels a lot more like a game, with many changes geared solely to make the experience more accommodating.
The global reach of the earlier franchise has been distilled to the much easier to handle Hawaii, with your tasks focusing on short hops between rural and small-city airports. There are just two planes to fly in the Icon A5 and the familiar Boeing PT-17, which was last seen dusting crops in old movies. Controls are now mouse based, although you can plug in a flight stick if you prefer. And, as noted, the game is absolutely free to download initially via Windows Live, although you soon need to look into the conveniently available downloadable content if you want to get the most out of your flyboy experience.
Most importantly, everything in MS Flight has been given a tight structure. While you can do the "slip the surly bonds of earth" thing and fly around for fun, the majority of the game deals with specific assignments that earn you experience points, achievements, and such goodies as jazzy plane paint schemes. Instead of the fantasy land of MS Flight Sim where you could pretend to be running long hauls for TWA or whatever, here, you're never anything but a freelance rookie pilot doing grunt work. Still, there is something to be said for being led by the hand, especially if this is your first time playing any sort of flight simulator. So after wrapping up the brief but informative tutorial flights, you're set free to take on challenges like flying through successions of rings, landing on ever-smaller runways (including a few barely there patches of asphalt surrounded by jungle), and even taking jobs offered up on the bulletin boards of Hawaiian airports.
There isn't a whole lot of depth here, though. Once you complete the couple of hours needed to wing through the stunt-flying and landing challenges, you're left with taking repetitive jobs at airports. You fly nervous tourists on sightseeing jaunts over volcanoes and waterfalls or run guys over to a neighboring airport for expensive burgers, but that's pretty much it. The jobs recycle over and over, so you fly to the same few locations and listen to the same three or four sets of canned passenger audio. Variety is lacking here, and the Hawaiian scenery is oddly dull. If not for the occasional bit of lava and the ocean off in the distance, you could be winging your way over central Illinois. Most of the landscape consists of nondescript trees and urban wastelands loaded with strip malls.
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