A Slap to the face for Flight Sim Veterans.
Hawaii is modeled Beautifully (current resident)
BAD: Multiple installation errors+buggy code=crashing, Limited based on how much you're willing to pay for as far as scenery and aircraft is concerned. Extremely limited 3rd party development.
SUMMARY: If you were on the fence for flight simulator but wanted to keep things simple, than Flight is your game. This title models the F2P format of gaming that has been a success with Facebook, as well as Android and iOS titles. If this is up your alley, then this will be a nice title to pick up. It was also said that Flight might also make it's way into the mobile gaming platform, whether it's Windows Phone OS, or an ARM equipped Windows 8 Slate. I can see it being a much bigger success in that aspect. That's where it all ends though.. Flight is major departure from the 25 years of Flight Simulation that has come before Flight. Flight is heavily geared towards the "casual" gaming crowd that has swept the gaming scene over the majority of this gaming generation. The problem with this is that one, the enthusiasts who kept MSFS going over the years is heavily discouraged from jumping ship. The 2nd issue is that this genre is not a big genre among the casual scene. I don't know too many regular Joes who would want to pick up a game and just fly around an island in a Boeing Stearman, or a Jetski with wings. A 3rd issue is the fear that the community will even give into microtransactions, not by choice, but because they want to fly in more places (which costs $20 in this case). I can't see enough interest from the majority gamers to warrant such a purchase, and the enthusiasts who do end up flying would rather spend their money on a much better addon for Flight Simulator X. There is no incentive to give into purchasing addons to this game. The final reason is the fact that this simulation is no longer a simulation. It's a game. FSX, and more recently Lockheed Martin's Prepar3d (using the same engine) has 3rd party development of aircraft that replicate it's real life counterparts. Look up PMDGs 737NGX, or VRSs F/A-18E Superbug, or A2A Simulations Accu-Sim aircraft (P-40, P-38, Spitfire, etc). These are things that you'll never find on a casual game, and it's geared towards enthusiasts from kids, to engineers, to real pilots. Microsoft did a no-no when they decided to cut 3rd party development in order to maximize profit. You're better off just getting FSX because, you're getting the world, an array of aircraft from the get-go, thousands of freeware addons as well as thousands of payware addons from developers who know way more than anything Microsoft can dish out (I'm talking about engineers, and test pilots, and the like). If you are that casual gamer, I encourage you to try it out since it's free after all. Flying is not a easy thing (sim and real life), but this is decent enough to give you the extreme basic fundamentals of flight. When you're interested enough, FSX will be calling your name.