Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 Review (PS5) – The Power of Flight

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is the next Xbox Game Studios title to go multi-platform, and the PS5 version of the realistic simulation of modern flight is a solid port that will shine for players who have a high tolerance for its weakest points. Those who power through will appreciate it, as it offers a true simulation of what it’s like to be a pilot in various situations. However, those new to the idea of flying planes will struggle with its clunky controller UI, inconsistent performance, and limited in-game instructions on how to fully master each aircraft.

More simulator than game, as it should be

On paper, the game does achieve what it’s supposed to do – deliver an experience that fully simulates the art of flying modern aircraft. When you enter the cockpit and hit the skies, everything about the process is done right, so those familiar with actual flying will find value here, as every detail of the whole process was portrayed rather well. 

All of the knobs and buttons on the cockpit can be interacted with, and have an actual purpose, whether it’s triggering autopilot, aircraft lights, adjusting flaps, or applying the right throttle to achieve specific altitude climbs and descents. If you’re a player who wants the most realistic experience, you can even customize your experience by removing any automated assistance, like automatic trim adjustments or other accessibility options. You can even remove almost all UI for added realism. The customization to adapt the simulation to your desired challenge level is available here, and for that, I have to commend developer Asobo Studios, as they at least nailed the most important aspect of a game like this, which can be difficult to do.

But my struggle to gain momentum in appreciating the learning process of flying was halted due to weird bugs, long loading times, and an insufferable AI voice that makes the grind through the game’s campaign a rough journey.

Bumpy Rides

It all started with you earning your first certification. These are exams that, if you pass, will give you access to new planes and unique jobs. The first certification simply allows you to fly and serves as the first of many tutorials you’ll encounter to teach the player how to properly fly a plane. The whole process was fine, as I was getting the hang of the controls and what needs to be done to successfully take off, navigate the skies with your tools in the cockpit, and eventually land as smoothly as possible. 

Once I had the basics down, I took the first certification exam, only to hit a bug right away. The mission wouldn’t progress because I couldn’t signal the tower to start taxiing. The button to do so was not working. Restarting the mission didn’t help. Restarting the game didn’t help. Nothing worked.

The problem turned out to be the airport itself. I started my career in the Philippines, and the game’s version of NAIA simply wouldn’t function. It’s almost fitting considering the actual airport’s current reputation, but in-game, it completely blocked my progress.

My only fix was to wipe the career and restart in a different location.

I was hoping that would be the end of it, but sadly it was just the beginning of things that ruined my enjoyment. I’ve experienced missions that get stuck loading to a point where I waited 10 minutes before giving up, forcing me to restart my game. I’ve had crashes happen as well. This results in experiencing a lot of loading in between missions, which ruins the flow of the game. When something happens, I need to be in a loading screen, and if I run into a point where I need to restart my game, that results in another round of loading, as the game has a long startup at the beginning due to the game grabbing its content online as this game requires to be always online at all times.

The Fasten your seatbelt sign is always on

Powering through the bugs was tough, as I do like how accurate Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is and how difficult it can be when flying these planes in a realistic way. Once you actually start flying, the game starts to show its true colors.

You are taught how to do a proper takeoff and landing procedure, complete with announcing your takeoff and landing (not doing so results in score penalties). You are then taught how to maintain proper speed, do proper turns, and even learn how to navigate with just the aircraft’s tools when visibility is close to zero due to fog or heavy clouds. This game gave me more appreciation for pilots, as it’s not easy to consistently get a smooth landing, for example. It’s great for flying enthusiasts, as concentration is so important. I’ve had a session where I was focused on slowly increasing my climb without stalling my plane for 5 minutes straight. 

The real meat of the game mostly consists of managing the take-offs, hitting a certain altitude, and landing the plane. When you hit a certain point after take-off, you are given the option to skip to the landing section of the flight, a thankful option as I don’t see the point of the player participating in an actual 30-minute-plus-long flight if you're simply going straight and doing nothing but making sure you are maintaining a certain altitude and speed. 

Sure, if you want to fully play the part of a pilot and stick to the whole flight, you can do just that, but thankfully, I can skip that whole section in any mission when needed.

A lengthy career that slowly opens up

At the start of the game’s career mode, it’s rather more hands-on for the player as you start with the Cessna 172, and these 1-engine propeller planes need more of your attention for a smooth flight. It eventually shifts to more of managing the plane’s flight plan when you start getting access to more modern planes, which perfectly simulates the current state of modern aviation, which is that most planes can fly on their own if set correctly.

It’s a great feeling to slowly understand a plane, as I enjoyed learning all of the differences between each plane or helicopter. Each time I handled a new aircraft, it felt like I needed to put the training wheels back on. Each one feels like a new beast to be tamed, as one could be stronger when you give it its full throttle, or act differently at certain altitudes. The perspective from the plane’s cockpit can make a difference, as some are higher-up than others, requiring slight adjustments on my part when attempting to land smoothly. It always felt like there was something unique about each plane, to the point where I felt like we should have been able to access each aircraft’s respective manual at all times.

A manual explaining each plane in-game would have been great, but I resorted to the internet to help me further understand the planes I eventually unlocked as I progress through the career mode. I’ve found manuals online, giving me that much needed extra learning opportunity to improve my knowledge of the game, as Flight Simulator 2024 has been out on Xbox and PC since last year.

I spent over 30 hours with this game, mostly flying the Cessna 172 and other jet planes, two-engine planes, and even the starter helicopters, all of which are different beasts that I have yet to fully understand and master. This is a simulation at heart that requires hours upon hours to fully understand. This game feels so deep that even 500+ hours of game time wouldn’t be enough to fully master each available aircraft in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. 

From fighter jets, emergency planes, and helicopters to commercial aircraft, each of them is intimidating, once you set foot in one. I’ve not flown enough of the more sophisticated planes, as I feel like I have a long way to go to be capable of being a competent pilot responsible for these machines. Not enough for this review at least, but I like how that’s the endgame for those looking to grind the experience and slowly gain the knowledge needed to fly them.

This game isn’t meant to be played with a controller, though. As much as the developers tried their best to make it work, it feels too limiting and clunky to handle a plane with a controller, which is why I suggest other means like a mouse or keyboard or a supporting joystick, as I feel that’s one of the best ways to embrace the simulation due to your managing all of the knobs, reviewing your flight plan, and much more.

The World is yours to explore

As far as missions go, there’s a variety of flight missions that slowly unlock as you pass more certifications and get experience flying and doing previous missions. These missions can range from as simple as flying a plane back to its owner after a routine maintenance check on the one end, to flying clients to key locations for a bit of sightseeing up in the clouds. The missions will slowly progress to your being the pilot for a skydiving session or other missions. The context of your flight may be different, but the whole process remains mostly the same.

The missions are all fully voiced through AI, as each mission, take off and landing comms, are all poorly implemented with no life at all, and unnatural sounding tones. It’s tasteless and frankly bothered me each time I was given a brief overview of the missions before I started the plane up. It gets worse when you have passengers who try to give you small talk. It’s so bad that I opted to remove the voice audio entirely, and would rather read the description than hear it. 

I sort of understand why they opted for this route, as it doesn’t feel like these are fixed missions, but rather generated ones based on where you are in the world. Each time I look at the mission list, it always gives me a completely different batch each time, giving the impression that missions are endless.

Each mission rewards players with credits, which are then spent to take on other certifications to unlock more missions and planes, and eventually, you’ll buy your own planes when you run your own freelance company. Day and night flights are different in their own right, and weather conditions do keep players on their toes. It was fun experiencing these conditions playing an important role in your flights. You can feel the turbulence in one due to heavy rain or low visibility, thanks to fog appearing in certain parts of your flight plan. You need to adjust accordingly, and I see the fun in these unique conditions.

The campaign mode does a reasonable job of getting players started in the right direction when you have zero to no knowledge of flying, but I actually wish it did a little more handholding, especially when you start shifting to newer planes. The art of flying is so complex that, despite all the tutorials available in-game, they still feel lacking. I need to know the ideal throttle use for each aircraft, the recommended altitude, and the best approach for landing.

Those who want to simply fly can do so with the game’s free flight mode, which essentially lets you create whatever flight you want in any location in the world with any plane available in the game. I’ve created flights from Manila to Cebu or Hong Kong to Japan just for the heck of it. There are Challenge leagues with weekly leaderboards for those wanting to pin your best time on a given time trial flight plan against other players, or go through World Photographer Mode, which tasks you with taking airborne pictures of real-world landmarks. They are rather fun and cool to see from above. 

Microsoft Flight Simulator does a decent job at translating real-world locations. From afar or in the cockpit, the environments look realistic enough that they don’t distract you from your flight. Just don’t look too closely, as the detail in certain environments is lacking to the eagle-eyed viewer. Character models of pilots and airport personnel feel like they were exported from a game released three console generations ago, and certain time trial missions, where you go fast, sometimes show the environments failing to load properly. Not that it isn’t unfortunate, but the focus is on the planes and how the environments look while in flight anyway. Each aircraft available is so highly detailed that it’s worth changing the camera perspective to a birds-eye view to take in these amazing machines in flight, especially with clouds below you and the sun peeking through the horizon. The game shines when in the air, which is where it actually counts.

All good when above the clouds

That's the real beauty of Flight Simulator 2024, as its purpose is its greatest strength. All the problems I’ve mentioned are white noise that ends up hindering my play time with the game, as everything that involves flying the plane feels spot on. 

While the other game modes are a welcome addition, Career mode is where I feel the majority of players will get the most enjoyment out of this game. It may feel much of a grind as it can take a while to earn enough money to take these certification exams, but this kind of grind feels necessary, as it’s near-impossible to suddenly pick up a plane or do a mission with zero to no experience. It shouldn’t be easy to unlock and complete these experiences. You need time and patience to get the skillset to handle these flights, which I completely understand because, in the end, this is a simulation.

I would score this higher if it were a game that can be easily picked up by someone curious about flying. Right now, those new to the world of flight simulation will be overwhelmed and frustrated. But for those well-versed in the world of aviation, you will find appreciation for what is available here, even on the PS5 version of the game.

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Verdict: 3.5 / 5 (Great)

PROS

• Flight mechanics and realism are top-notch 

• Aircraft variety and attention to detail are impressive

• Career mode offers a satisfying learning curve for enthusiasts

• Free flight and world translation are enjoyable features

CONS

• Bugs and long loading times disrupt the flow

• AI voice acting is poor and immersion-breaking

• Playing with a controller feels clunky and limiting

• Some visual inconsistencies if you look too closely at its environments and character details

What I’ve Played 

• Reached level 26 in career mode

• Tried World Photography mode, Challenge League time trials, and created a few free flights

• Unlocked early certifications and have tried a good amount of specializations

*This review is based on a PS5 review copy provided by Xbox

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About the Author - Carlos Hernandez

Carlos Hernandez is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Too Much Gaming, where he writes about video games, reviews, and industry news. A lifelong gamer, he would do anything to experience Final Fantasy Tactics for the first time again and has a love/hate relationship with games that require hunting for new gear to improve your character.