Microsoft Flight Simulator X Deluxe DVD

I once scared the hell out of my college roommate by popping the shell off our CompuAdd 386SX/16MHz desktop and adding some extra memory in hopes of running Microsoft Flight Simulator 4.0 faster. It didn't help much, but my keg-muddled memories include flashes of Meigs Runway 36, a sky full of flat clouds, and the downtown Chicago skyscrapers -- then primitive gray polygons -- redrawing a bit more smoothly as I rapped the number pad (no joystick) and tried to tip my Cessna Skylane into the side of one especially big boxy rectangle (it was supposed to be the Sears Tower) for the heck of it.

Seventeen years and six versions later, Microsoft Flight Simulator returns with an "X" (like Apple's current OS, it's pronounced "ten") and hoo-boy, what a couple decades will buy you! Like its incremental predecessors, the latest incarnation soups up the visuals, tricks out the world with vehicles on roads and animals in the wild, adds a few dozen ultradetailed airports with baggage carts and fuel trucks, slips in a few new missions and aircraft, and broadens its online networking feature set. What's more: It's a topographical content leviathan, shipping on two (that's right, two) DVDs. You thought that 14GB hard drive install requirement was a joke?

But let's say you already own Flight Sim 2004; what you probably want to know is, should you upgrade? That depends -- are you the sort scanning www.faa.gov daily and building your very own ultralights from kits? Then you're a shoe-in unless I say something like "they dumbed down the flight models," which of course they haven't. So off with you, then -- and be sure to pick up the $70 deluxe version, which includes 24 (versus 18) airplanes, 45 (versus 40) fully modeled airports, 38 (versus 28) realistically represented cities, 50+ (versus 30) missions, and a special Tower Controller feature that lets you play air traffic guru with your friends online.

If, on the other hand, you're an armchair aviator (which I'm guessing describes the majority audience), pick up the basic $50 version for one or both of the following reasons: to gobble up the basics of flight, from trim control to avionics; or -- to heck with learning -- you'd rather whip through the air and go "wow" a bunch while ogling the brand new super-fly scenery. Here's the trick, though...in order to enjoy the stunning new vistas, you need a ridiculously high-powered machine. Just ignore those silly system requirements up top (they're another joke, right, Microsoft?). The recommended specs in our reviewer's guide were: a 3GHz processor, 2GB of RAM, and a 512MB videocard. Ouch.

So why not play on low settings, then? Because with the bells and whistles disabled, Flight Sim X looks just like Flight Sim 2004, which runs pretty darned well by comparison. Crank the detail to high, and yeah, it's a veritable photo shoot...but one that also runs like a photo show. I know you crusty diehards don't care about pulling a smooth 20-30 frames, but trust me: When you're trying to buzz low-ground pylons with the Extra 300 aerobatic plane or hit tricky target rings on moving boats with the new and incredibly cool Air Creation 582SL ultralight, it matters. Enough said, but to see all the pretty -- and that's arguably the biggest "woohoo!" here -- bank on next year's tech.

Or don't. You can certainly enjoy the other new features of Flight Sim X while you wait (say, if you want to go online with a pal and share control of the plane...or just offer your own personalized flying lessons). Missions are also better and more organic, broken into easy, intermediate, and advanced categories ranging from basic flying lessons (more engaging than Rod Machado's -- which are still here, but fork-lifted in and a bit dated) to Red Bull racing sprints∧ slow, thoughtful African safari hunts.

No, it's not the significant leap 2004's Century of Flight was, and performance -- usually unworthy of mention -- is the big sinker here. Otherwise, Flight Sim X is a solid, if not quite spectacular, tenth iteration. Here's hoping the inevitable Flight Sim 11 (or will it be XI?) offers the same visual breakthroughs without beating your PC to a quivering pulp.

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