The controls were my second apprehension for the console version of Microsoft Flight Simulator. Screenshots and videos don’t do the game justice, you just have to see it on a 4K display yourself. The game’s visuals even caught me off guard even when I was flying through normal residential districts or areas from my hometown. The Discovery Flights feature takes you on tailored flights through famous landmarks and cities with ideal lighting and weather conditions, and it’s really hard not to be impressed by what’s on-screen when you choose one of these flights.
The Xbox Series X version rivals the PC version at high settings, which is remarkable for a machine at this price point. The raw power of the Xbox Series X paired with the game’s cloud technology creates some stunning visuals.
Sure, the console already has some pretty good-looking games, but Microsoft Flight Simulator is just on another level. This is the first true “next-gen” experience for the Xbox Series X. The game looks absolutely gorgeous on Xbox Series X, too. The PC version also has frame drops and stutters even on powerful hardware though, and the framerate never drops enough to become an issue.
When flying over busy areas like New York City, however, there were some occasional stutters and framerate drops in my experience on Xbox Series X. The more budget-friendly Xbox Series S still targets 30 FPS, but the resolution drops to 1080p. The game targets a native 4K resolution at 30FPS on Xbox Series X, and it holds steady at that target in most areas. Thankfully, performance is mostly a non-issue. Microsoft Flight Simulator requires a beefy PC to run and has more controls that you can count, so I was initially skeptical about how the game would run and whether it would work with just an Xbox controller.
With that out of the way, how does the game handle on an Xbox console? It’s an in-depth simulator that will please experienced players, but it also offers enough for casual players to enjoy as well. We awarded the game 4.5/5 stars in our review of the PC version last year, and that opinion still applies to the Xbox Series X|S version. It’s already well known that Microsoft Flight Simulator is an outstanding technological achievement. It’s not an entirely perfect experience, but it’s more than good enough for those that don’t have top-of-the-line PC builds. After spending some time with the game on Xbox Series X, I’m happy to report that the game works surprisingly well on Xbox.
Microsoft Flight Simulator is an incredibly resource-heavy game on PC, so I was curious to see how the game would perform on a console. Microsoft Flight Simulator lands on Xbox Series X|S on July 27, but I’ve been given the opportunity to take to the skies with the console version of the game a few days ahead of the official release date.