Microsoft Flight - Part Two

[size=+1]Microsoft Flight - Part Two[/size]
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So, what about actually flying the machines? Actually, it's rather pleasant. My preferential method was the mouse. You move your cursor and the plane will move accordingly. Up to go up, down to go down and blah, blah, blah, yackity-shmackity. Throttle is controlled with the 'W' and 'S' keys, increasing and decreasing the throttle respectively. 'A' and 'D' control the rudder to a larger degree than the mouse and so allow for a tighter turning circle. So far, so San Andreas. What you will have to watch for is your fuel gauge that can only be refilled at select airports for some reason. Finally, there's your compass, airspeed in knots (but might as well be in Jelly Babies consumed per hour (JBc/h) for all the help that is to a British fox like me) and your altitude. Fairly standard but you have the option of various camera angles too:

- Chase is the standard 'third-person view'.

- Cockpit shoves you right in front of the controls with only the outside windows to offer any sort of navigational information regarding what you may end up hitting within the next few seconds. This is where you get to play with the controls of the plane. Hit space bar to stop yourself from controlling the planes movement and from here, you can start messing with the switches and dials. Turn the engine off or alter the fuel mix. I'd much prefer adding batter to a waffle iron or firing a cannon at a passing bi-plane but modders have yet to figure it out yet.

- Flyby appears to be from the point of view of a magical cameraman that can transport himself to just the right place to film you flying past instantaneously like a supernatural version of Top Gear. You still have control over the plane so this is mainly for screenshots. Trying to fly like this is suicide.

- Free Look allows you to pivot the camera around the plane to get a really good look at it, even while flying. This one can kill you too.

- Top Down does what it says on the tin.

- Remote Control drops the magical cameraman in any point within 3-dimensional space for him to continue to sit and watch the plane as it flies around. Apparently, it's possible to loose control of the plane if you fly too far away from the camera.

These jazz up the games look but most seem to be there to facilitate some Plane titillation so are utterly pointless to me. They add nothing else at all.

But this is all superficial stuff, what about the planes themselves? Well, without sinking any money into these things at all, you can get two planes. One is a boring grey thing that floats on water and the other is a yellow bi-plane. Both are actually quite dull. While I've managed to perform some pretty drunken barrel rolls with the bi-plane, I'm still rather bored with it, despite the work I had to do to earn the bloody thing.

Yes, earn it. You see, it's a freebie for when you log-in to Games for Windows. The problem is that Games for Windows is pretty much broken and appears to have had all the care and attention gone into it's construction that I'd give to my choice of favourite America's Next Top Model contest winner; utter indifference. In order to claim my prize of a virtual bi-plane, I had to sign up for an Xbox account. Then I had to sign into the shop and buy Microsoft Flight for free despite having downloaded it through Steam. This gave me a product key that then let me unlock the online features and the bi-plane.

That's not right. I shouldn't have to go through that sort of a rigmarole for a game. Not any game, ever. I'm being punished because Microsoft hasn't coded the bloody thing properly.

As for the other planes? Can't be bothered. What does happen is that each plane comes with their own set of tutorials, challenges and missions to complete when you download them but I don't like the amount of money that these things go for. It just seems extortionate for the lack of entertainment I know I will experience from this based on what the two free planes are like. Plus, I dislike the need to exchange money for another currency just to spend things on an online shop. I'd much prefer to just pay in cash, rather than Microsoft Points. It seems more straight forwards. It's a transaction of goods, not a fair ground prize.

So, I've admitted that I don't like flight sims but have chosen to take a look at this one. Why? Because this was Microsoft trying to make a more accessible flight sim. This could have gotten me into it but it's not worked in the slightest. There's only two things I can say are actually pretty well done with this game. One, the general presentation of the experience, despite my graphics settings being stuck on low to be able to play at a decent speed, was slick and modern looking. It was actually quite nice to look and use. And two, I liked the country music that's played on the menu screens. It's oddly fitting in a Wii Sports sort of way: pleasant, friendly, warm, inoffensive and scientifically engineered to have nothing anyone can sue Microsoft for. It quite liked it, although I like anything with a good guitar in it. So, it's initially good right up until I have to actually play the damn thing.

My final thoughts? Meh, I'm not sold on it. It's not what it hopes to be but does appear to try and improve on the formula for a wider audience but it feels half-arsed. They don't give a decent enough reward to bother with it all. I'd want to earn new planes, learn and then possibly care about them. That seems like a better way of sucking me in to all this plane stuff. Even though it's free, I can't help but feel like I'm not getting a fair deal with this thing. I kept thinking about the Harley Quinn DLC I have sitting on my PS3 hard-drive that I could be playing through instead. I think I'll stick to going up-diddli-up only to come down-didili-down onto a muggers face than into an Hawaiian island within an empty world in a bi-plane.

I'm just picky like that.