Flight Sim World takes off into early access clouds
Flight or flight response
Giant flying machinery simulator Flight Sim World [official site] has taken to the early access skies today. Will it soar and glide like a divine condor, or will its engine splutter and crash like a divine condor that has suddenly died of a heart attack? With metaphors like this, who can say. It’s from Dovetail Games, the makers of the Train Simulator series, responsible for the swarms of train-based DLC you often see on the Steam storefront. Our Alice once said that Train simulator is “one of those fascinating games where people who’ve played it for hundreds of hours will tell you it’s awful”. So it is hard to judge how their journey into the air might turn out.
That was a short video of some planes. Here are some short sentences, also about planes.
Take control of your exquisitely modeled aircraft, from take-off to landing, through a variety of dramatic weather conditions. Either fly with friends in multiplayer mode, or fly solo from over 24,000 airports worldwide.
If you are new to flight simulation, learn the basics while working towards obtaining your in-sim qualifications in our true-to-life flight lessons. For those who demand more of a challenge, a series of complex missions will push your skills to their limit.
They are running a typical early access gauntlet, according to some early reviews on Steam. Many people so far are complaining about optimisation problems like poor FPS rates. But Dovetail say updates are planned soon, including “a weather system upgrade, flight planner expansions, and enhanced multiplayer functionality”. I haven’t been for a spin in an virtual aircraft since my flying lessons with a real pilot but I might give this a go and see if I remember everything correctly or if I try to simulate a stall and crash into the sea. It's on Steam for £19.99/$24.99.