I'm sure I will get flamed, but here are my impressions (opinions of course).The download was quick-- maybe 9 or 10 minutes. Install was easy, however you have to setup an MS account (already had one for Xbox). Once installed you have to play an intro mission. Not bad, but should have had a skip button. I did like the fact that crashes were modeled because I felt the immediate urge to fly into the balloon (frankly I was expecting that they would not include any collisions to sanitize the experience).The performance was good, and it should be because the graphics while decent aren't on par with FSX and it's addons-- though better than stock FSX for sure. The water looks strange (on what planet do you see waves and swells like that?), and the clouds look meh.. (unless you like cotton balls in the sky).So the first mission is to fly this really annoying lady who talks like she is constipated to a yacht for a wedding. Along the way she plays a Ukelele. The yacht is like fifteen miles away when the program announces that you can skip to the "action" or waypoints as it was put-- and that most missions would have this feature. I guess the whole "Flying" part can be boring, so fast forwarding to the action is offered. I don't get that, because it would be like driving a car racing game and fast forwarding to just the part when you make a turn or cross the finish line..Then when I completed the mission, which was to land, I won a "Coconut bra" reward. What the???I think the game will appeal to people who love games that are all about racking up points and leveling.That's my two cents.

You mean someone on Avsim does not have a sense of humor? GASP!!! The Coconut bra is just a joke dude! All these "achievements" are always a little tongue and cheek. Enjoy life a little! I heard Coconut bra's are rather popular in Hawaii or something. I was going to be a pilot, then I took an arrow to the knee..I agree with most of your points. Forcing people to do the opening missions is stupid. Many of us already know the basics. I dont agree with your view on the "skip" button. A 747 pilot once told me "Flying is short moments of shier panic, separated by long stretches of pure boredom" and its true. Some of us like to sit there flying level for hours, some done. With the skip option there, it caters to BOTH party's. Those who like to fly level for hours can ignore the skip feature, and those who dont want to be bored can just skip to the fun. I dont see how having this feature makes it any less a sim. Just gives people more options on how they want to fly, and options are always good.

I'm a level 2 full-bird Colonel in Battlefield 3 and that took A LONG TIME to get to.Believe me, I was bored after 2 hours with Flight. Just my opinion as I'm an FS9/FSX junkie with loads of payware. So even the "gamer" in me can't see through the "meh". There's a lot to like in regards to the upgraded ground textures and bugs squashed by the devs, but I'm still BORED with my car plane considering I have to get the achievements again.

Edited February 29, 201214 yr by NWarty

There are only two phases of flying that interest me: takeoff and landing.Well, aerobatics are pretty interesting too, but the first two are my primary interest.In the past sixteen years or so, I've flown precisely one trans-Atlantic flight, and I went to bed while Otto flew the a/c! When I got up in the morning I flew the last 45 minutes myself.

Believe me, I was bored after 2 hours with Flight. Just my opinion as I'm an FS9/FSX junkie with loads of payware. So even the "gamer" in me can't see through the "meh". There's a lot to like in regards to the upgraded ground textures and bugs squashed by the devs, but I'm still BORED with my car plane considering I have to get the achievements again.

Have you managed to complete any of the aerobatic challenges yet? Who'll be the first to earn the Gold by performing 100% of the aerobatic routine within the flight box?

There are only two phases of flying that interest me: takeoff and landing.Well, aerobatics are pretty interesting too, but the first two are my primary interest.In the past sixteen years or so, I've flown precisely one trans-Atlantic flight, and I went to bed while Otto flew the a/c! When I got up in the morning I flew the last 45 minutes myself.Have you managed to complete any of the aerobatic challenges yet? Who'll be the first to earn the Gold by performing 100% of the aerobatic routine within the flight box?

No Bill I haven't, like I said, I was so bored with Flight, I just gave up on it. It isn't for me and I wasn't given the beta DLC either. I wasn't too excited to download the release but tried it out anyways. I have the Maule and the P-51. IL-2's P-51 version blows the Flight version out of the water even in exterior mode and I'm not sure why everyone was so excited about the Maule. Seemed much of a "default" aircraft to me on the low end of payware caliber.

Edited February 29, 201214 yr by NWarty

There are only two phases of flying that interest me: takeoff and landing

Pretty much the same with me. 90% of my flight sim usage has always been touch and goes, circuits and very short trips within 10 minutes of an aerodrome. This makes the concept of Flight very attractive given the number of detailed minor airfields.

I was going to be a pilot, then I took an arrow to the knee..

+1 excellent! Flight is taking time away from my "life" in Skyrim!

GASP!!! The Coconut bra is just a joke dude!

I know it was a supposed to be humorous! I just didn't get it... Maybe if I was 7 years old I would have giggled over the cleverness... guess I am a grumpy old guy. Now back to the game to find the "bongo" reward :) hehe...

Have you managed to complete any of the aerobatic challenges yet? Who'll be the first to earn the Gold by performing 100% of the aerobatic routine within the flight box?

This is an example of what Flight is - a badly conceived, half finished product. The challenge involves a plane that is not designed for aerobatics, although it can do the maneuvers. The real problem is that for aerobatics one needs very good situational awareness, but Flight does not support head tracking, nor does it have a flexible, multi-camera/multi-view system to facilitate this. Flight does not have a replay feature so one could analyze the flight and learn from mistakes and correct them.Flight does not have a good feedback system on any challenges as to why the challenge failed, except in the obvious ones. There is no way to tell what happened in a maneuver and why it failed or how close one came to completing it.Also, without the capability to fine-tune controller/rudder sensitivity, asking people to do aerobatics is rather silly. So is the fact that one is supposed to be able to use Flight with just a mouse and keyboard. Good luck with that.All of these challenges come without a proper introduction or description. The target audience of new users are supposed to do hammer heads and loops without any understanding of what they are doing, because the idea of Flight is "flying" not to "operate the aircraft".Clearly, MS doesn't know what Flight should be, a game or a simulation. In the end, it is neither.

Perhaps if you played more than 20 minutes you would see that those missions are tutorials. Remember FSX, flying through gigantic green squares in an ultralight? Its the same thing. Once you get past the boring stuff, Free Flight is opened up as well as some cool landing challenges and more interesting missions, if that's your kind of thing.

I typed a longer response and lost it , ugh.To everyone that keeps complaining that the new crowd will be lost without complex scripted training missions and analysis tools... Those tools will not be very useful to the new crowd. When they're ready, they'll find the software that provides those functions.For now....Google.com or whatever your preferred search engine is.It's what the young people use these days when they have questions. :)In fact they might find themselves pointed over here as I was many times over the years. we should put the best foot forward and welcome them.

Flight is both a game and a sim, there is no way around that. I understand that some people do not like it, thats fine. It does not make it less a sim, though with a limited focus.

Hale on, bra!

n4gix, on 29 February 2012 - 01:41 AM, said:Have you managed to complete any of the aerobatic challenges yet? Who'll be the first to earn the Gold by performing 100% of the aerobatic routine within the flight box?

This is an example of what Flight is - a badly conceived, half finished product. The challenge involves a plane that is not designed for aerobatics, although it can do the maneuvers.

I completed the aerobatics challenge on my second try. Missed on the first because I wasn't able to spin on the first attempt. After a little practice, I tried again and got everything, and all within the box.Eventually got blue ribbon for free style aerobatics on the fly in. In the Stearman. All without TrackIR or multiple monitors. I think twice in the fly in I looked to one side from the cockpit.This stuff isn't that difficult, it just takes a bit of practice. Hook

It might just be because I haven't used TrackIR, but looking around while flying is not difficult at all without it. My stick's hat switch paired with my mouse are more than enough to give me all of the freedom of looking around I need (with Numpad-5 remapped to "reset eyepoint").