Why I buy this one ?
- Fly 24 different airplanes, including Ultralites for when you don't want to deal with all the knobs and dials
- Visit 24,000 of the world's airports, on all 7 continents
- Authentic road layouts - fly over your home town and navigate by the streets below
- Simulates advanced GPS technology
- Deeply immersive world to providing more structured gameplay elements

jwwbooks4 from UT, United States offers this stuff for:

Price : $25.48 Usually ships in 1-2 business days

CatchTheDeal offers this stuff with condition New, new for:

Price : $25.49 Usually ships in 2-3 business days

SURF ENTERTAINMENT offers this stuff with condition New, new for:

Price : $25.55 Usually ships in 1-2 business days

ANTOnline offers this stuff with condition New, new for:

Price : $26.90 Usually ships in 1-2 business days

mindos368 from AZ, United States offers this stuff for:

Price : $26.95 Usually ships in 1-2 business days

J&R Music and Computer World offers this stuff with condition New, new for:

Price : $27.99 Usually ships in 1-2 business days

--caiman-- from FL, United States offers this stuff for:

Price : $28.46 Usually ships in 1-2 business days

XP Passport offers this stuff with condition New, new for:

Price : $28.51 Usually ships in 2-3 business days

Beach Audio offers this stuff with condition New, new for:

Price : $28.97 Usually ships in 1-2 business days

Amazon.com offers this stuff with condition New, new for:

Price : $28.99 Usually ships in 1 to 3 weeks

What our customer's say!

"no install", I purchased this game being very excited to play it. Little did I know that it was such a hard thing to install. When I put it in the DVD slot in my hard drive it did nothing, it just spun like it was going to do something. I don't want to take it back because that is what I spent all of my MONEY ON!. I would recomend this game to any one who wouldn't like to play FSX but would like to play THE INSTALL GAME.

I am so UPSET .

"Great sim but.. . .", The advantages of getting the latest version is for all the updated scenery; more traffic, cars on the freeway, etc. The problem is that the more detail you generate, the more difficult the aircraft becomes to control. This is especially true trying to taxi large jets or worse if you program any inclement weather (snow, heavy rain, etc). The plane barely moves or it's like it's got a bad case of tourettes. You can straighten up and fly right. . .if you want to minimize all scenery and other aspects that prompted the upgrade in the first place.

"Great upgrade, but lacking in airfcraft selection", I have been an avid flight simulation fan since Flight Sim 2000, and Microsoft's latest upgrade did not disappoint. I will preface my statement, however, by stating that my experiences may have been somewhat atypical given many of the responses here! I did initially experience disappointing graphical performance, but those problems were quickly rectified by installing Service Pack 1, available online at Microsoft's website; after making some very minor graphics adjustments, everything ran smoothly and I have had no problems since.

I continue to be absolutely blown away by the quality of the graphics; animation at the airports (i.e. fuel vehicles, moving jetaways) as well as the addition of traffic on most major highways are two of the most noticeable changes in this version, significantly boosting the realism factor. The quality of the landscapes, both urban and rural, has improved considerably; highly accurate depictions of even more city skylines are now standard to the game, and water textures have also improved dramatically since the last version. For newbies (and even experienced folks wishing to brush up on things) the tutorials are fun and highly effective, and the game has less of a learning curve than one might expect.

To me, the major detriment is the lack of aircraft variety. I am not certain which aircraft come standard with the Deluxe version, but I was a bit surprised to see that Microsoft decided to cut the Boeing 777 from this release. Mid-to-long range aircraft such as the Boeing 767 or the Airbus A330 are also noticeably lacking; there are simply relatively short-range jets such as the A320 and Boeing 737, and then the Boeing 747 on the other end of the spectrum. For people such as me who mostly fly between large city airports and/or enjoy international-intercontinental flights, this is a bit of a detriment. It would also have been great to see the A380 as standard in the game, but I suppose that will have to await future releases. But all in all, I would highly recommend this game as a source of many hours of great entertainment; something truly never gets old about watching the contours of the Rocky Mountains during the landing on a San Francisco - Denver flight, or watching the sun slowly rise and cast brilliant iridescent colors over the Atlantic Ocean on a Miami - Paris flight. Great game!!



"Prepare for takeoff!", I got into flight simulator way back when FS95 was born. The graphics were nearly unbearable but god I loved that game. Now were up to FSX which is so unbelievably advanced its nearly unreal. The graphics are gorgeous and the real world landscapes and weather conditions are fantastic. I flew a cessna out of our hometown airport last night right in the midst of the snow storm we were experiencing! How cool is that?

Be cautioned that this game requires some HEFTY graphics cards to be able to take full advantage of its splendor. I will be replacing my ATI 2600 PRO for a Geforce 8600 GT so I can get the full effect, but its a worthwhile upgrade! Just dont get on here and complain if your graphics card is to sucky to enjoy the game. Its your own fault for not doing your homeword before buying!

"FSX", I thought it was a great new addition to the lineup. Looked great. would reccomend a graphics card higher than 256mb though.

Read this reviews before You buy...

"Great for the price", I've used MS FS on and off since the 1980's. It truly has come a long way.

I initially read a lot about how FSX requires a 'super computer' to run acceptably so I didn't bother purchasing it since my PC is a circa 2004 P4 3.2GHz, 1GB RAM with an AGP NVIDIA GeForce 6800GT (not a bad machine really, but no 'super computer'). When I received FSX for Christmas last year, I went ahead and installed it expecting the worst. Much to my surprise, FSX performed rather well. No, I can't put all the display settings close to max but even at the lower settings, FSX looks better than FS9.

For me, at least for now, it's about perceived frame rates and not actual frame rates. If I can fly an airplane smoothly, with little or no apparent hesitation, then I am pretty happy. And FSX flies pretty smoothly for me in enough situations to keep me coming back. Perfect? No. Good enough for now? Yes.

That's the key thing: situational awareness. If I try flying from JFK with AI traffic cranked up to 100% and higher display settings, I'm probably not going to get flyable results. However, if I fly from Tromso or Bodo Norway I can crank the traffic up (because there are few AI flights), and even adjust a few scenery sliders to the right and things run relatively smoothly. I have found flying around islands such as Hawaii or into Princess Juliana to be quite pleasant experiences. I can't say for certain, but the service pack may have helped things a bit.

I still have a lot to explore with FSX but at this point I think I have identified some major culprits that seem to affect performance for me: sea traffic, high water effects, highly complex scenery areas (large cities for example) and high AI traffic. But these are easily avoided and the sim still looks and feels great in a lot of areas. As long as you are willing to adjust display settings depending on where you are and what the situation is (weather, daytime, nighttime), I think you'll get a lot of satisfaction from FSX even on an older machine like mine.

Microsoft still makes fairly lousy default aircraft, although things have improved this time around. The C172 isn't bad if you want to learn about flying or just want to tool around in a half-way decent GA aircraft. And the Bell helicopter can be a lot of fun. The Beaver seems decent. The Baron and CRJ can sorta get you by until you pick up a decent add-on aircraft such as Eaglesoft's Citation II.

MS still has a ways to go in terms of ATC though. ATC can be kind of nice at times, it can more or less do an IFR flight plan and it's cool just to have radio chatter and hear surrounding AI traffic, and to hear somebody say `cleared for takeoff' or `cleared to land', but in general ATC apparently has little clue about aircraft spacing, standard procedures, terrain awareness, etc.

MS has done a decent job of creating the feeling of flight for less than $50 on a home computer. That's amazing! They have managed to create a fairly nice world to explore (much depends on where you are: some places are stunning, some are very unconvincing). Once they manage to get some more real-world logic built into the ATC system and improve some game enhancements(camera options, though improved, still leave a lot to be desired, the weather system could be better and more robust) FS will be worthy of the highest accolades. For now, it's a very nice sim that can provide a pretty realistic experience for those wishing to experience flight. And for the price, it's amazing.


"This game is AWESOME!!!!!!", This game has the best graphics in a PC game that I've ever seen. The scenery and graphics is great on my computer. The game is also really fun. However, don't buy this game if you dont have at least 25 gigabytes of space. Or a slow computer, or Windows 2000. The game takes up only 15 gigabytes. but you'll need alot of extra space for it to run good. But I have Windows Vista and one of the best Dell computers that you can buy with a really good hard drive.

"From a "Not-Hardcore-Gamer" View", Let me get something of my chest first. I have noticed a lot of bad feedback on reviewers who give higher ratings to products that are developed by Microsoft. So just to make it clear - I am not reviewing Microsoft, I'm reviewing the simulator.

So.. how fun is this game? Well it's your system that can actually answer this question. This game is amazing from my point of view. I have used everything, from FS98 to latest X-Plane.. and nothing is as good as this.

The Good:

- Stunning graphics. This is the most beautiful game I have ever played. From the water effects to shadows from the plane.. every effect and particle is breathtaking.

- Gameplay. It is an amazing gameplay, indeed. You can now fly in any seat you like, control literally any view of the airplane, most of the cockpit controls work and function the way they are supposed to. The weather system is amazing.

- Multiplayer. This one speaks for itself: FUN FUN FUN. It is very entertaining since you get to see people from all over the world. However, there are few cons.. like the Bad ATC guys who often mislead you and cause you to crash etc. It was foggy, so I depended on A/P. I was told to turn 074R, which I did. I heard the ILS Frequency so I put it on APP but ultimately, I was put into wrong direction and as much as APP fought to align me to the right direction (while keeping up with sped and altitude) i still landed in the ocean.. and of course crashed (since you're not able to actually land on water in this game). Of course, there are plenty of pefect ATC's out there but even with few that are not as good it's still VERY fun to play. Try it and see for yourself.

The Bad:

- ATC. ATC has not changed much from FS2004 other than a new "window" that it displays in. Still no ability to declare an emergency which is sort of a disappoint since you ARE able to set engines to fail or to run out of fuel (or both). So.. if your engines die out on you don't you think you deserve a right to report the situation to ATC? LOL

- Crash dynamics. If you're hoping to be able to crash your plane into a mountain and see a giant explosion and earthquakes then I have to disappoint you. While I almost never crash in Flight Sims I still wish there were better crashing dynamics to make it more realistic. For example, if I land heavily on my nose I'd love to see my plane's nose gear to fail and act like it would in physics.

Also, why can't we have the ability to land on water? Boeing 737 CAN do that (if propely executed). Here, no matter what amazing pilot you are.. as soon as you touch the water - you crash. Oh well. It's a very small thing but I wish it was improved a bit.

The Ugly:

- System requirements. I agree with what many reviewers said - this game depends more on CPU than it does on video card. This game will most likely NOT work at the Max settings if you have a brand-name PC (eMachines, HP, Dell).

When I first installed the game I had AMD Sempron 3300 (2.01GHz); 2GB DDR, Radeon X1650 Pro with 512MB. I ran the CanYouRunIT tool from System Requirements Lab.. the report said that I exceed RECOMMENDED requirements and should have a great experience with the game. I didn't really believe that since I have a 3rd class CPU but I played FS2004 and HL2 on the HIGHEST settings with absolutely NO lags so I thought it would work fine.

I was.. wrong. The game was not playable unless I set all of the aircraft, transport and texture settings to Minnimum Low. It lagged horribly on my native resolution of 1680x1050 32 which I had to put into 1440x900 16bit.

I purchased a new video card which is Geforce GTX 8800 with 740mb of RAM and can now play without any lags on my native resolution with settings set to Medium High but still not maxed out. Why? Because this game needs CPU. In this case, the CPU is the heart not the video card. If you buy it make sure to get the SP1 for this ASAP.. there are few performance updates which could be crucial if your video card or CPU isn't the best.

So to wrap up - I highly recommend this simulator to any Aerolover as myself. But make sure you have a GOOD CPU and card. If you have them you'll find yourself spending hours and hours flying above gorgeous landscapes, commmunicating with people all over the world, surviving a dead engine and/or faulty mechanics and generally having fun. This amazing software is both entertaining and educational.

"Gotta have Vista", I have a pretty nice rig the only thing its really lacking is Vista. Though this FSX has a DX9.X version; it looks horrible. A Vista/DX10 enabled system is almost required. I recommend this for the flight sim freak, it's as good as MSFS has ever been but for the player who wants shiny graphics as well as gameplay, make sure you are using Vista the graphics without it are just not up to snuff.

"Get the Deluxe version instead.", It costs more, but you get so much more in the way of backgrounds, planes, animations, the lot.


As for user complaints of the product key, I hope Microsoft fixes them. I've had no problem with mine, but have read reports of people with legitimate copies having activation problems. :(