Microsoft Flight: Free to Fly

Few types of games outright intimidate me like flight sims. I mean, I've enjoyed a few flying games, but generally they're in space, or the put a much greater emphasis on ridiculous maneuvers than they do on realistic physics. But Flight is [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]different; Microsoft is taking its most hardcore piece of gaming software out of the hands of a niche audience and giving everyone a chance to play.

That being said, allow me to assuage the longtime fans' fears. Though Microsoft Flight can be played with a keyboard and mouse, it will support all the fancy joysticks, flap pedals and other doo dads that enthusiasts love. Per Microsoft, it also boasts the "most sophisticated" flight model the series has ever had, and you can turn off assists to, in theory, make it as hardcore as they want it to be. Take deep breaths, stay your rage addled fingertips from posting on the Flight forums, and read on to see how much you really have to be mad about.

Flight aims to give the thrill of flying to everyone, including those intimidated by joysticks. For those portions of the audience Flight offers an array of assists to make flying something you can jump right into. You can launch your plane from the ground or just start mid-flight, drop in and start flying without worrying about adjusting instruments, checking flaps or going over an elaborate pre-flight list (though you can still do every single one of these things manually if that's where you get your jollies). The resulting experience puts the emphasis on ease of user experience, with mouse and keyboard controls that work surprisingly well if the demo I saw was any indication.

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