
Simulation
Flight simulator
You fly an aircraft with controls modelled on the real thing: taking off, navigating and landing while minding the instruments, the weather and flight physics. It ranges from highly realistic simulation to arcade-style air combat.
Also known as: flight sim, flight simulation game
This is a basic entry: it has the definition and the classification. Full entries add history, games and a demo.
History
- 1975Origin
Taito's Interceptor (1975) was a first-person arcade combat flight simulator. Sega's Jet Rocket (1970) already simulated flight, but it was an electro-mechanical machine, not a video game.
Flight simulation video game (Wikipedia) - 1982
Microsoft licenses Sublogic's Flight Simulator for the IBM PC, giving rise to Microsoft Flight Simulator.
Microsoft Flight Simulator (Wikipedia)
Subgenres
- Space flight simulatorYou fly a spacecraft from the cockpit: manoeuvring, docking, trading or fighting between planets and stations. Depending on the game, the challenge is mastering realistic orbital physics or surviving and thriving in an open galaxy.