Can a casual play this?

[Syncroniam]

When I say casual I mean like how advanced is it to fly in this game? Would I need like a flight setup with joysticks and all that stuff? Because the closest thing I have to that is a controller haha.

[VoiGrattler]

You can. But my advise to you is, get a cheap joystick on ebay. You can switch on easy first inside the settings, so it s pritty "arcade" ( but not 100% arcade ) .. and theres is a flight shool whit good tutorials also. so its possible yes :-)

Enjoy your fllights

[Twelvefield]

A controller will be okay for most stuff in FSX.

[MattPeddlesden]

I fly all the time with a controller, it does everything I need. There are much better ways of doing it, but they're "nice to have" and not by any means essential. If you do get more in to it, rather than a controller, I'd have to say get a TrackIR because they make flying so much easier with the ability to look around - once you've flown with it, you'll realise you've been flying with a neck brace on previously :) I use a TrackIR 4 which does everything I need, not the latest and therefore quite a bit cheaper. However - TrackIR is not mandatory (though I would say very very strongly recommended).

Definitely fine for a casual player to play, there are missions and tutorials if you want directed gameplay, or you can pick any plane, any time of day, any season, any airport and just do whatever you want in free flight - lastly, there's multiplayer now too which is easy to use and great fun :)

I don't consider myself a hardcore player at all and I have plenty of fun exploring different places from the air or doing the missions.

Matt.

[spike]

I'd second everything Matt has said. The game is already set up to use the 360 controlller. Just pick a plane like the F18 and have a go in free flight mode. Once you get a hang of the controls you can try some of the missions. There's a great selection of tutorials guiding through the basics upto advancing flying concepts. They all come with voice overs and notes.

Great game, well worth a look and stacked with content.

[Hopper]

I have used a controller, joystick, and m+kb for this game. They all work good, but I would reccomend you get a cheap joystick if you want the most out of the game. I have an old one from about 5 years ago that I use. As far as difficulty goes, you can adjust the difficulty of the game. By default it is set on easy. If you complete the first few tutorials, you will get the hang of it in no time.