I have a weakness for Tom Cruise, I have to admit it. The actor has become a legend of celluloid and films like Top Gun, Mission Impossible, Born on the fourth of July o Interview with the vampire They do nothing other than catapult a legendary artist. The Hollywood old guard that still prevails.
I was captivated by the 1986 work, thanks to a fabulous soundtrack with unforgettable songs, a plot that combines action with romance and a visual force like I have rarely seen. Therefore, the DLC of Top Gun: Maverick in Microsoft Flight Simulator is the perfect excuse to live an adventure worthy of the franchise.
I installed the Asobo Studio title as soon as I bought my Xbox Series X, but I never got around to playing it… until now. Am a rookie and I apply to the most demanding academy of the US Army. I may not have passed the tests with flying colors, but I certainly enjoyed it.
We will need that to live
It’s really not that I have never had a deep contact with the Flight Simulator saga. In my day I enjoyed a few trips in X-Plane Flight Simulator 7which had an independent manual to explain how to pilot a Boeing-747 on the airlift from Madrid to Barcelona.
Although I managed to make that journey, the truth is that the entire game was a huge warning. The The amount of buttons, levers, lights and gadgets in the cabin was insane.making it clear that touching something inappropriately could mean the line between life and death.
Therefore, before getting into trouble, I dove headlong into the tutorial of Microsoft Flight Simulator so I can get used to the basic controls. The temptation to jump straight into expansion was very strong for me, but I knew that if I took that path I was destined for failure and a disciplinary record in the United States Air Force.
I board a Cessna 152 or in other words, the ridiculous little plane that we can find in Sandy Shores playing GTA Online. I know that in Rockstar’s work getting on this device is synonymous with crazy turbulencebut the first steps consist of recognizing the interior of the device along with the fundamental notions.
Yes, for now it’s simple, although everything is starting to overwhelm me a little. This is the problem you encounter when you play a simulator and it is thinking that, if I have to pay attention to so many needles, indicators and gadgets in an airplane of this size, I don’t even want to think about a whole fighter.
However, fears fly away as soon as I take off from the runway. It’s all much simpler than I expected, heaven is synonymous with freedom, the only rule is to enjoy. I use the satellite data streaming connection, so the representation of the scenario is reliable. It is a pleasure to fly and I understand the reason for the success of Microsoft Flight Simulator.
Welcome to Top Gun
Now yes, I have signed up to enter the Combat Weapons School in Miramar, California. Pete Mitchell, better known as Maverick, has left a trail of legend since he joined almost 40 years ago and my goal is to be minimally on par with him.
I have nine weeks of instruction, the most important of my training, as instructor Diana Drayer reminds me. Fighter pilots are some of the most highly trained soldiers in any military in the world and may not have perfect eyesight, but I’m going to give it my all aboard the F/A-18E Super Hornet.
Damn, it rang Top Gun Anthem on the menu and I already have goosebumps, let the training show begin. First of all, I have to perform a high-performance takeoff, learning to use afterburning and an unlimited climb. It is clear that barriers are there to be broken, but I am amazed at the speed I reach.
300 knots compared to 80 for the Cessna 152 and that already seemed fast. The takeoff from KNFL Fallon NAS is not the best of my career and Miss Drayer is in charge of reminding me. They grade me a C after making beginner mistakes with the pitch. The music is a true reflection that my first step can be greatly improved.
Of course, now is when reality hits me and I realize that the maneuvers I’m rehearsing are a fighter pilot’s survival guide. In the end, combat is a very real possibility to face and I don’t want to repeat mistakes that lead to tragedies like Goose.
You have to overcome the cliff of a mountain at a very short distance using the clouds as support. Of course, I end with a big, fat C as a grade, acknowledging that I have no idea where the slope is located. of the fighter. I am very lost and I need lessons to know how to use the fighter in an optimal way.
Turn for the inversion maneuver and now I have to believe that damn Tom Cruise doing a loop in mid-air to avoid the enemy. It’s the last lesson, the last class and I must do my best. As I write these lines I admit that I still don’t know how, but I get a big A. The music resonates from the speakers, I am the king of the heavens. I’m ready for anything.
Pure spectacle at Mach-2
The wait is over, it’s my turn to show that I have learned the concepts. Curiously, the tests are not different from each other, but the concept is basically the same. I must fly at the lowest altitude I am able to maintain, with Top Gun music playing at full volume and reach a specific point in the shortest time possible.
The lower the altitude and the faster the speed, the more points I receive. All of this surrounded by dreamlike landscapes, enormous green meadows, forests as far as the eye can see and rivers of crystal clear water. The definition after the first test is evident: it is damn crazy.
I have really enjoyed flying through the skies and this is precisely where the free update on Microsoft Flight Simulator. Break the sound barrier, having the air crash against the fighter, combing the treetops and feeling that nothing can stop you is incredible. I finished with a B, but the adrenaline that runs through my body is outstanding.
The rest of the tests are of a similar nature and I really enjoy them. In all of them I receive a B, but I feel confident and begin to risk even more, with really good pirouettes. Surely some West Virginia farmer has lost his hat when I fly over his ranch at Mach-2.
The entire scene is so well recreated that when the G forces begin to reach worrying numbers, the pilot’s breathing is labored. My vision becomes cloudy if I don’t regain a more comfortable position and I could become unconscious. Special reminder for Alaska, a brutal snowy landscape. These are some of my results.
So far I’ve had a great time, but apparently we were talking about a game for children. I have to face one of the most risky operations in all of aviation: landing in the middle of an aircraft carrier. To summarize my experience trying it, I will say that the United States Secretary of Defense did not take kindly to one of his pilots crashed 51 million dollars because it was not clarified with visual references.
I look like an aerial surgeon, it takes brutal mastery to control the ship and I take my hat off to any pilot who manages to do it. Be careful, there is still one more surprise and this one comes directly from Top Gun: Maverick.
In Tom Cruise’s film we could see that he was aboard a very peculiar ship, prepared for a very specific type of journey, which he pilots at the beginning. I have come across it in Microsoft Flight Simulator and it is an experimental Darkstark. To give you an idea, it is capable of transcontinental hypersonic flights.
That is, my task is to cross from the American west coast to Cape Canaveral in the impressive time of just 35 minutes. A madness that seems taken from a Concorde trip, although we will avoid a similar tragedy. They already warn me from the control tower that any movement must be very calculatedsince a minor detail can destabilize the entire trajectory.
The truth is that I’m excited, since the goal is to reach as high as to be able to appreciate the curvature of the Earth and the darkness of space. My disappointment comes when I don’t make it and I end up embedded in some mountain in the middle of the country. Evidently, he ended up expelled from the Top Gun academywith an irregular service record and the tremendous satisfaction of having fully enjoyed the best possible aviation experience.
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