Break out the party hats, poppers (no, not that kind), jelly and ice cream, 'cos guess what - it's trusty old Microsoft Flight Sim's birthday. This year's version celebrates 20 years of Flight Simulator with several jolly games of pass the frozen toilet discharge and musical airfields. Well, we think they'd make great multiplayer games anyway.

Flight Simulator 2004 actually celebrates a hundred years of powered flight, letting you take control of the original 1903 Wright Flyer (not that you can fly it much more than 100 feet, even if you're lucky) and many other famous 'planes from throughout the last century. Suffice to say there's an extensive range featuring plenty of famous oldies and all the standard models like Lear Jets, Boeing 747s and even one helicopter.

And they're simulated to perfection, with authentic cockpits and instruments, engine sounds, top speeds, flight handling... every little detail is fine tuned to make sure the experience of flying a Cessna as opposed to a Boeing is incredibly different.

This is realism with a capital 'R' and it doesn't stop with the 'planes. There's a fully simulated air traffic control system, proper taxi lanes, flight patterns and air space transitions, GPS navigation, realistic weather (to the point where you can actually download current real world weather conditions off the Net every 15 minutes; how cool is that?) and a complete set of various pilot examinations which serve as training tutorials.

These are great for novices, as the student pilot lessons teach some important basic flying skills which aren't immediately obvious, such as why power doesn't necessarily translate to speed and why you should trim your plane properly. There's a host of lessons on flying, taking off and landing (including instructions on how to use the airport's landing indication systems), along with more complex material on how to fly large passenger and cargo jets.

Options, options, options... this simulation has more options than a hyperactive stockbroker. It's not just the extensive tutorials that are well stacked, there are also introductory Windows Media videos illustrating the absolute basics of flight sims and all sorts of help-based goodies. And the range of gameplay choices is exceptional.

It's possible to plot your own custom flights using GPS, with nitty-gritty details like being able to specify instrument failures at certain points. Then there are the historical flights. Fancy flying a Curtiss Jenny in a barn-storming exercise, or a de Havilland Comet in the classic 1934 England to Australia air race? Tons of modern set flights are also provided, including a guided tour of Hawaii's volcanoes, cargo pilot tasks, helicopter and float-plane pilot scenarios. There are even missions where you become a personal chauffeur pilot to some rich novelist.

Graphically this is all splendidly rendered on the higher visual settings and again, attention to detail is prevalent. Fly over Niagara falls and you can even see the 'Maid on the Mist' tourist boat bobbing along. If you have a lesser spec PC, Flight Simulator 2004 still looks pretty smart with medium settings and it runs smoothly too. Should all this not be enough for you, there are also multiplayer options provided via the Web site, though these are fairly basic as this game is really a single player oriented experience.

There are a few drawbacks here but only minor ones, excepting the major and obvious fact that if you're not into leisurely-paced flight sim gaming you're going to be pretty bored. Some of the tutorials seem slightly bugged, which is a shame, and the collision detection is pretty ropey. It's also worth noting that a joystick is really a must, as it's something of a pain to fly with just the keyboard.

Flight Simulator 2004 is more expensive than your average PC game, though of course it's not a game, or even a sim, but practically a new way of life as a pilot! You can learn a great deal about the real art of flying here within and it's jam-packed with an amazing level of detail in terms of the content, graphics and world locations. The visual enhancements, more detailed environments, extra sophistication with elements like the "live" weather and old classic planes to fly, make this a considerable advance on the last version. It's worth the asking price.