Flight Simulator: Halos Pelican is a nice gimmick, now I want more

For Halo fans who enjoy playing Flight Simulator, Sunday’s Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase offered a nice little gift. You can now download a Pelican transporter from Halo for free on the Flight Simulator Marketplace and jet around the world with it.

I tried that right away… and was confused at first. I don’t know about you, but there are moments when I feel a bit helpless while playing Flight Simulator. In this case it concerned the take-off of the Pelican. Release parking brake, engine on and off in the air, so far no problem. But then: why doesn’t the damn bastard move forward? This roughly sums up my initial train of thought.

After a short search on the internet, I found out that there is a switch in the cockpit to switch between flight and hover mode. Tell me that now! And then we’re off, zipping around the world in the Pelican like pretty much every plane in Flight Simulator. Since it simply lifts off vertically when it takes off, no runway is too small for the Pelican and you can take off from any airport.

I don’t know how much fun the real flight sim enthusiasts will have with it, and if they’ll ever touch the Pelican, but for the Halo fans out there, it’s definitely a nice gimmick. One that actually makes me want more. There are still one or the other vehicle that the developers could build in, such as a Banshee or a Phantom from Halo.

Or how about one or more airplanes from the classic Crimson Skies? A series that Microsoft is welcome to revive, but only marginally. In any case, the Pelican in Flight Simulator makes it clear that there is also room for aircraft that are not based on real models, without it looking too awkward. Gladly more of such official collaborations.