Flight Control

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you were handed complete control over LA’s air space during your coffee break? Find out in this brilliant new casual game from Firemint!

The goal of this game is to create paths for planes to follow as they near the runway at the airport. Just touch and drag to guide the planes to their destination. Right now there are 4 different aircraft: Helicopters, propeller planes, jets, and jumbo jets. The helicopters are the slowest, and have to be guided to the helipad, while the propeller planes have to be guided to the smaller runway. Both the jets and jumbo jets land at the main runway, but the jumbo jets are the fastest of the bunch. The controls are simple really, but you have to make sure none of the planes will land at the same time as another, or crash in mid flight! The game starts off easy, but when nearing about 15 or 20 planes landed, that’s when it really gets chaotic.

The menu and presentation are that of the 50′s era art style. The visuals are very crisp, displayed in a pleasant pastel color plate. Even thought here’s nothing really fancy about the visuals, they’re well done, with no pixelated edges or other graphical glitches. The planes are also nicely displayed and it isn’t difficult at all to distinguish the different types. It would be nice if they graphics were more varied, but it’s not a huge factor. The soundtrack also has a charming 50′s feel to it, something that you immediately connect to when you think “old fashioned diner”, like the restaurant Ruby’s. The music fits the game well and is great to listen to. The sounds on the other hand are also fitting to the game. There are no noises for the aircraft, but selecting and deselecting aircraft had a pleasant ding to them, them, and every time a plane is landed, a satisfying “ding!” occurs. The beeping warning sounds also do a good job of notifying the player when aircraft are about to collide.

The gameplay is solid, and Flight Control is one of those games that scream “just another time!”, then you realise many minutes have gone by. However, I do wish there was more game modes, and even though stats are kept track of, there should be more variety. The high score, average score, most recent score, most number of aircraft on screen, total aircraft landed, and plane most likely to crash are all recorded, and while nice, there could be more in depth stats. The gameplay is a little different everytime, but to make the game truly unique would be the addition of more airports, and possibly another type of aircraft.  No matter what, I always feel like I need to top my past score, and it hasn’t been boring yet!

Flight Control is a well done game, with a lovely style of gameplay. For fans of ATC 4.0, which I’ve never had the chance to try out, this is said to be a more streamlined and relaxed version. If anyone is looking to for a nice casual game to play and relax with, Flight Control is a must buy, especially since it is currently on sale at $0.99. So welcome aboard, please sit back, fasten your seatbelt and enjoy the mayhem!

The Good

Great pick up and play style
Appropriate 50′s feel
Just screams for one more playthrough

The Bad

Needs more airports
Can be quite difficult

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Tagged as: Flight Control Firemint App Store Planes iPod Touch iPhone, Simulation