Game Reviews

Paper Pilot

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| Paper Pilot
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Paper Pilot
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| Paper Pilot

Wasn’t it always the way that, as a kid, you’d spend ages crafting a paper plane, cutting out air vents and flaps across its wings like a paid-up Air Force designer, only to watch it nosedive after a few feet.

And then the kid next to you, who had just folded a simple plane, would look down at yours and snicker as his vanished into the distance.

You don’t get to design your own plane in Paper Pilot, but you do get to fly one. You control the direction of your craft using the accelerometer, while moving either thumb up and down the screen changes your speed.

The first thing you notice upon entering a level is how good it looks. Brick walls and modern furniture appear with great detail in the impressive-looking environments. The framerate chugs frequently, but Paper Pilot is a spectacle nonetheless - even the shading of the paper plane itself is dynamic and really quite gorgeous.

As a tech demo of the 3D potential of the iPod touch and iPhone, Paper Pilot is a genuinely interesting title. It’s just a pity it doesn’t manage to match the glory of its visuals with equally impressive gameplay.

For starters, the game could do with a more ambitious physics engine. Although you do feel like you’re flying, the lack of stalling and the fact that you can even stop mid-air takes away from the game's realism. Bouncing off the walls has no real effect unless you set a penalty for it in the Options menu.

There are eight levels split over four environments, though some rooms are repeated across multiple levels. In each, you need to collect paper clips that form a trail, making Paper Pilot a time trial of sorts. You only have the first two levels open to you at the start, the others unlocked in pairs by acquiring a certain number of medals.

There are three different medals to be won in each level: Test Pilot, Fighter Pilot and Captain. Most of the Fighter Pilot medals can be won by simply doing quite well, but the Captain medals require tight runs.

The collecting of paperclips can become a little tiresome as you repeat levels over trying to win the top medals, especially considering that Captain medals have to be won to unlock the last two levels.

It's an impressive feat of graphical engineering that Paper Pilot can fold over its flaws by virtue of its style. Better physics and a general tune-up are needed for the game to truly soar. As it is, it simply glides on its merits without reaching the heights of its potential.

Paper Pilot

Paper Pilot looks nice, but it's far from breezy with physics that need tuning and levels that require adjusments
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