IPHONE GAME REVIEW
Flight ControlHigh flyin' |
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Product: Flight Control
| Developer: Firemint
| Format: iPhone
| Genre: Casual, Puzzle
| Players: 1
| Version: Europe
| App version: 1.0, 1.0
For all of the horrendous plane crashes of late that have been splashed across the headlines of papers and televised news, there's never been a greater need for Flight Control. From open skies to a flurry of aircraft, the game illustrates how a simple task can turn into a serious challenge.
Thankfully there's no real risk in failing to be an astute air traffic controller here, other than the one you take by not grabbing this high flier.
Flight Control really doesn't deserve to be so addictive. The game screen is nothing more than three landing areas for the different aircraft that fly in from afar.
A red runway cuts across the centre of the screen, a smaller yellow one sits at an angle toward the right, and a helicopter landing pad rests at the top. These are your targets for bringing in the screen full of aircraft safely.
As the planes fly onto the screen, it's your job as the air traffic controller to determine their flight path. Drawing a line with your finger from plane to relevant airstrip (red planes to the red landing strip, for example) is all it takes to guide them in. They blindly follow whatever curving, circling, winding route you assign to them.
The difficulty comes from a whole bunch of jumbo jets all trying to touch down safely, one at a time, without crashing into each other. It takes some creative, quick-fingered guidance to ensure each craft follows a safe path and arrives at the landing field when it's clear.
Naturally, more and more planes come in to land as the game progresses. Also complicating matters are the different kinds of aircraft under your command. Helicopters, for example, fly very slowly and can really get in the way of the fast moving super jumbos.
The smaller red planes are still pretty quick, but can't match the velocity of the larger craft. The difference in speed has to be factored in when planning how you intend to bring them all to the ground safely.
The sky can get pretty cluttered at times, which adds real drama to an otherwise a simple game. Though after a hundred or so goes - you'll easily chalk up that number in the first few days - you're sure to notice patterns in the aircraft's approaches.
You'd expect the locations of the new planes to be randomised, though each type of aircraft comes from specific points around the edge of the screen. It doesn't have any adverse effect on the enjoyment of Flight Control, but it would add an extra layer of challenge if you weren't able to predict the incoming planes quite so easily.
The level of difficulty is also basic. The longer you play, the more planes fly onto the screen. It makes the first few minutes a little too easy and ultimately puts something of a cap on the gameplay time since there's a finite amount of airspace.
Once you get above a score of 50 or 60 (one point per plane, by the way) things get so crowded there's little even the most skillful air traffic controller can do to keep the runways working.
But as a quick, clean, cheap and clever casual game, Flight Control is pretty much without equal on the App Store due to its sheer, unabashed addictiveness. Hopefully Firemint will come up with one or two tweaks for future updates, to mix up the gameplay a little, but Flight Control is one of those essential games that you'll continually return to and will remain on your iPhone forever.
Flight Control |
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If you could put Flight Control in a needle, it'd be considered a Class A drug. That's how simple and addictive it is
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Phil M | 5 April 2009
You know .. simple really does go well on the iPhone casual gaming front and this title is a home run. It is everything an iPhone game should be.
I can't put it down
Craig Grannell | 6 April 2009
I'm convinced this game's difficulty comes in waves, rather like Defender. It's also pretty much the perfect 'pick up and play' title, and so even an 8 feels like it's been under-rated here. FWIW, I'm in the high 80s score-wise, and someone on Cult of Mac who's an air-traffic controller claims to have gotten over 200, and so perhaps there's even some authenticity here!
Joined:
Jul 2008
Post count:
393
Yeah, I agree this is a game that attacks in waves. In fact, now you mention it, Firemint did tell me that in an early email.
80 is my best so far, and I reckon I could have squeezed a couple more in except I crashed while taking screen caps for this review! :-D
You can see my high score if you cycle through the attached screenies. 200 sounds like the sort of score I'm never likely to see.
Also, a nine would be a very reasonable score for Flight Control, I agree. We deliberated on that for quite some time.
Joined:
Jul 2007
Post count:
144
80?? I think my best is 30-something. I do kinda wish they had a story mode like in ATC 4.0, but it's a great game to spend a few minutes with (again and again and again... in a row)
Craig Grannell | 9 April 2009
Spanner—I've broken 100 now (high of 141) and am regularly scoring in the 80s. If you fancy bettering your score, check out the tips on the thread off the bottom of the FC mini-review I wrote for Cult of Mac: http://is.gd/q3Ea
One of the best tips is to learn how to land planes in both directions. You can then land slow jets from right-to-left on the red runway and large jets from left-to-right. I also find it easier to get a higher score when playing looking down, the iPhone flat on the table.
Joined:
Sep 2008
Post count:
60
Love this game.
Colonel Molerat | 21 April 2009
My high score is 34. My girlfriend's is 94.
GRRRRRR!
uwgoldenboy | 14 May 2009
I just got a 235. My previous best had been in the high 80s. After you get over the 100 mark it gets easier.
Joined:
Jun 2009
Post count:
8
Pocketgamer you should increase your score of this game to Gold from Silver. This game is classic in the making, so simple but you always have to have another go, it reminds me of the first time I played Tetris on the Gameboy.
If this was on the DS, it really wouldn't be the same, it really is satisfying drawing lines with your fingers and watching the planes follow the path.
Joined:
Jul 2009
Post count:
2
You know it's a classic when companies start releasing games that are pretty much straight clones of it (Harbour Master & Shipwreck) and games that seem inspired by it but do their own thing (Draw Race).
