iPhone Reviews 2.0

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Flight Control is a time management game by Firemint. $0.99

With Harbor Master coming hopefully in time for WWDC by Imangi Studios, I thought I would take the time to review one of the best selling games on the App Store. For those who have no idea, Harbor Master is a game with a very similar style of play, except with a boat theme instead of taking to the skies. Flight Control is a small project created by Australian developers Firemint before they released their upcoming game Real Racing. Flight Control is based on a very simple time management process to run a successful Airport. It sounds easier than it seems, with hours to master the game and even more hours of fun to be had. Currently there is only one difficulty level and one map to play, but a large update is coming soon with more maps. The game has brilliant cartoony graphics that go hand in hand with the simple yet effective touch controls.

The graphics are superbly done and contribute to the simplicity of the game. The graphics look like something out of a cartoon and really look great. The simple design of the game makes the game what it is, and I am just hoping that the new levels provide the same feeling as this first map. The different planes are easily distinguished by not only their shape and size but they are in the colour of the required runway to help you distinguish where they have to go. All the planes turn white once they are successfully on course to their destination. The controls are simple to learn but take a long time to master. To move the planes all that is needed is for you to draw a line from the plane to its destination. The destination is the planes runway so it can successfully land. Again this sounds like a simple process but landing all the planes without them crashing and not all planes can land at once. Some times planes will be required to fly around waiting to land and this is done by either planning out a track or moving it in a direction. Once the plane gets to the end of the drawn line it will continue to fly in that direction until it is moved again or hits the edge of the screen and changes direction itself.

The sound is a pretty basic loop that plays throughout the whole game. The music seems to have a type of Mediterranean theme upon first hearing it but turns out to be more of a simple tune. The tune is catchy but I found it to easily get a bit repetitive. For those who get sick of the music there is an option to listen to your own tracks while playing.

With hundreds of thousands of copies sold, its interesting to see how the game would grip me and astound me. The principal behind Flight Control is easy, aircrafts fly onto the screen and you must send them on their way to the the correct runway. There are no levels or time limits, except that you must try and last as long as possible without any planes crashing, which will end the game. What Harbor Master provides at this point in time that Flight Control doesn't is variety and a reason to keep coming back to the game to achieve something other than to get a high score. The game is already addicting enough but with the submitted update pending I'm hoping that this game will get pushed to the next level.
As I was finishing up this review of course Flight Control's awaited version 1.2 was released. This new update provides us with two great new levels and five new aircraft to lead to the various airports. This update adds a heap of content and provides us with more reason to keep coming back to Flight Control, but these airports are unlocked at the start of the game, I would have liked to see achievements that have to be earnt before they are unlocked.

Flight Control is an amazing game that is perfect for the casual gamer. The simplicity of the game provides for a fun experience for young and old. The online Cloudcell technology used in Fast & Furious is also used in Flight Control as a great way to see how you are compared to the rest of the world. This new update will force us to think of new ways to master the levels with one level that I found easier than the original and one level quite harder. This is a great game that I hope will continue being updated by Firemint and wont be tossed into the bin when Real Racing is released probably early next week. A great time waster for quick play while on a bus or waiting somewhere. Highly recommended buying Flight Control.

Gameplay- 8.5/10
Graphics- 9/10
Sound- 6.5/10
Overall- 8/10