Flight Control HD or: How I learned to stop worrying and love air traffic control

Posted by James Eunson | May 31, 2010

Flight Control on the iPhone spread like a plague: a whirlwind of simple, addictive gameplay seamlessly mashed together with top notch production values.

Coming from the previously unknown developer Firemint, it had a very impressive reign at the top of the iPhone apps chart. And the new iPad incarnation is no slouch, continuing Firemint’s tradition of quality.

An unlikely concept for a AAA game, you take on the role of an air traffic controller. A god figure, sitting in the sky directing planes and helicopters from flying catastrophically into one another.

If Less is more, then a lot less is a smorgasbord

The beauty of the game is the simplicity. The concept is straightforward which makes getting to grips with the game a snap. The difficulty arises in the gradual increase in the number of aircraft you have to coordinate.

The ultimate goal is to land each aircraft on one of a handful of colored runways, the color of the aircraft determining which similarly colored runway it can land on.

The beep-beep-beep of the “imminent-crash” alarm will become a familiar sound as you repeatedly rescue the tiny inhabitants of the aircraft from the brink of death.

The control mechanism is perfectly suited for the iPad and couldn’t be simpler. Aircraft are directed by drawing a line from their current position to where you’d like them to go. The movement of the aircraft is very responsive with the only limitation being the differing speeds of the various types of aircraft.

Honky Tonk and the Art of Zen

Repeating loops of music aren’t often welcome, but Flight Control has a very memorable tune that plays in the background, evoking the roaring 20s a la the much under-appreciated Monopoly Tycoon PC soundtrack. As nice as it is, a couple of included tracks would be swell for variety.

The game has depth and challenge in spades and should keep you going for a while. There’s unexpected strategy required in landing large numbers of aircraft in progressively more confined spaces while creating loop-the-loop paths to stall landings. Multiplayer is an added bonus and again ups the longevity to a substantial level by any gamer’s standards.

I won’t sugar-coat it: the price will be a shock for those of you used to iPhone game prices. But for $5 you get multiple maps, difficulty settings, multiplayer and an expertly-crafted hunk of gameplay that will keep you hooked.

For many of you this won’t be big news, but for me and doubtless many others Flight Control HD is a new classic.

Flight Control HD is $5 on the iPad Application Store and is available here.