Byrnesys Blabberings

You may remember a short burst of enthusiasm over the iPhone/iPod Touch Game Flight Control made by developers Firemint.

I have been playing the game on and off as a mindless distraction/work avoidance tactic and still really enjoy it. The game hit the #1 spot on iTunes Store downloads mainly due to its great design, simplicity and playability. Like all games, once you’ve gotten a pretty decent highscore the novelty and playability slowly trickles away and you are less and less enthused.

Well Firemint have certainly kept on their toes, and it would seem, their toes have been in the forums because the latest update includes most of the features that have been on player wishlist plus a few more that are even better than players could have imagined.

Before I get into the nitty gritty of the review, I’m going to come out and say the update is a strong 5/5, *****, 10/10, 100%, or whichever numerical method you like to gauge the conclusion of a review. That is to say, for a Flight Control addict (which after the first time playing you will realise is somewhat inevitable), Firemint have really hit the sweet spot with this update.

Another side note on the nature of iPhone app’s which make updates such as these so much more satisfying is the organic upgrade of app’s. For most app’s you pay the fee (in Flight Control’s case a low £0.59) and get the benefits of all the developers updates, unlike computer operating systems (read vista) where you pay for the upgrade, then find the developer made a BIG mistake, creates an update and the charges you for that too! Back to Flight Control…

The new version has a couple of notable feature upgrades:

- New Maps

For a while now the game has only had the one airfield as the platform for the game, this update adds 2 new levels, an aircraft carrier and a hawaiian themed level. Both of these levels also include new aircraft but use the same basic elements. 2 Runways, and helipads with 2 different aircraft for the larger red runways, 1 faster, 1 slower, and 1 slower aircraft for the yellow runways and a helicopter. Keeping these parameters has meant that whilst the game gains new novelty it hasn’t changed the game formula beyond recognition for the fans of previous editions of the game.

- Fast forward

This new feature is arguably the stroke of genius from firemint. The main frustration for the players of flight control that I have spoken to sigh at the prospect of crashing plane and having to start right from the very start again. The obvious option would be to install levels, but this would have changed the format of the game beyond the original concept, the fast forward button means that at the start of a game those more familiar with the game can speed up the process until the level becomes more challenging. This may also introduce a new trend of high scores on fast forward which seems to have been proposed in the macrumours forum already.

- Cloudcell support

Contrary to a couple of other reviews Ive read on 1.2 online highscores have been available since the last update, but it’s good to see that firemint have developed the new version to have high scores per airfield, as each airfield has a certain character which requires the ranking to be based on the airfield itself.

I somewhat concluded this review before it had started above, but essentially firemint have ensured the longevity of flight control in the real estate of countless users iPhones and no doubt some new converts from the gushing fans (of which it seems I am one) of the game.