Flight Commander – addictive air-traffic controller game for Windows Mobile
Have a strong interest in airplanes? Ever wanted to direct planes to land safely? Or maybe you like seeing pandemonium on your Windows Mobile screen? Lucky for you, the developers of Tower Defense have introduced a new touch screen game that fits the bill, titled Flight Commander. The game is simple in nature, but very entertaining. This review will give you an idea of what you can expect out of this fun game.
Flight Commander Menu
You have several options from the main menu: highscore, tutorial, resume, and start. The highscore menu is an easy way to keep track of all your scores, which is a great method of challenging yourself in any game. The tutorial screen has basic information on how to play the game. This screen could have had another page that explained some of the gameplay options, which we’ll discuss further in the review. The resume option gives you a chance to go back to the last game played (saves every game when exiting). So if you’re dominating the game, but have to stop for any reason, you can always go back and continue playing later on in the day (great feature!). One thing you have probably noticed from the screenshots is that the menus are slightly risqué, especially the tutorial screen (see screenshot gallery). We don’t mind, but if you plan on letting young children play the game, you may want to avoid that screen. As Windows phones mature and evolve with finger friendly goodness, more and more kids are going to start owning these great devices, so we thought we’d give a warning just in case.
Flight Commander has unique cartoon-like graphics with its bubbly menus, icons, and backgrounds. The styling works well for this kind of game. The sound FX are loud and compliment the graphics nicely, but that’s all you get for in-game audio. It would be even nicer if we could turn on or off in-game background music. You will probably be too involved with the on-screen antics to even care about music though.
Flight Commander Gameplay
Some of the aircraft models that I’ve seen during gameplay are seaplanes, passenger airliners, Stealth Fighters and two different helicopters. They vary in speed and can’t all land in the same spots either. For instance, seaplanes need to land on water, airliners should land on runways, and helicopters are designated to helipads. This adds another level of difficulty when multiple crafts are in the air.
There are several game options available. Before you start the game, you can select how many crashes are allowed before you get the dreaded gameover menu. The default is 1, but newcomers should increase it to the max of 4 until they get used to the game. There are two game modes, emergency and airjam. Emergency is my preferred gameplay mode because it introduces additional factors into the game. These include uncontrollable aircrafts that are set on a predetermined landing path and random flying objects that could collide with your planes. For the life of me, I could not figure out what airjam addds to the mix (let us know if notice anything!) Finally, there are two maps available. We would’ve liked more, but it’s a new game so maybe there are some new stages planned for updates.
Overall, Flight Commander is a nice looking and challenging game. The simplistic and addictive qualities of the game bring back fond memories of playing a game called Pilot Wings for Super Nintendo and Nintendo64. If you’re looking for a game that will keep you busy while you wait for time to pass, this is it. Like its cousin, Tower Defense, you will have a hard time putting it down.
Flight Commander for Windows Mobile is a very similar experience to what you would get with the iPhone and Nintendo DSi’s Flight Control games. Unfortunately we are not good with video reviews and couldn’t get a video of the app ( If you think you can help us with this issue feel free to Contact Us ). But here is a bunch of screenshots for you to drool over
Minimum Requirements: WindowsMobile 6.x with VGA or WVGA screen and OpenGL ES support (most devices released after 2007).
Tested on: Touch Pro2 (WVGA) it was perfect. On a Touch Pro (VGA custom WM6.5 ROM), it lagged and had glitches.
Update : The developer got back to us saying it might have been an issue with opengl es driver issue in that ROM. They said they have tested it with TouchPro and it worked well.
Pros:
- Nice cartoon GFX
- Realistic background sounds for main menu
- Fun and addictive
- Additional game modes
- Simple enough to pick up, challenging enough to keep you playing
- Keeps score
- Ability to save game
- Speed up or pause action
Cons:
- Price
- No trial/demo!!! Unacceptable for an expensive game
- Only two maps
- Creates shortcut if installed to main memory, but not if you install to storage card
- Limited device support (no QVGA )
Possible Improvements:
- Maybe allow for saving of more than the last game
- Background music could be a good addition (option to turn on/off though)
- 2 maps could get old, at least another should be included
Unfortunately this game has not made it to the stores yet and this was an exclusive look at the game. Big thanks to Color Stone Ltd for giving us a copy for reviewing it. Now the good news we can give 2 lucky readers a copy of this amazing game. See 1800PocketPC.com for details on how to enter the contest. [ Closes on the 7th Nov ( Melbourne time ) ]
Update [ 01/12/09 ] : The Game can be Purchased from Handango
32 Responses to “Flight Commander – addictive air-traffic controller game for Windows Mobile”
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When does it stop….hopefully never ever
Looks like a great game for winmo, which is a change!
I'd really like to play this one.
Finally Games on Windows Mobile are looking good. Hats off to the developer. I would love to grab the FREE copy. 10x
This looks great. My 1st PC game was MS Flight Simulator 1.0 (on an IBM PC XT) and I really enjoyed it. As I move more into Windows Mobile/Phone, it would be great to have a game to help me “fly away” the stress of my work day! Besides, I need an addiction!!!!
I am a big fan of Flight Sim games, mostly play them on the PC (currently playing Arma2). but Being a Windows Mobile user since 2000 I have tried many flight sim titles for WM devices such as ” 3D mini dogfight, Chopper Rescue & The first flight simulator for Leo's Flight Simulator 1.0.
I was on a transit bus a few weeks ago and I was sitting beside someone with an iPhone in their hand. The person looked very focused on this device screen and his fingers were actively busy, I took a small glance on what he was doing and he was playing a similar version of this game. It looked a lot of fun and wish someone would make a version for WM devices. I came across http://www.1800pocketpc.com and *Bang* here it is!
I Would kindly like to try this game on my HTC Touch device please before launch.
Thanks
Games looks great…free makes it look even better:) I'm sick of iPhonies showing off their games so this is a good one to have around to give a propper response with:)
i deserve a free copy as i am a good promoter
I saw this game on Youtube for the Iphone a while back and recommended all my friends with Iphones to get it. I've however been unable to play it myself and I'm a dedicated WinMo user. I would love to receive the game to play on my Touch HD.
Thanks!
This game is 100% going to redefine the terms fun and addictive for a windows mobile phone application.
Well done to the developer for great vision in bringing a game that was once solely the domain of iphone lovers to windows mobile.
This game is going to sit in the top 5 games for windows mobile for a long time.
I did love harbor master on the iPhone and was waiting for something like that for my WM device for a long time now!
thanks!
I don't deserve a free copy, but I'd greatly appreciate it and tell all my Windows Mobile buddies how great it is.
Used to work as a retailer for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum back in 1983 or so, that had a flight control program. I don't remember which company that sold the software, but I remember a funny thing. The same company also manufactured a flight simulator. I trained very much with that program and eventually realized a very funny thing. Landing up-side-down resulted in a message saying that I forgot to lower the landing gears(!) I am very interested in flight and use on a weekly basis MS flight sim 2004, although it's not the same kind of software. Would be very nice to receive a free copy of this program to my HTC Touch Diamond. To be able to see the flight from the ground.
Cheers !
lassee
Finally! I love the Flight Control game on my roommates IPhone, and now my beloved Windows Mobile device will have a similar game aswell
!
Is there any eta on this game?
I think a deserve a copy of flight commander because I am a flight simulator fan with thousands of hours of flying, so I could explore the other side of aviation by controlling and airport from the palm of my hand! thanks
I think a deserve a copy of flight commander because I am a flight simulator fan with thousands of hours of flying, so I could explore the other side of aviation by controlling and airport from the palm of my hand! thanks
Looks like Flight Control really inspired the developers. But really, I think the stylus would help in a game like this, being able to precisely draw your trajectory would be great with greater dexterity. Can't wait.
Wow.. ever since my friends got this on iPhone I wanted to play this game on my Touch HD! Wish there was a demo so i can see if the gameplay is in tact..
Great review, keep it up!
Wow.. ever since my friends got this on iPhone I wanted to play this game on my Touch HD! Wish there was a demo so i can see if the gameplay is in tact..
Great review, keep it up!
I do not play games on PC, but on PDA is nice to have with you a “toy boy” sometimes. I use my HTC HD mostly for business and after a few customisations I am happy with it: OMA works flawless, INESOFT CALENDAR gives a fresh look for calendar, etc. In the gaming area, this guys seem VERY ORIGINAL!!! I think the atmosphere of the game is CAPTIVATING and overall GAME IS AMAZINGLY CRAZY!!!! Best wishes to Color Stone, just please lower the price.
I would like to win a copy of Flight Commander because I'm just aviation fuel of praise for tower defence and if this game is of the same high flying standard then I'm sure it will take off for WinMo and cruise into the best selling charts. As a winmo frequent flyer I would of course play this game in safety and comfort, with my tray stowed in the upright position, and the secure seatbelt sign clearly illuminated. I just wonder if users earn any airmiles against the next color stone game?
Man I want this game
I'd love to win this game since I want to relive some stress often when I'm on the wards or after seeing patients. This looks like a top-notch quality game for Windows Mobile and I'm glad they developed it for my phone!
Congrats to John and Lee, you have WON the FREE copy. Have sent you guys an email, plz reply ASAP
I need this game becase i need a game with some hot flight attendant ass in it. Thanks
Any word yet on when it will be available??
Its available via Handango : http://www.handango.com/catalog/ProductDetails….
Does look like a great game. I just don't like the fact that this game is like a total rip off of Flight Control. Makes us look bad, and they're charging 14 bucks for a rip off? don't get me wrong. The app/game looks amazing. Just..14 bucks? Seriously?
Does look like a great game. I just don't like the fact that this game is like a total rip off of Flight Control. Makes us look bad, and they're charging 14 bucks for a rip off? don't get me wrong. The app/game looks amazing. Just..14 bucks? Seriously?
You see, this is the reason of the success of the iphone appstore and the death of windows mobile.
The same game for the iphone costs 0.99.
14.99 to land planes? Fuck you.