The highly addictive gameplay in Flight Control HD casts players in the role of an air traffic controller in charge of an increasingly busy airport. Players are challenged to direct aircraft to their correct landing zone while avoiding collisions. The game starts gradually, but players will need keen eyes, steady hands and smart strategy to keep their airspace under control once planes arrive thick and fast.A fast-forward setting can speed everything up even more, for complete chaos that will challenge even the most advanced players.
Players have the option to fly solo or play collaboratively with friends, in a party-style multiplayer mode for up to four people. New players can join in the game at will in drop-in, drop-out style while aircraft continue to arrive. “Multiplayer is insanely fun, you can never be quite sure whether a new player is going to help or hinder your efforts so there tends to be a lot of laughing and jeering,” commented Firemint’s CEO, Rob Murray. “It’s turned Flight Control HD into an extremely social game.”
Flight Control HD’s distinctive retro graphics also soar to new heights on the PlayStation®3, with upgraded art and effects in glorious 1080p resolution. Flight Control HD also supports an optional stereoscopic 3D mode throughout the game, with aircraft appearing to float over the landscape (requires compatible 3D television and 3D glasses).
Players can control 16 different aircraft types including jets, sea planes and helicopters, across 9 maps, with 4 super-sized maps including the PlayStation® exclusive “Metropolis” map that cycles through day and night. Other maps include an Australian outback landscape, where emergency air ambulances take precedence over player-controlled aircraft; an aircraft carrier that slowly rotates while a range of fast military aircraft attempt landings; and a windy winter wonderland, where drifting snow and a windsock indicate the prevailing wind direction and runways close and reopen accordingly.