Time to take off
This is the first in a pair of unusual little games, the second being Flight Commander 2, which attempt to combine elements of board games and flight sims. It's not a wholly successful combination but is certainly worth a look if you're after something a little different. The game presents players with a tactical wargame-style experience that simulates air-to-air dogfights in a similar fashion to things like Battleships but with a bit more complexity. You're given command of a squadron of fighters and must engage in combat with enemy planes while also occasionally launching air strikes on ground-based facilities. The whole thing is played out in turn-based fashion, similar to other strategy games like the Battle Isle series, but without the same level of complexity. The theme for the game is post WWII aircraft but don't expect much in the way of detailed representations of the planes as this isn't that sort of game, at least in terms of visuals. However, the various planes do offer a great deal of variety in terms of their stats so if you're into the number crunching aspects of strategy games, then this will be of interest to you. Flight Commander is actually a pretty neat little game which offers a lot for the armchair general (or whatever the term for planes is). The visuals are nothing special, with fairly simple overhead views giving the feel of a board game but which don't provide much in the way of eye candy. However, the gameplay itself is fairly absorbing and actually provides a fair bit of tactical depth across the course of its varied missions. Definitely worth a look.
