Have You Always Dreamed Of Being A Pilot? Try PocketWings
PocketWings: Discovery Island ($2.99) by PocketWings, LLC is an independently developed flight simulation game, where players take control of one of six different planes, from old-fashioned to modern and fly around exploring the scenery.
That’s it. This is entirely an exploration game, with no goals to reach, no achievements to earn, no monsters to outrun, and no action going on.
This is a game that’s really targeted towards flight simulation enthusiasts, so if you go into it expecting anything more, you may be disappointed. And of course, if you are a flight simulation enthusiast, you might also be disappointed with the lack of interactive controls - you can only fly and control the throttle.
That said, PocketWings does have a nice interface and good controls. The plane is flown with the accelerometer, and tilting your iDevice left, right, up, and down causes the plane to move in the corresponding direction.
There are buttons to switch to a new plane at any time, to switch between chase and free view modes, to adjust game options, and to control the throttle of the plane. In addition, there are instant replay controls so you can check out your maneuvers right away, or share videos with friends on YouTube and Facebook.
For a game that is solely focused on exploration, I expected better graphics. While there’s nothing really wrong with them, there is next to no detail, especially when zoomed in. Water is blue, earth is brown and green, houses are blocks, and that’s it. Of course, there are charming additions like hot air balloons and alien spacecraft, which I did enjoy. More variation in scenery and the ability to select different areas would be great.
This game is fun for a short amount of time, but I think it needs some flight goals, achievements, or other interactive elements to make it more exciting. Additionally, there are some kinks to be worked out. I crashed my plane into the water, and instead of restarting, the game just sat there until I exited out and manually quit the app.
If you just want to relax with a calming flight or have a child that’s an aspiring pilot, this is a good game to try. It was originally priced at $4.99 which was high for the content it was offering, but it’s currently on sale for $2.99, which isn’t a terrible deal.
