Air Tycoon 3

Air Tycoon 3

This week Prof and Brian reviewed Air Tycoon 3 on Android and iOS, for the Cost of a Coffee.

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The Prof is back this week and so is Brian, by popular demand we might add!  This week, Air Tycoon 3 on iOS and Android.

“Every day in the United Kingdom we spend £2.5 million on coffee, a significant proportion of that is spent by me bringing chai lattes to my lab technician, Brian here.”

“Howay, y’reet there pets?”

“Many people think nothing of walking into a high street coffee shop…”

“Don’t forget Greggs Professor.”

“Or Greggs… to spend £3 on a cup of steaming froth and caffeine; so why do people baulk at the idea of paying that much for a mobile game?  I’m professor Kelvin Harris, Codec Moments resident scientist.”

“And I’m his lab technician, Brian.”

” Together we’re going to bring you games that cost less than your cappuccino, to entertain you at home, on your way to work, or even during your coffee break.”

“This is ‘Cost of a Coffee’ and this week’s game is Air Tycoon 3 on iOS and Android.  Not to be mixed up with Airport Tycoon 3 from 2003, as in that one you built an airport, probably in Ponteland, and in this one you choose where the planes should go like in Pocket Planes!”

“Yes…  Air Tycoon 3 sees you performing the day to day, nitty gritty, of running an airline from the 1960s all the way through to the 2030s, in turn based competition or freeplay modes, with up to 24 AI players and featuring 128 real-world aeroplanes and aerodromes.  Now we’ve had some experience in this lab of Pocket Planes…”

“I love Pocket Planes Professor, it’s simple like what me mam says about me.”

“Quite, thank-you Brian.  Air Tycoon 3 is not Pocket Planes and it’s not for the faint of heart.  It’s as complex as say interpreting NMR spectra or… running your own airline.  You don’t just buy your plane, unlock a few airports and take to the skies.  When buying an aeroplane, amongst other things you need to specify how many seats it will have, how much legroom and the proportion of business class and working class seats.  Then you need to buy slots at airfields, staff check-in desks and management offices, bulk buy aviation fuel, choose your in-flight meals and accoutrements, set and adjust your fares, not forgetting to set your marketing and staff training budgets and run a hotel and limo service.  The list goes on and on.  That’s not to say it isn’t fun, but if you’re the kind of person that would rather gun enemies down in a first person shooter, than say, perform the ammunition stocktake and negotiate savings from suppliers by ensuring your soldiers equip a battle rifle and sidearm that both take 5.56 mm rounds, it might not be for you.  As proof be may be, here’s some audio of Brian I recorded secretly in the lab yesterday, after leaving the game running on my tablet:”

“Howay man, what’s gannin on like?  Fuel prices are rising but naebody’s using ma aeroplanes and it reckons there’s too many gadgies trying to check in at once.  **** this, this is ****ing boring.  It’s like playing a ****ing spreadsheet an that.  I’m off to play pocket planes and buy Easter Eggs.”

Air Tycoon 3

“So is it worth the ‘Cost of a Coffee’?  Put simply it’s hit and miss for me.  I have the intellectual capacity to play the game; you’ll be unsurprised to hear that my airline quickly turned a profit and was number one in the competition mode ranks.  Brian on the other hand, doesn’t.”

“I did nae turn a profit professor.  In fact I got annoyed with the game and dropped your iPad in the acid bath.”

“So you see the dilemma is, anybody with the planning skills to successfully play this will probably find it too much like being at work to enjoy it; those that don’t possess those skills will undoubtedly purport mindless acts of wanton criminal damage, rather than play another second of it.  The only audience I can really think it appeals to are those people with restraining orders from Virgin Airlines, as they keep trying to give Richard Branson their CV in person.  At £1.99 I would stick to that medium macchiato.”

“Cost of a Coffee is a Codec Moments production.  For more information please visit codecmoments.com.  If you would like to recommend a game that costs less than a cappuccino, contact us via twitter @codecmoments, visit facebook.com/codecmoments or e-mail prof@codecmoments.com.  That’s prof with one f for the illiterate.  See you next time.”

The Verdict

4Poor

The Good: Detailed turn based simulation based on the airline industry.

The Bad: It’s just not much fun.


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