Airline Tycoon but not an evolution (Airline Tycoon Evolution (PC))

Member Name: chris212

Product:	Airline Tycoon Evolution (PC)
Date:	25/05/09 (64 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to pick up and play

Disadvantages: Can easily become tiresome

Airline Tycoon Evolution is the latest of the Airline Tycoon series that has been developed by the then developer Monte Crystal. This game, as the title demonstrates, gives the player control of an airline owner. But his is not a serious simulation game, but a game that is in the mode of Theme Hospital, so you know the game is not taking itself to serious.

There are two different types of game mode that can be played, these are mission games and the sandbox mode. The mission mode, plays at three different levels, ranging from easy, normal to hard; but player can not chose the levels at which they want to play, but must start at easy and built their way up. This allows a player to built up their knowledge of the game, in a way a tutorial in all but name. The types of mission that the player can expect to tackle, start from taking a certain number of passenger, weight in freight, transporting aid to other countries and an out of this world mission.

The normal way a mission starts is with a briefing with the airport manager, who will set out the aims of the levels and acts as score keeper, at the start of each day the airport manager takes a briefing to give the updated score so far, also mentioning if any unusual activity has taken play the day before. The airport manger also helps in establishing new offices in other countries that allow more airplane bookings to become available.

There are a number of ways that charter flights can be booked to be used for your aircraft, this can be chartered, last minute, freight and through any branches in other countries. The types of flights that are available depend on the home airport that the player chooses, as the smaller the airport the lower the available income, whereas the bigger airports have longer flights which will bring in more income.

An important element of the game is the cost elements, such as maintenance of the aircraft, staffing of the airplane and any branches overseas. But the aim of the game is the not just make a profit but to crush you competitors, either make them bankrupt or buy them out. This can be done through the stock element; which adds a new dimension to the game.

A good element that can be found within the game is the ability to sabotage the you competitors, these can range from the minor to the serious, but are done in a comical way, but does not go as far as crashing a plane, as this would not be in keeping within the game, and therefore the Airport Manager always find out, either fining you or throwing you out of the airport, thus making you restart the game.

In the sandbox mode, the player has an open ended game, thus they can play the game any way they wish, as there are no aim or objects to complete but to make your airline successful. The problem with this mode, is the game loses some of its appeal, as there are no are no short terms aims; which can make the game tiresome and make a player lose interest.

The game itself is not of the latest generation, thus will not need a power house of a computer, as it will run from a Windows 98, up to Windows XP which I play the game on, but I am unsure about Windows Vista. Although the game is of the older generation, I believe the graphics are bright and lively, although there are is not a lot for the computer to generate, as the whole game takes in the airport. A good point for this is that the computer will not struggle to keep up.

I would recommend this game to any person that enjoys simulation games of the economic genre. But do not pay over the odds for this game, as I only purchased this game as part of a three for £10. I would not look to be paying more than £5 for the game, due the games age, but a problem is the availability of the game due to the developer stopping manufacturing long ago. I enjoy this game, as it is easy to pick up and play, but the problem with the game is that I tend to lose interest after a while of playing and do not play for while before picking it up again. It is for this reason that I would advise not paying more than £5 for the game.

Summary: Buy but only if cheap