Ever wanted to fly in an airplane? As a passenger? Of course you might have wanted to do that in real life, to reach places. And maybe for the experience of being up in the sky.
But how about recreating the full experience of being a passenger in a game?
That's what Airplane Mode sets out to do. And it certainly does it.
You are a passenger. You're sitting in your seat, waiting for the plane to take off. There are PA announcements over the speaker system, and eventually you start to take off- I mean, drive forward a little bit, then get told you're third in line to take off. So you wait longer. Eventually, it takes off, and you're in the air, flying past the city, past the clouds, and high up in the sky.
What can you do?
All the things you could do in real life that don't involve leaving your seat. You can get out your bag and read books and put on bluetooth headphones. You can use the in-flight entertainment system to play blackjack and solitaire. You can watch movies and a cartoon, though all of them are retro for copyright reasons. You can also listen to music and podcasts on your phone, all of which are obscure (and honestly, pretty interesting). You can even look at all the landscape and cat (mostly cat) photos you've previously taken on your phone. There's the in-flight magazine to read, and the safety information sheet. And you can order a drink, and choose your meal when the flight attendant comes by.
There's even random turbulence from time to time.
It's certainly a virtual experience. If you wanted to see what flying in an airplane might be like in real life, this is it. Impressively, the magazine, books, and podcasts are all a good, realistic length. The movies and cartoon are all public domain, so they're as short as they were back then - an hour each per movie, and an 8-minute cartoon short. The flight itself is as long as a flight would be in real life. It's all fully simulated.
Many people might ask why something like this exists, but I can totally understand it. After all, I sometimes play games simply to walk around their virtual worlds and immerse myself in them. There are people who just like virtual worlds and virtual experiences, trying out things they don't get to do, or visit places they don't get to visit. And this is exactly that, handled mostly really well, save for a few glitches and its reliance on the public domain.
A virtual experience that delivers exactly what it promises
Ever wanted to fly in an airplane? As a passenger? Of course you might have wanted to do that in real life, to reach places. And maybe for the experience of being up in the sky.
But how about recreating the full experience of being a passenger in a game?
That's what Airplane Mode sets out to do. And it certainly does it.
You are a passenger. You're sitting in your seat, waiting for the plane to take off. There are PA announcements over the speaker system, and eventually you start to take off- I mean, drive forward a little bit, then get told you're third in line to take off. So you wait longer. Eventually, it takes off, and you're in the air, flying past the city, past the clouds, and high up in the sky.
What can you do?
All the things you could do in real life that don't involve leaving your seat. You can get out your bag and read books and put on bluetooth headphones. You can use the in-flight entertainment system to play blackjack and solitaire. You can watch movies and a cartoon, though all of them are retro for copyright reasons. You can also listen to music and podcasts on your phone, all of which are obscure (and honestly, pretty interesting). You can even look at all the landscape and cat (mostly cat) photos you've previously taken on your phone. There's the in-flight magazine to read, and the safety information sheet. And you can order a drink, and choose your meal when the flight attendant comes by.
There's even random turbulence from time to time.
It's certainly a virtual experience. If you wanted to see what flying in an airplane might be like in real life, this is it. Impressively, the magazine, books, and podcasts are all a good, realistic length. The movies and cartoon are all public domain, so they're as short as they were back then - an hour each per movie, and an 8-minute cartoon short. The flight itself is as long as a flight would be in real life. It's all fully simulated.
Many people might ask why something like this exists, but I can totally understand it. After all, I sometimes play games simply to walk around their virtual worlds and immerse myself in them. There are people who just like virtual worlds and virtual experiences, trying out things they don't get to do, or visit places they don't get to visit. And this is exactly that, handled mostly really well, save for a few glitches and its reliance on the public domain.
So, who wants to fly on an airplane, for pretend?