....AERIAL ANTICS.... Game Tunnel Mini Review
http://www.gametunnel.com/html/reviews2-44.html

For those who loved the rocket pack (jetpack) portion of Pilotwings, Leadfoot productions has met your dreams by creating a game that is based entirely on that one type of game play from Pilotwings.

Aerial Antics is a very solid game that provides you a SIM of a different sort.  In this game you are actually simulating flying with a jetpack, which is something that most of us don't even dream of doing.

The game itself is highly entertaining as the guys at Leadfoot were not content to merely have us fly around, moving through the obligatory hoops.  They've also added several other things to make the game interesting.  There are bombs in the game as well as very large balls.  The very large balls must be kicked through each of the rings consecutively. 

Play control in the game is fairly straight forward, and Leadfoot went out of their wait to make sure that the game is compatible with joystick controllers for those who have them.  Playing the game with an analog stick is certainly the way to go in my mind, as subtle movements seem to affect the character greatly, even with the highest sensitivity chosen.

The graphics are likely the most stand out portion of the game.  This game is very well drawn, having a graphics style that is very cartoonish, which works really well for the game.  The music and sound are also well-done.  In fact the only negative I found in the game was that it was a little to jerky for me to play, and left me a bit sea sick each time I played.  For those who loved Pilotwings, and for those who never got a chance to play it, I highly recommend checking out Aerial Antics!

Added: April 13th 2004
Score:

....AERIAL ANTICS....

2004 Independent Game Mid-Terms

We get featured in the Sim section of Game Tunnel's outlook for Indie Games of 2004, The full Article can be read HERE

Simulation

The simulation category this year has been a pleasant surprise with several games that have stood out.  There are two solid space simulations that have been released, Starship Tycoon the pseudo follow-up to Starlines INC., and Smugglers 3 the very impressive follow-up to Smugglers 2.  Both are similar in some respects, but delve out into different territories.  Smugglers 3 lets you as the captain of a single craft determine what items you will be trading and who with while carrying out missions to strengthen one of four factions.  There is of course also some space combat and plenty of storyline to keep you well-informed as to how your faction is fairing in the overall battle.  

As if that wasn't enough there have been a couple of other titles that are definitely worth mentioning.  The first is Aerial Antics.  The game probably is better categorized as an action title, but since you spend the entire game simulating flying with a rocket pack the simulation category seems like a good fit.  The graphics on the title are wonderfully done with a cartoon-ish flair that will keep you playing just so that you can see what the next level might look like.  For the more classical simulation game lover there is the very ingenious President Forever: 2004 that lets you play as one of the candidates for the election putting together your campaign strategy to win the election over the computer or human players.

Overall the simulation category is shaping up to have a wonderfully enjoyable set of games.  With the time moving forward more attention to details has been made in addition to updating the graphics and streamlining the interfaces.  Three of the games listed above are sequels and shows up in the quality of the games as lessons learned in previous versions have been used as a springboard to ever improve the titles.  Simulation fans should be rejoicing as the games currently available to them are a wonderful group.  Overall grade:  A-.