The network company AMC has entered into the world of gaming with its first interactive release, Airplane Mode, an unconventional take on flight simulator games. Instead of setting altitudes and balancing ballasts, players will find themselves stuck in coach on one of the two flights the game has to offer. With foodservice, random events, in-flight movies, and a carry-on bag filled with distractions, players will have to make it through the entire flight without giving up in real-time.
The two flight choices players have to choose from in Airplane Mode are essentially the same; the only difference is time. There is a flight from JFK Airport to Halifax, Canada that lasts 2 hours and 5 minutes, or the one from JFK to Reykjavík, Iceland which will take 5 hours and 45 minutes. Whatever flight is chosen, the game will act the same. Players start at their window seat being asked to put their seatbelt on by the flight attendant and are then treated to a short video on safety measures for the flight.
Once the flight takes off in Airplane Mode players will have a few choices of in-game events to help pass the time. There are televisions in the seats which players can choose four public-domain movies from, including the 1902 science-fiction movie "A Trip To The Moon," or play basic versions of solitaire and blackjack. The small television doesn't offer too much in the form of entertainment but when on a 6-hour real-time flight, anything is a blessing. The seats also have an in-flight magazine that players can read.
On-board with the player is their backpack filled with standard time-consuming items. It includes a sketch pad complete with a ballpoint pen, the 1884 novel "Against the Grain" by Joris-Karl Huysmans (a relatively plot-less novel about a reclusive art collector), some headphones, and the player's smartphone. The phone is probably the most useful item as it has original podcasts on it that can be enjoyed, a camera, and photo storage filled with pictures of cats.
There is a randomization system at work in Airplane Mode, and each flight will feel just a bit different even if it's the same flight players have chosen before. Some flights have more turbulence than others, passengers will be randomized, and one flight had a crying baby almost the entire time. This is a decent attempt to make the game replayable but the most interesting things in the game are always the same: the book, the podcasts, and the choice of movies. There is an attempt to keep continuity between flights with the sketch pad, which will still have any pictures drawn in it between flights, but the phone erases all pictures taken from flight to flight.
Airplane Mode is, at its core, a simulation game - but it's a simulation game of a task that isn't enjoyable. What it is attempting to do, it does flawlessly. Overall the game itself is just not interesting or diverse enough to recommend to anyone in a serious manner. Now, if someone just misses the feeling of being stuck on a plane with not much to do for hours, then this is absolutely the game for them - but it's hard to imagine that won't be an extremely niche crowd for Airplane Mode to resonate with.
Airplane Mode is available now on Steam for PC and Mac OS. A digital PC code was provided to Screen Rant for the purpose of this review.