ST Format


Air Bucks

Author: Andy Lowe
Publisher: Impressions Ltd
Machine: Atari ST

 
Published in ST Format #38

Air Bucks

Fancy yourself as something of an amateur Freddie Laker? No? Impressions seem to think there's some interest to be extracted from the turgid and involved world of the airline business, hence Air Bucks. It's 1946. You're 25 years old and you've just founded your own airline company, Airbuck$ - named after the moths that used to fly out of your dad's wallet.

You have £100,000 and a rather small Dakota DC3. You must build up your airline by acquiring landing rights to carefully selected international airports, buy some planes, construct a global network of air routes and casually overcome all manner of lurking business pitfalls until, 40 years later, you're ready to retire a happy and financially bloated air-tycoon.

When you buy new planes you have to decide which models suit a particular international route, how much you're going to charge for a ticket and how much of the plane's capacity is to be taken up with cargo - a potentially lucrative market. Eventually, you develop a large fleet of planes, all flying the best routes more profitably than your four competitors - you can play against your ST, other players or a combination of both.

Verdict

Air Bucks

By now you should have a fair idea of what to expect from an Impressions game like Fighter Command or Warriors Of Releyne and Air Bucks is no different. The game is a surprisingly absorbing attempt at simulating a previously neglected area and, with a bit of commitment, could be reasonably entertaining.

Unfortunately you do feel like you're getting nowhere slowly, which can be extremely trying if you're used to diving into a game without reading a novel-length manual.

If you like your gaming to be easy on the jumping and blasting, but heavy on its complexity and realism, you are sure to enjoy Air Bucks a great deal.

In Brief

  1. An elaborate and demanding strategy-simulation, which, given time, can be unusually engrossing.

Andy Lowe

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