Recent reviews by SkyBee

It's a great game that anyone can pick-up and play casually. But if you're into aviation, this may be for you. If you're really into ATC games, this is a nice casual game to play with. The scenarios are more of a puzzle, but do an excellent job of what ATC does in real life.

As this game is casual, it will not feature things like:
-Voice commands (you only click on the orders)
-Much more complex commands (you can vector aircraft, but only via predetermined headings; you can change their speeds between "reduced" and "normal", instead of a specific speed; you can't issue "line up and wait behind" or "give way to an aircraft taxiing on Delta" etc., and some commands are unnecessarily divided such as "Exit Taxiway" command and the "GND Handoff" command can be all divided into one phrase)
-Aircraft not respecting other aircraft's radio comms (for example, if two aircraft came into any frequency/station within seconds of each other, after the first aircraft has "reported in", the second aircraft will also report in even without a response from the station to that first aircraft, and shall not wait for the response.
-Customization of your radar map,( whether of the surrounding airport area, or the airport ground map).

But if you like accurately modeled planes (although the liveries are fictional, probably due to copyright, they are based on real airlines if you think hard enough) taking off, landing, and aviation in general, as long as you set your expectations, this is a good game to get.

As of this writing there are no official "Steam achievements", but you can try getting the best rank for each scenario, the "S-Rank". There are 20 scenarios for each airport, I believe? 10 are normal stages, and 10 are harder versions of those normal stages.

Then there is a sandbox-ish version. You can create a certain shift/schedule of a 24-hour shift of the airport (you choose to play any amount of minutes/hours within that 24-hour day), control Ground and Tower stations at a minimum, and then optionally control Departure, Delivery, and Approach Stations.

Overall I'd recommend it, aviation fan or not.

Edit: This is now my go-to game after a hectic night of playing Squad (yes, that tactical shooter game. and y'all know how that game is in a public match...). DRG is a great game to crash to after being in a stressful experience

I don't usually review a lot of games but this one just deserves my thumbs up. Introduced by a friend, initially I wasn't too hot about it, but when you do get a crew, coupled with helpful players and friends that will teach you the ropes, there is just too much fun to be had. This is a game where, after a long day, you can just shut down and relax here, and then eventually you'll want to look up guides to make your DRG experience even more enjoyable

Best with friends, obviously

Out-of-the-box, has very well-detailed planes visually. Good effects and physics as well.

If you're new to sims, this may or may not be a casual experience for you.
The world scenery isn't that too well-detailed, so this isn't much for VFR flying.
The ATC leaves a lot to be desired, understandably. Other sims do a decent job of implementing ATC.
Not all airports will be detailed, or updated... hence this is where freeware/payware addons come in.

Where it really shines (as with other flightsims) is how you want to modify your flightsim, whether freeware and/or payware aircraft/scenery/utility addons.

I recommend this for getting into the basics of flying.
I don't recommend this for VFR flying unless you have a lot of time and PC storage (downloading and storing Orthophotos, basically satellite images of the world).
I highly recommend it for procedures and basic IFR flying. If you have the money, you can buy much more detailed aircraft (the default aircraft systems are detailed but up to certain points) with really in-depth systems modelling.

It may look like a simple game to play, but is really quite engaging. The art of managing a carrier deck, configuring aircraft correctly and sending out a limited number of aircraft on specific missions -at the right time- will keep you on your toes for each scenario. (Or even Freeplay)

Worthy of your Library, especially when you need a quick gaming session done.

===Post ICO (aka Squad v6.0) review in 2023 September

Yeah, I'm glad I got this game at Early Access price. Definitely waited 7.5 years to have PR-like gameplay, finally.

It's not perfect (as of v6.0), but the foundation is there, just needs a bit of tuning.


===My pre-ICO review back in 2020===

Squad is a Tactical FPS with strategic elements (Logistics and supplies, manual spawn point creation, the usage of heavy weapon assets, helicopters) that encourage communication -and subsequently, teamwork- on various levels: intra-squad, inter-squad/intra-team, and local area communications.

It is a game that heavily punishes you for not cooperating as a team. A team is only as good as its' weakest squad. As a squad member, you may choose to be in a specialized squad as dictated by your Squad Leader: Infantry with or without vehicles, Armor, Helos, or even Logistics.

As a Squad Leader, you will have to command your squad members (kicking out the unruly uncooperative ones if need be), cooperate with the other squads, and the Commander, to help the team gain a victory.

Squad works on a kit-based system. There can be a maximum of 9 members in a squad. As such, the squad's purpose and effectivity is built around the variety of the kits and the proficiency of how the kits (which are limited) are used. From the Rifleman/Ammo Bearer kit, to the Medic kit, to the Anti-Tank kits, to the Engineer kit, and many more kits based on roles you'd see in today's modern military. For example you'd have a squad with a few ATs, to be an infantry anti-tank squad, or a squad with Grenadiers, and MGs to focus more against fighting infantry and light vehicles.

Most commonly, games of Squad are played on "Advance and Secure" modes, involving the capture of flags in a predetermined order. The victorious team is determined by whoever has the higher ticket count, or whoever can reduce the other team's tickets down to zero. Tickets are spent according to a number of events: A single soldier dying costs a single ticket, a vehicle destroyed will cost at least 5 tickets or more depending on the type of vehicle, a team loses 30 tickets when a flag is capped, etc. The ticket system allows for more cautious play, plus strategical and tactical planning, especially when using assets like vehicles, especially tanks.

Be warned, this game is best when played with a group of friends, or -even better- with a clan for better communication and tactical planning. The playerbase of Squad in most servers are unpredictable in terms of varying teamwork and skill, but more on teamwork, and so you would not know if one or more squads are willing to cooperate, communicate, or overall play as a team. Finding a good, cooperative, and communicative team, makes the game more competitive, and enjoyable.

TLDR: Get it, it's fun. Buy it at full price, find a group of friends/or a clan to play with, or get try and get lucky on some public server with public squads and public teams that may/may not cooperate.

One... more... race
(One race later)
One... more... season.

The cycle never ends!

The moment you master the Norden Bombsight, there's no going back.

Knowing that you set the drift and rate correctly on the Norden after just seeing the target for a couple of seconds, and letting the bombs fall through two layers of overcast clouds and still on to your target, brings you a feeling of unparallelled satisfaction.
Target status? Totally Destroyed

Don't mind that this is an old game (Runs well on W8.1!). Graphics may be dated but there is no sim out there with gameplay as complex as this for a bomber sim.