Developer: Northplay
Publisher: Northplay
Platform: Switch
Tested on: Switch
Fly TOGETHER! – Review
Games with words in all caps will immediately stand out from the crowd, especially when they add an exclamation mark after said ‘shouty’ word. Nonetheless, in this case, it might just be an indication that the game is best enjoyed together, as Fly TOGETHER! is a new co-op party game developed and published by Northplay, the team behind Conduct TOGETHER! We do see a recurring theme here, and after directing air traffic (be it with a few crashes), we hope to see more of these cutesy little titles. That being said, let’s dive into the basics of this game, to present you with our review.
Story
There is no actual story content present in Fly TOGETHER!, but you’ll have to traverse through different regions to complete the game. These different themed stages add some fuel to your imagination, but other than that, this is a party game that is just all about its gameplay.
Graphics
The graphical quality of the game is actually quite nice. While this title uses low poly models for everything it presents on the screen, it all makes one adorable whole. You’ll be thrown in many different colorful environments, all of which serve a specific theme. One moment you’re flying through a snowy landscape, to avoid hurricanes in the next, to actually help the military drop off soldiers in another. Color coding is also quite important, as the airplane of your choice gets colored in the hue of the airport it has to go next. While hectic, you’ll actually feel quite calm, relaxed and happy by the colorful mess that will eventually appear on your screen.
Sound
Just like the graphics, the sound design is quite on point. Even though some tracks will not stick as well as others, the overall soundtrack is quite catchy and amusing. The introduction theme is also very mellow and, once again, relaxing. Other than that, the game implements basic sound effects, which properly convey what is going on.
Gameplay
Fly TOGETHER! is a nice little authentic party game, where the offset is quite simple. Planes will be flying around on the different maps, and you’ll have to draw paths for them to the required airport(s), while also giving them orders to take off again, to the next required airport, and so on. The game starts off slow, by only giving you one or two planes to manage, while after a while this number increases, making it more hectic and harder for your to draw all the routes onscreen. This means that you’ll have to be very quick at times, to prepare one flight, hoping the plane on the runway will be gone quick enough for the next one to land. As mentioned above, the planes will be color-coded each time they land at an airport, showing where to go next. If you have multiple planes that need to land at a specific airport, things get quite tricky. You’ll also have to make choices on what airplanes you’ll commandeer, as all of the available planes have different stats.
The game does not only have you coordinate all the above, you’ll also have to avoid mountains, tornados, military towers, or even other NPC-controller planes that fly through your airspace. The levels don’t unlock in a logical order, as when finishing the first themed set of levels, you’ll unlock surrounding islands, some already of a high difficulty level. It’s quite nice that the game offers you different options, especially if you find yourself stuck at a certain level. We do have to mention that the game is, as the title clearly states, a lot more fun when played with friends. An online mode would have been nice, but with the lack of voice chat, it would almost be impossible to work together.
When playing the game, you can opt to play with the motion controls or stick controls. While the motion controls can be entertaining, we quickly swapped to the stick controls, as these feel more pleasant and less straining for the wrists. The latter is also indicated in the tutorial, that the game detects movement better when slowly adjusting the position of your wrist, rather than making big gestures.
It’s quite easy to fly through the different levels in the game, but progress in terms of upgrading your airport, as well as buying new planes is not as quickly achieved. It also doesn’t help that you don’t get money assigned to you if you fail a level, or if you’re playing the battle mode. While the battle mode may not be part of the campaign, it should still count as completing levels, even if you would only get some spare change. After completing more than half of the game, we only owned two additional planes, as one was very expensive to buy. There are of course cheaper models available, but these don’t differ in stats that much compared to the base models, thus making them less interesting.
Conclusion
Fly TOGETHER! is an amazingly satisfying and amusing party game that pushes all the right buttons. We enjoyed the different stages, even though some truly ramp up the difficulty. The different themes were fun, it’s quite nice to save up for new planes, and of course, it’s fun to actually see your airport grow and evolve. Nonetheless, the progress was sometimes a bit slow, especially if you’re just looking to play through the content of the game, not caring about high scores. The party genre is somewhat oversaturated, especially with many games mimicking the gameplay from the Overcooked! series. Fly TOGETHER! is a fresh breath of air in the party game landscape and we can wholeheartedly recommend this fun title.
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