This past May was my first trip to E3, and it was also the first time I'd flown. I don't have a fear of flying, and never got worried until we hit some crazy turbulence, but whenever that happened I hoped that the pilot would soon get everything under control, because I thought my life was in their hands. While that is true, I never knew how much the air traffic controller also played in that life saving capacity, but I do now, and I'm glad it's them rather than me.

In Air Command 3.0, you take on the role of an air traffic controller as you're just sitting down for a long day of work at the console. If you've seen any film that has anything to do with airplanes or airplane related disasters, you've probably seen the air traffic controller console – the round, circular screen where the doplar radar like line circles clockwise, showing the movement of the objects on your screen. In the case of the air traffic controller, the objects in question are planes that you are directly in charge of. The pilots are practically flying blind, and they are totally at your discretion.

The full game takes place at the air traffic controller console, looking at the screen and controlling the action that is happening. You have primarily three jobs to attend to during your shift: 1) Give the okay for planes to take off, 2) Give the okay for planes to land, and 3) Help planes enter and leave your airspace. Out of those three goals, only two are easily accomplished, while the third gives some problems and basically make the game less than a fun time.

It's easy to give a plane takeoff, since all you need to do is make sure no other planes are landing at that airport at the same time, and then execute the maneuver and let them takeoff. It's also easy to let the planes wander into and out of your airspace, as all you need to do is find out what other airport they are wanting you to hand them off to, and then put them at a direct course for that airport and raise them up to an altitude of 10,000 feet. And as with the takeoff procedures, all you have to do is make sure no planes run into each other while heading to their destination of choice.

Now we get to the tricky part of the game – landing. Given, something would have to be difficult beyond the normal, but landing is beyond difficult. Unlike the other maneuvers where you just have to click to their destination and assign the right altitude, planes landing must go to 1,000 feet and be approaching from the right direction, meaning from the triangular cone coming from the airport. The problem is there is no sure fire way to pinpoint the planes so they head directly into the cone, so often times they passed right by it, not only making me lose points, but forcing me to re-position them for a second go around while I've got six other planes on the board wanting me to help them as well. If the entry to the airport were strictly up and down or left and right directions, things would probably be easier, but whenever they are in a 45° angle, it is almost impossible I found out. I eventually got to the point where if they were heading into one of those perfect 90° angle airports, I just said too bad and let them miss and leave my airspace, essentially dooming them and leaving them to be someone else's problem.

Beyond the goals, the initial controls are pretty easy, as you can control almost everything with a left mouse click. By left clicking on a plane, you can make the plane a direct, chance the course of the plane, change altitude, and change the speed. The Slow speed is for when you are trying to keep planes apart, Normal is when everything is good, and Fast is when you want to try and get someone out of your way as quickly as possible. You can change the speed of every plane, except the designated "Heavies" that you must work with at their given speed and change the planes around them to fit this single one.

One thing nice about the game is how you can change the difficulty, such as changing the difficulty (Easy – 12 planes, Normal – 25 planes, Moderate – 35 planes, and Hard – 45 planes), adding or removing the lines that show the path the planes will take, turning off or on the doplar radar to show when rainstorms are heading in, and you can even add in pilot errors, such as them not properly hearing you and taking your directions perfectly. If you can successfully perform well at the game on Hard with all the bells and whistles on, then perhaps it is time for you to consider a change in career and take up being an air traffic controller.

The game is essentially an air traffic controller simulator, and though your main mission is not to let two planes crash (I've killed a good deal of people on the job), you'll be more concerned trying to get the highest score possible by using the higher difficulties, turning on cloud cover, successfully handing off planes and landing them, and then finally not lose points by making countless errors like near misses, late takeoffs, and excessive course change.

The game is stacked though if you want to simulate the life of an air traffic controller, as you have 44 airports to play with at your disposal, and the game is really immersive due to all the cool airplane chatter you'll hear through the game, such as the random chatter of people wanting to be handed off, or calling you an idiot for not properly landing them; it really makes you feel you are doing this for a living. However, the graphics are very poor and lifeless, mainly because you aren't looking at your computer screen looking into a new world to run around in like a World of Warcraft for example, but rather you're looking at your screen looking at another screen.

If you love all things simulation or are currently an air traffic controller and wish you could do your job 24/7, then this is the perfect game for you as it will deliver exactly what you want. Otherwise, unless your idea of fun is looking at a bunch of blips on a screen and ordering them around, then Air Commander 3.0 is not the game for you.

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