I really enjoy this game, but this is a very cautious thumbs-up. There's a lot going against ATC4 and it's only going to please a relatively small group of people. The first and most obvious hang-up is the cost. Even on sale, it doesn't dip that low, and it's a pretty monstrous tag for a game that is nearing its 10-year anniversary. You do get quite a lot for it, of course, but it may not seem like enough to many people. Without the cost-prohibitive DLC, the base game gives you one airport at Haneda, aka Tokyo International Airport. However, you are provided a set of escalating scenarios that get really challenging, plus the ability to make your own scenarios and relive traffic from 2017, all of which can amount to hours and hours of play. The second hang-up is that the game really gives no consideration of your time. Each scenario plays out in real-time and takes 20-45 minutes to complete (possibly longer; I haven't even hit the final stretch of scenarios). People chasing S-ranks are in for even more frustration as the only way to get that coveted "S" is to play a perfect game; any single mistake that you cannot correct means starting over. However, that leads into the third and most important hang-up. Thing is, ATC4 isn't really a sim by any measure. It has a very specific ruleset that doesn't always make a whole lot of sense and while your decisions can obviously affect how a scenario plays out and the real-time ticking means that there are always going to be variations on timing, it is essentially a puzzle game. To really enjoy it, you must agree to its arbitrary systems and learn to work within it. If you do, then the game can feel absolutely rewarding, but if you can't put your assumptions aside, then you will more likely feel frustration at every turn. It's why I've owned this forever and have only recently started putting the time into it. Probably the most glaring issue with ATC4's (and its console spin-off Airport Hero series, too) ruleset is one of absolute commitment. In other words, once you send certain orders, they can never be rescinded, never changed, never adjusted. For example, when an incoming flight first shows up on the radar, you have a few minutes to decide whether or not to change its runway, but only if you don't give it certain other orders (route changes are okay). Once that's locked in, however, it is really locked in - that plane is going to that strip of asphalt and nothing can deter it from doing so, even if that means it's going to go around indefinitely due to environment changes (thereby affecting your score). There's tons of stuff like this that gives your decisions unpredictable results. There's a risk and efficiency system in the works, too, and there is mystery surrounding both. Generally, efficiency is ensuring your planes are on time and risk is obviously not putting planes at risk of crashing. You might cut a route to give a plane more time, but then when you tell it to intercept, you suddenly lose time or magically increase your risk. A single wrong order can add minutes to a plane and lose you the scenario because, again, remember that many orders are locked in the moment you give them. Accidentally gave someone takeoff clearance when they were still taxiing, but you've now noticed that incoming Boeing? Too bad. It's going and you can't give it a new order. Clicked the wrong entry point on a runway that cost you 30 seconds even though there's still 4 minutes of taxiing? Unfortunately the TechnoBrain gods have deemed that there is no regresties. Ever. That level of inflexibility can be extremely frustrating, especially with ATC. On the other hand, if you can learn to delay yourself - even at the cost of points - you can find more wiggle room, but only just a little. So with all of these arbitrary rules to learn and not all of them being obvious, the only real way to get through the game is by having some kind of clairvoyance. You won't know that two planes spawn at specific times to collide in mid-air just outside the airport because there's a good gap between them - unless you saw it happen already and can make the right adjustments way ahead of time. You won't know that this very obvious time-saver won't work and will cost you risk unless you completely understand the ruleset or you've tried it before. What I'm getting at is that the only way to really get through each scenario with perfect play is to play it and fail it, possibly several times, to learn the timing and the twists to get the right results. Only in this way can you learn what happens, what works and what doesn't work, but obviously this is going to cost you a lot of your personal time because the game just doesn't care. So with all that to consider, ATC4 is very much a game of either simply surviving the scenario or pursuing perfect play. In the latter case, the game can shine, but it requires a commitment to repetition as well as your free time. Approaching it as a puzzle game made it much more enjoyable for me, trying to find the solution that gives me the highest rank possible, but it also meant learning to accept that the game is not dynamic or flexible. You learn to be on top of things in its own weird little bubble, but it does stay true to itself and never falters so in that sense, it remains fair if somewhat unpredictable at first. You get more out of ATC4 if you don't spend all of your time asking why you can't do something and focus more on what you can accomplish and how to do it and yes, sometimes it will take hours just to get past one scenario because you've been running it all week. On the plus side, even though you may be dumping hours into it, you are almost always engaged. It's a massive juggling act as you get into the later scenarios and it definitely keeps you on your toes, even if you already know what's supposed to happen. You maybe get a minute or so here and there where absolutely nothing happens, but it's rare; things ramp up quickly and you're playing all roles - delivery, approach, ground, tower, departure. It is a lot to handle. But if you can get your mindset correct, you'll find why this game has survived and is receiving expansions even to this day, ten years after its debut. Is it for everyone? Certainly not. Is it for ATC enthusiasts? Not really, although there is obvious love there. But if you're looking for a tough puzzle game themed around one of the busiest airports in Japan, then you may enjoy yourself. ATC4 will speak to a very specific type of personality while it will completely irritate another. If none of what I've said has detracted you from putting the game in your cart, I'm sure you'll be fine.
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