Solo Flight (video game)
Solo Flight is a third-person flight simulator written by Sid Meier for the Atari 8-bit family and published by MicroProse in 1983.[1] It includes a game mode called Mail Pilot.
| Solo Flight | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | MicroProse |
| Publisher(s) | MicroProse U.S. Gold (UK) FIL (Thomson) |
| Designer(s) | Sid Meier[1] |
| Platform(s) | Atari 8-bit, Apple II, Commodore 64, IBM PC, Thomson |
| Release |
|
| Genre(s) | Simulation |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
In the UK Solo Flight was published by U.S. Gold.[2]. It was ported to the Apple II, Commodore 64, and later the IBM PC. A version for Thomson computers was published in 1985 by FIL in France with the title Vol Solo.[3]
Gameplay
Solo Flight consists of two parts: a pure flying simulation and a game mode called Mail Pilot.[4] The top half of the screen shows the plane being flown in third person, while the bottom portion contains instruments.[5] The game allows flying by both visual flight rules and instrument flight rules.
In Mail Pilot, the player delivers five bags of mail to destination airports chosen from the twenty-one airports in the game. A score is given based on navigation and time. While en route, the plane may suffer mechanical and instrument failures.[4]
Reception
In 1985 ANALOG Computing editor Lee Pappas wrote, "the graphics are somewhat rough, and the control panel is not up to what it should be (there is no stall indicator, and non-standard VORS)," but still concluded, "As a whole, Solo Flight is the best Atari flight simulator published to date."[5] COMPUTE! reviewer Arthur Leyenberger praised both the simulation and game aspects of Solo Flight.[4]
References
- Hague, James. "The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers".
- "Solo Flight (U.S. Gold)". Atari Mania.
- "Vol Solo (Thomson Computer)". DCMOTO. Archived from the original on 2019-11-05.
- Leyenberger, Arthur (March 1985). "Review: Solo Flight". Compute! (58): 70.
- Pappas, Lee (February 1984). "Review: Solo Flight". ANALOG Computing (16).