App Store games have come a long way. When it was initially released, Flight Control had an innovative concept but wasn’t a fully fledged game. Over time it has grown up, selling over two million copies with a much richer feature set including WiFi/Bluetooth multiplayer and many new maps with different twists. Indeed, Flight Control HD could have been just as successful if Firemint simply redrew the game and released it. Luckily, they went above and beyond.

Flight Control HD offers so much not just as standalone game but as a sister title to its much loved smaller counterpart. As all of the original maps return, you can play multiplayer with a friend who has an iPhone or iPod touch as well as iPad to iPad. Furthermore, you can play cooperatively or head to head on the same iPad, which is great fun whichever mode you choose; the large multitouch surface is perfect for sharing and this alone transforms the game into something a lot more sociable. The new iPad exclusive maps make the best use of the screen real estate, with planes being much smaller to allow more of them on there at once, and with two different airports. The original maps are simply enlarged which makes sense especially with the multiplayer component; it’s infinitely better to optimise the game for the iPad’s screen rather than having it run pixel-doubled.

The same mechanics that made the game great in the first place remain untouched¹. Planes fly around and you drag a line from them to the runway in order to land them successfully, with fast jets, sluggish helicopters and medium fast small planes; an intelligent fast forward button that is automatically disabled when a crash is likely to occur; save state (it wasn’t in the iPhone version when we initially reviewed it); iPod library playback; plus a nice statistics breakdown for each map. Additionally, you can play the game in any orientation!

Flight Control is still the best line drawing title, hands down. Updates have made it far more compelling than its competition, and with the iPad exclusive content and creative multiplayer it’s easily one that you should buy. An outstanding game.

1. You can get a full description of the gameplay in our initial review.

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