Fly Together!

If you ask most people, they'll tell you that flying is the most fun part of an airplane game. After all, there's nothing quite like soaring through the clouds and seeing the world from high above. Just look at the success of Microsoft's Flight Simulator. But I have a hunch that developer Northplay disagrees. Their new game Fly Together makes the argument that the most fun part of an airport isn't getting in the cockpit and taking to the skies, but rather working as an air-traffic controller. Believe me, I was as skeptical as you, but after playing through this surprisingly addictive Switch game, I think I'm ready to side with Northplay on this one. Let me explain why.

The first thing you need to know about Fly Together is that the name is misleading. You're never really 'flying' the airplanes in this game, but rather guiding them from one airport to the next. In that sense, this sequel to Conduct Together is incredibly easy to pick up and play. It's a game where a bunch of passengers will load into an airplane and you draw a line to their destination. You'll find that red passengers will need to go to the red airport, blue will need to go to the blue airport and so on so forth. Once the airplane delivers the passengers, a new set will pile in and you'll need to draw a line to their next destination.

What makes this tricky is that you'll be dealing with multiple airplanes at once. Most levels will have you placing two planes at the start, only to then add a third, fourth, fifth and more as the level goes on. It quickly becomes a juggling act, where you'll need to keep moving the airliners around in order to make space for landing and prevent the flow of passengers from piling up. The goal of most stages is to successfully deliver as many passengers as possible in the allotted time, which is usually around 90 to 120 seconds. Depending on how fast you are at guiding those airplanes, you'll earn up to three stars and unlock a series of new levels. Simple, right?

Not so fast, because Fly Together has a lot of tricks up its sleeve. This is a game that throws you into the deep end almost immediately, tossing a bunch of crazy obstacles at you that will fundamentally change the way you tackle each level. One of the earliest examples is the tornado, which will whip around the level and send the airplanes flying wildly out of control. This makes way for the retractable walls, which will turn a short flight into a lengthy affair depending on whether they are up or down. Other levels will have you putting up with turbulence, lightning strikes and even computer-controlled airplanes that act like they're the kings of the sky. And it's not just jets flying by, but in some of the snowy levels, you literally have to watch out for Santa Claus.

While most of the stages have you juggling passengers and airports, there are a bunch of levels that involve you delivering soldiers to a battlefield. You'll load up the plane like normal, but then fly over dangerous terrain in order to let them parachute to their destination. This becomes incredibly tricky when the enemy forces start using jamming towers, which will confuse the pilot and make them forget all about that line you drew for them. And that's before Fly Together starts combining all of these obstacles, turning an already tough situation into an extreme challenge. Let me tell you, this game gets tough, especially if you're trying to earn three stars on every level.

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One of the reasons all this works so well is because there's always something else you can be doing when you get to one of those frustrating stages that feels impossible to beat. Completing the early levels opens up new missions on a bunch of different islands, allowing us to jump around as we see fit. Feel burned out by stage 20? Then try your luck at 32 or even 55. With dozens of missions to choose from, there's a shocking amount of content to play through. And as we work our way through the different islands, we'll grow and expand our airport, allowing us to buy new planes that can be used in any level. I found that even after I had completed a stage, I wanted to go back with a new airplane just to earn a new high score and collect the stars. I have a hunch I'm still going to be doing that long after this review goes up.

This is the kind of game that checks off most of my boxes. It has a unique concept that you don't see very often, it's loaded with content and it has enough variety to ensure that it never gets boring. Best of all, it's easy to play. No matter if you paint the path using the Joy-Con's motion controls or prefer using the Pro Controller's analog sticks, you're not going to run into any turbulence playing this game. The challenge comes from juggling aircrafts and avoiding tornadoes, not the gameplay. There's a level of polish to Fly Together that elevates every aspect of the game. It's a real charmer.

And we haven't even talked about the game's best feature -- the variety of multiplayer modes. As the title suggests, Northplay hopes you'll want to share the fun with friends. Beyond offering a co-op mode that will make going through the lengthy campaign that much better, there are also a bunch of battle stages that support up to eight players. Here you'll compete to see who can deliver the most passengers, all while throwing meteors, tornadoes and even a giant cake at the competition. The only problem I ran into is that you won't be able to take these battles online, which severely limited what I could test for this review. But in the off-chance that the eight-player battles are no fun, that's not going to dimmish how great the rest of the game is. This is an instantly fun simulator that not only looks and plays great, but also gives us an experience that is unique to the Switch. I can't imagine anybody being disappointed by Fly Together.