Kenedy Approach is a program that I wish would be revamped to take advantage of today's new capabilities. This game (simulation) was ahead of its time. One of the few games of the day that had speech in it. It was very challenging - to this day I have never completed the entire game structure.
As a person that worked to maintain an ATC trainer for the Air Force, this simulation did a very good job applying a sub-set of actual rules that controllers face in the real world.
Kenedy Approach is a program that I wish would be revamped to take advantage of today's new capabilities. This game (simulation) was ahead of its time. One of the few games of the day that had speech in it. It was very challenging - to this day I have never completed the entire game structure.
As a person that worked to maintain an ATC trainer for the Air Force, this simulation did a very good job applying a sub-set of actual rules that controllers face in the real world. The opening credit graphic was killer, game graphics weren't quite as good as they could have been with the sprite capabilities of the time, but I think a trade-off was made for speed (function rather than flashy graphics).
If
memory serves correct this was a MicroProse release - same folks that brought us a long line of good simulators like F15 Strike Eagle. Seems amazing what was done with the 32K of memory of the Commodore 64.
The simulation needed more airports - I think there were only 4. Despite its name - Atlanta Daytime was the hardest simulation. The tiny processor of the C64 did a good job keeping up with the numerous objects on the screen all at once.
The "No-Fly" area in Washington D.C. was also very realistic. Graphics were lacking a bit and some liberties were taken in runway placement. Was always curious why BWI was not included on the scenario since it is so close to the DC area.
Seemed strange to play the simulator with a joystick, the only portion of the game that truly was not realistic. The game sound was solid - the SID chip in the C64 was ahead of its time and it amazed me they could get good voice synthesis out of it - no wav or MP3 files like we have today. The big plus the game had is there was no loading mid-level (something that can't be said about some of the latest games.
You controlled 3 types of aircraft in the simulator. Seems funny that you can actually bring the Concord back to life by playing this game - a marvel of its time that has been put to rest due to fuel cost. Private planes are limited to Cessena although I guess in reality they could have been anything you wanted since they were just referred to as "November" and a number. Can't remember what the commercial jets were, still it was a challenge to play this one!
