When I opened the store interface of "I am an Air 4" for the first time, I was completely confused. It was the kind of shock that comes from instinct and curiosity before a disaster is imminent: like this How can a small-level game with an unpopular theme and rough graphics be so confident in its pricing, even surpassing a number of recognized 3A masterpieces? How can such a little-known game group win the favor of die-hard fans and insist on releasing the series into the fourth generation despite such a casual pricing strategy?

And more importantly, how can I be invited to review such a game, and how can I possibly convince players that this game is worth the money… Forget it, I obviously can't even convince myself. In the face of this game, even "Octopath Traveler" without discounts can boast that it has good value for money.

Normally there would be an expected twist at this point so I can start explaining what makes the game shine, but this time there really isn't. Faced with the overflowing screen gameplay of "I Am an Air Traffic Controller 4", I entered with a trace of lucky expectations and clicked the start button, but all I got was misty despair: What on earth am I doing? How do I do this? What do these messy abbreviations mean? Was there someone communicating with me just now? What’s the difference between these two options that popped up…

After being shocked by this huge flow of information, I felt that this might be one of the most hard-core immersive simulation business games I have ever come into contact with, although it is not as difficult and boring as the "Armed Assault" next door. , and even allows players to complete the game with confusion, but the unexplained victory or defeat will only make me more irritable and restless when I chew on the English version of aviation terminology. How can I bring me the achievements I deserve? feel?

But having said that, this also seems to mean that the bad experience in the game "I Am an Air Traffic Controller 4" is all the "suffering of ignorance". If we can gradually learn and understand everything in the soothing process of the game, "Ignorance" "Brightness" and "suffering" will be eliminated invisible. This thought slowly calmed me down, and for the first time I took the initiative to open the electronic game manual provided by Steam. I roughly understood the basic gameplay of the game, and some facts that should be taken for granted and very helpful: We play Our role is that of Air Traffic Control Officer, which means that our most important, and most of the time, only responsibility is to supervise flights at Tokyo Haneda International Airport to ensure that they take off and land safely, smoothly, and preferably on time.

Detailed tutorial

After clarifying this point, the idea of ​​​​the entire game becomes clear. Under normal circumstances (also shown in the first and second chapters of the game), each flight, whether it is taking off or landing, will naturally have already been prepared for itself. After a detailed plan has been made, as long as the player confirms through the map on the right that these plans will not interfere with each other at a certain point in time, they can confidently and boldly issue orders to continue the plan – that is, when clicking to talk to the crew members That is the only or first option, and then just wait and see what happens. Until the natural end of the game time, regardless of whether all planes take off or land successfully, the system will give the player a corresponding rating based on the airport's operational efficiency. It was so easy and comfortable that it even gave me the idea of ​​going to the airport to apply for a job.

However, it didn’t even have to be late in the game. In the rainy day challenge of the next level, I had already given up on the stupid idea of ​​applying for a job, and then doubted whether I had normal intelligence: under my confident scheduling, the two planes were actually able to fly on both sides of the runway. Side acceleration and hedging, as if there was a glorious medieval knight duel. If the system hadn't ended the game in time, I don't know what kind of tragedy would have happened. This is not over yet. Now that we know that plans will interfere with each other, how should we adjust them? In scenes with insufficient visibility such as night or fog, what variables should we focus on? Even if the weather is normal, when emergencies occur, or when a number of planes approaching the limit of the airport's contact capacity are just circling over the airport, are we confident enough to handle them one by one… I originally wanted to be an air traffic control officer, Solid professional knowledge is only the foundation for getting started, and a responsive brain is only a necessary condition for not entering the class room. In addition, you must have excellent computing power and clear eyesight… Fortunately, this is just a game.

However, from this point of view, the advantages of "I Am an Air Traffic Controller 4" compared to similar works are quite obvious: compared with boring simulation games, the core mechanism of "I am an Air Traffic Controller 4" is simple, clear and rich. The changes allow players to repeatedly experience the challenges in different scenarios of the game as puzzles without a single correct answer, thus greatly enhancing the playability of the game; compared with other simulation management games on the market, "I "Air Traffic Controller 4" has unparalleled fidelity. Its detailed and accurate restoration of Tokyo Haneda International Airport and various flights not only makes every hard-core simulation player happy, but also reveals to us the constraints of "I Am". The key word for the pricing of the "Air Controller 4" game: royalties.

Copyright disputes related to games can be traced back to the 1990s. At that time, RARE claimed that the prototypes of the weapons and equipment in its game "GoldenEye 007" came from the real world, and used this as a selling point to promote it, successfully attracting legal letters from major arms dealers. It is true that this "encounter" was not a good one, but after that, the arms dealers and game companies quickly entered a win-win "honeymoon period": the former provides the latter with a big discount on copyright fees, and free licensing is not impossible if necessary. ; The latter establishes a brand image for the former and uses its increasing influence on young people to cultivate potential customers for the former. This kind of cooperation is a perfect match. Take the classic scene in "Call of Duty 4" as an example. When the player passes through Chernobyl and finally takes out the M82 anti-material rifle to execute justice, this "ultimate weapon" appears as soon as it appears. It easily brings the atmosphere of the game to the highest climax, and players will remember these magical weapons, and most of them will become loyal fans of Barrett Company in the future.

The honeymoon period is always sweet but short-lived, and the 2011 "Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association" decision made the determination of infringement more favorable to game manufacturers (simply put, game manufacturers can use less accurate weapons without authorization model), the authorization of arms dealers is not as important as before; and as the 2012 school shooting in Connecticut once again brought the idea that "video games induce violence" to the forefront, game companies would be wise to start Completely decoupled from arms dealers. After that, the two sides began to engage in a series of battles of wits over copyright, which can be regarded as anecdotes worth mentioning in the history of gaming. However, this excitement and the previous "win-win" were all other people's, unlike "I Am an Air Traffic Control Officer" 4" has nothing to do with non-violent simulation games.

The reason is not difficult to understand. It is completely different from Barrett's advertising requirements. An airline naturally hopes that its partners will show the gentler side of its own products, and it is best to highlight its characteristics of considerate service, safety and speed—— This is a game, at least it is beyond the capabilities of simulation air traffic control games such as "I Am Air Traffic Controller 4"; not only that, once the airline authorizes "I am Air Traffic Controller 4", it means There is a high probability that your own aircraft will become the protagonist of a major air crash or flight delay in the hands of a certain player. Instead, you will need to bear the risk of damaging your own brand image.

In this regard, the most we can do is to cover up the occurrence of accidents in "I Am an Air Traffic Controller 4" – the system will end the game immediately after determining that an accident will occur to ensure that the accident scene will not appear in front of the screen, to provide relief to major airlines. The company made an explanation, but it had nothing to do about the flight delays that often occurred in the game. Naturally, the price difference between here and outside could only be filled with real money and the unknown efforts of the production team. What is worthy of recognition is that under such conditions, it still succeeded in acquiring the copyright of almost all flights passing through Haneda International Airport, making "I Am an Air Traffic Controller 4" the most unique one in the simulation air traffic control game. , will naturally win the favor of die-hard fans all over the world, including our country.

According to the website itself, the Xiaoji ACT Forum is currently the largest ACT forum in the country and a paradise for fans of the "I Am an Air Traffic Control Officer" series of games (currently mainly the third and fourth generations). The situation is quite similar to that of almost all niche forums in China. If you are a newbie, you will definitely feel the warmth of home in this forum: all the newbies are sharing their joy, all the elders know everything, and all the bosses are enthusiastic Share the guide and show you how to obtain the Japanese original version of "I Am Air Traffic Controller 4" until October 15th when the game will be available on the Steam platform.

Since then, the forum is still a scene of "yellow hair hanging down and enjoying oneself". The old guys continue to patiently solve problems for every newcomer who comes to report, and continue to recommend the original Japanese game of "I Am an Air Traffic Controller 4" – and It’s not because of interests or admiration for foreigners. The main reason why this group of enthusiastic guys recommend the Japanese version so much is that first of all, the price of the Japanese version of the game is basically the same as that of the game version launched in China on Steam; secondly, compared with the Steam version, the Japanese version of the game is The original version has richer content (including paid DLC); finally and most importantly, due to copyright restrictions, many real flights in "I Am an Air Traffic Controller 4" cannot appear in other areas outside Japan, so in In the steam version of the game, we can only see the rainbow team that has been harmonized into red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. This means that if you purchase the Steam version of the game at the original price, then at least one-third of the cost is purely to recharge your faith. I believe that the friends on the forum will be grateful, but there is really no need to do this.

And if you are not so serious about copyright and just want to experience the good gameplay of "I am an Air Traffic Control Officer 4"… then there is absolutely no need to buy this game at the original price. Although "I am an Air Traffic Control Officer 4" is unique, But similar themes are not unique. Besides, the "Black Friday Sale" is just around the corner. It will undoubtedly be a wiser choice to decide whether to buy the game based on the discounts.