Buy Global ATC

I did honestly not expect it to be this basic
Yes, you can import AIRAC, but the level of simulation is something you expect out of a tablet game.
No communication, just order planes like you do on tablet games with no rules. Don't even dream of QNH, transision levels, flightplan, transponder, hand-offs or crosswind for that matter.

As there has been some development over the last days, here is an update addressing my complaints on the game.
Just to make it clear:
The game has quite some potential and I enjoy arcading with it a lot.
But it is too arcady to be a sim and to simplistic to be an arcade like IATC3 or Tower!2011
But with a few tweaks, the game could be a real good sim.
Price tag however, is still too high.

a) At least with scenarios, the game can somewhat emulate real traffic like here: http://steamcommunity.com/app/270830/discussions/0/619574421615322074/
b) see statement above - too arcady for an actual sim.
c) there is a rudimentary scenario editor available: http://forum.aerosoft.com/index.php?/topic/81659-scenariofile-format/
d) no change here - but it is possible to use keyboard only if you prefer
e) The developer answered in the thread and I try to follow up: http://forum.aerosoft.com/index.php?/topic/90009-remarksquestions-regarding-bug-flight-schedules-and-scenarios/
f) still no active Steam Forum support - to me it appears that the game is more of a hobby - project that a professional product by a game development studio. Keeping this in mind makes the poor support somewhat bearable.




--- first review ---

Short:
Too pricey for an airport database with something added that feels like "what-if" - trial for landing and departure.

Long:
Yes, yes - this is a SIM. I get it. And it is maybe quite accurate when it comes to airport data base data.
However:
a) I could not find any type of real traffic. So, only the Airport basis may be accurate.
b) This "game" runs almost by itself as if the simlated world was perfect with perfect pilots and weather conditions.
There is no real challenge - except make the settings harder or chose "Rush Hour" as increasingly hard mode.
c) No scenarios and/or scenario editors for airports available.
d) The interface (click-and-drop + Mousewheel) removes the tension by making communication too easy.
e) GUI lables with randomly changing font sizes which makes playing sometime impossible as it is unclear if a setting is e.g. for runway "16R" or "16L" if only "16I" can be seen - sometimes without any visible text.
f) No perceptible support (2 questions raised in Steam Forum - so far no answers).

All other statements about this game may be accureate (see reviews below) - but for a casual ATC gamer ("Air Traffic Controller 3", "Tower! 2011", "atc-sim.com") that seeks for some challange, this game is not worth the high price.

I would be happy to see some improvements on the actual game mechanics so I can change my assessment.
If any of my claims (a)-(f) is objectively wrong, please let me know. I would be happy to revise any of it.

I recommend it. Its nice, simple. BUT if you are not into ATC simulation, it will be boring for you and no reason to play it. I only purchased this cause I like Air Traffic Control and is what I am pursuing in my carrer.

Overall though, GREAT simulator... Wish there was a server list, so you could just join servers.

This is one of the most technically compehensive ATC sims I have ever seen. Being a private pilot myself, I find it very interesting to be able to load up a controlled airport in my area and see the operations from the perspective of the controllers on the ground. So far I have played around in CYXU and CYYZ with real weather and I am impressed. However, the sim does lack and could use some more immersion elements like text to speech and speech control, but it makes up for it by providing a highly detailed TRACON sim that conveys accurate approach and depature procedures for pretty much every airport around the world.

I recommend this mostly to people who have an interest in the procedural aspects relating to civilian aviation. Casuals will indeed lose interest fast I imagine.

As a line pilot on the B738 based in Cape Town, South Africa, I thought I'd have a bash at things from 'the other side of the screen' as it were. I've tried other ATC sims in the past, but frankly the hideous text interactions have always put me off - speech recognition has also not been up to spec, plus I've always wanted to play in my own back yard, ie the airfields I normally fly to. Thankfully, the simple drag and drop type interface in GATC, as well as the global database makes this all possible. Wall-o-text to follow:

The simple tutorials give you the basics of the interface which are easy to grasp, but very little 'training' in how to be an ATC (more tutorials are available on the Aerosoft website and are apparently more comprehensive, so this isn't a knock against the product). There are however, quite a few simplifications of procedures; some examples are no altimeter setting changes, no Mach/IAS conversion (you essentially tell the aircraft what ground speed to fly it seems unlike RL), likewise you tell the aircraft what track to fly (they seem to compensate for wind drift for you, not always done IRL unless asked for). The pilots are also all vegetables (don't joke, most of us are at least one step up from that!) in that they will happily fly into each other, and possibly the ground too. As an example, my very first flight was ended almost immediately after I cleared somebody for take off, then told the aircraft following to line up. IRL, the crew in the 2nd aircraft would simply wait until there was space to line up behind the departing traffic, but nope, the scenario ended as they taxiied straight into the other aircraft, which had actually reached 40kts already so was well clear (there is no simulation of intersection departures). There is also no simulation of ACAS RA's or EGPWS terrain avoidance (IRL a crew will avoid terrain and other transponder equipped aircraft). Also, with a bit of a crosswind aircraft will be unable to land and will constantly go-around - IRL, operational and procedural constraints often dictate a less than optimal runway; crews will only refuse in an emergency, or if the crosswind is considered excessive (crew restrictions, aircraft crosswind limits). For example, I 'forced' the use of RWY01 in FACT, with a wind of 340@15 aircraft were unable to land - IRL, using RWY34 (a shorter runway) isn't often done.

Basically I was looking for a bit more intelligence from the aircraft, perhaps an unrealistic expectation (actually, given the poor progress of AI in games in general, definitely unrealistic). As it stands now, you're basically remote controlling some drones (the way of the future?) The other thing I'd like to see is being able to clear aircraft for a visual approach without such harsh angular restrictions (they must be basically on final to accept a visual in game, in which case what's the point of the visual? May as well use the ILS.) IRL, if I can see the field and certain other constraints are met, if I'm cleared for a visual I fly myself onto final and land, from any direction (right or left, as cleared). I'd also like to be able to give them the option of flying at whatever speed they would like - IRL, the aircrafts FMC and company policy would dictate some kind of 'econ' descent (and as mentioned earlier, there's no transition between Mach number and IAS) and that's what crew would like to fly at - which brings me to my next point. I would have really liked to see some kind of efficiency rating - as it stands there seems to be no penalty whatsoever (and conversely no reward) for doing anything efficiently. IRL, pilots would scream bloody murder (after the flight of course) if you just 'forgot' to clear them to land (as I just did with Air France, sorry guys). Likewise, companies would like direct routings in empty skies - currently, you can leave everybody on a long roundabout departure and it makes no difference. To counter this, I'd like some kind of 'fuel efficiency' rating, comparing my performance to the worst case (ie all departures/arrivals flown in their entirety, aircraft held up in their climbouts etc). Along the lines of Max fuel burn/time enroute until clear of the sector vs actual fuel burn/time in the airspace. Something like that.

Some nice points, which I've found you can't always take for granted, are realistic times for lining up and getting rolling, as well a plausible simulation of what we often struggle with - energy management on the approach, in other words the old 'I can go down or slow down, but not both at once' problem.

But I'm being picky. At it's core, GATC offers a taste of the practical business of safely routing aircraft into and out of a worldwide database of airfields, including real world SIDs/STARs which is great. The simplifications of procedures don't really get in the way of this IMHO. It works, it's fun (if you like ATCing) and it covers the basics quite neatly in an easy to use interface. All my gripes could really be summed up as 'aircraft AI', perhaps something that is a bit beyond the scope of this project to do properly. I can therefore recommend it, again, assuming you have an interest in the subject at hand of course.

Great for aviation enthusiasts and non enthusiasts.

Don't expect high graphics as this is a simulator of an air traffic control radar screen. This can be rewarding and frustrating in equal measures. The biggest downside is that you cannot zoom in and out of specific sectors of your radar screen, you can only zoom in on the airport it self. This sometimes makes it very difficult to find specific waypoints. Despite this, you can order the movement of aircraft by means of drag and drop.

Even though it is difficult to sometimes find the required waypoints which can be frustrating, this is a good simulation.

If your a fan of Air Traffic Control simulators, then your going to love this. Easy interface, not a HUGE learning curve and you can play casual or ramp up the settings to a nightmare of traffic.

It IS however missing some things that tried and true fans of ATC are going to miss. First off, it's not very accurate in how ATC is done, I believe this was done for playability...but even some basic things are missing....no hand offs to center, no frequency changes or transponder codes, no pop up traffic, no transition traffic, no vfr or small non-commerical traffic, no limits on altitude settings, no barometer settings...etc. Also, no scoring or evaluation system...just keeps track of how many are in the air, landed, departed and collided...but it don't track your overall career or ratings.

So again, not horribly accurate, but very cool in that it allows you to control at airport locations all over the world and it's easy to jump right into and play. The point and click/drag interface makes a HUGE improvement over the old Tracon game many of us loved.

A good - put not perfect - simulation of Air Traffic Control at Radar and Tower levels.

It should first be said that the scope of this is enourmous. As it says, covers almsot 14,000 airports worldwide. If its comerically flown to in the real world at any sort of level, it will be in the game. I tried a number of local airports to me, some of which see only a handful of movements a day, and they were fully simulated in STARs, SIDs and Transitions. The simulation has these spot on, including things like altidude restrictions and holding points.

The interface works very well and intuitevly. The drag and drop for heading plus the scrollwheel for height and speed make it quick and easy to give aircraft commands, and drag and drop for approach and landing works very nicely too. There is text based should it be needed, which I tend to use for joining procedures as I find it easier, but even this is not complex and is nicely done.

Don't be fooled by the trailer, there is very little in the way of audio. You will get voice notifications of aircraft arriving, departing, leaving your sector and for traffic alerts. There is no background "Buzz" and you don't get readbacks from pilots (well, you get text readbacks, but no audio). There is also no voice reconition for controlling. However, I can see why this is. The simulation includes countless airlines, aircraft and thousands upon thousands upon thousands of departure and arrival routes. To get it sounding anywere near decent would be very very difficult to do, and I see that this is a tradeoff to having more depth.

There are things missing. There is no VFR traffic, no transiting traffic and no circuit traffic. A few things are missing such as giving departing aircraft IFR clearance (although at most airports this is not the role of the tower or radar controller, at some it is). Altimiter settings are missing completely and speed you give as ground speed. There is no airspeed or MACH speeds to have to worry about.

The addition of multiplay is a nice touch. Although I can not comment on it personally since I have not used it up to now, if some of my friends were to get this I would no doubt be using it. It is a nice addition that I can see would add to the experience.

As for "learning" the way of the skies, the simulation does give some brief instruction of vectoring aircraft, ariving STARs and departing SIDs although this is FAR from compelte. If you dont have much prior aviation knowledge I would presume that this would be a very steep learning curve with not a load of support. There are however plenty of youtube vids aimed at flight simulation pilots discussing instrument procedures for flying. These can be used to get to grips with using them from the "Other side" and will give you enough to get into the simulation.

Overall, this is a well thought out and deep reaching simulation covering most aspects of ATC across a HUGE array of airports. There are a few missing touches as noted above but not enough to detract from the gameplay. If you are not interested in aviation / dont have much background knowledge I would give this a miss, but if this is the sort of thing that interests you, I would recomend it :)

I'd recommend this game if you're into aviation in general and want to get a feeling of what it can be like in the control tower/center. The game is not too easy but at the same time not too hard either.