Fly Together!

Genre: Arcade

Players: 1-8 Co-Op / Competitive (Local)

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Review:

Fly Together!, released on Nintendo Switch in 2021, Is a family-friendly Arcade-style game similar in design to the classic mobile game Flight Control, where players guide planes to airports, trying to manage the flight paths of all the air traffic to avoid collisions and deliver passengers in a timely manner. This is a gameplay formula that’s nothing new, and has been repeated in countless games over the years, so the question here is mainly “how is the execution?”

The presentation is unimpressive but appealing, featuring simple, colorful, cartoony cel-shaded 3D visuals. This is backed by energetic but largely forgettable synthesized music, although I will note an exception for the game’s charming main theme, which can be heard in this trailer. And yes, that is the actual song lyrics in the game, singing about controlling the game with Joy-Cons, playing in co-op, and so on.

Of course, the main attraction here is going to be the gameplay. As this style of game flourished primarily on touchscreen mobile devices, you might expect the touchscreen to be the ideal way to play Fly Together!, but in fact this game’s touchscreen support is pretty poor, seemingly only enabled in menus. Rather, you’ll be playing this game by controlling an on-screen cursor using either traditional gamepad controls, or by using a single Joy-Con with gyroscopic motion control.

While the gamepad controls work fine (although the cursor is a tad slow), it’s clear that the Joy-Con controls are the preferred option here (a fact the game makes sure to highlight when you start it up). These controls do a good job of allowing players a reasonable amount of accuracy while still being able to make quick movements to adjust things at various parts of the screen.

To control a plane, you point the cursor at it on-screen and then drag the cursor over the route you want the plane to take. If you want to change that route, you simply click the plane again and redraw the new route. Planes dragged to an airport will empty passengers that match the airport’s color, and empty planes will pick up passengers. Each level is timed, and you simply need to deliver as many passengers to their color-coded destination as possible before time elapses, while avoiding hazards like mountains and other planes.

It’s a simple formula, but Fly Together! adds variety by bringing in new elements as the game progresses, such as tornadoes that delay your plane and force you to create a new route, winds that will speed up or slow down your plane depending on its direction, clouds that threaten nearby planes with lightning, and so on. There’s even some clever additions to shake up the formula, like paratrooper destinations that don’t require landing but only accept one passenger per spot. The game also adds variety by gradually expanding the types of planes players have access to, with different types of planes having different speeds, loading times, and passenger capacities.

However, while the game’s campaign is fun in its own right, it’s clear that this is a game built around its multiplayer functionality, allowing up to 8 players to get in on the action, with both co-op and competitive play available. Co-op play here is excellent, really requiring players to coordinate their play to ensure they don’t inadvertently create a collision. The clever thing here is that while each player can select a preferred plane type to start with, any player can control the course of any plane, meaning that players may find it beneficial to switch off as they go, and will have to coordinate their efforts accordingly.

Competitive play is similarly clever – here, players do have a specific plane they control, and are trying to deliver the most passengers within a time limit. However, players who fly a plane through one of various pickups that appear on the map can gain an additional plane or an attack to use against the opponent, such as a tornado you can freely place, an EMP “dead zone” where planes can’t be controlled, or a giant cake falling from the sky to smash planes underneath it.

Because of its simplicity, its cartoony appeal, and the great co-op play with a strong need for players to communicate, Fly Together! Is a game that very much feels like something deserving of a spot right next to Overcooked in your multiplayer co-op game rotation. However, the competitive play adds an alternate way to play that’s also quite enjoyable. I do wish the single-player mode had more to offer, and a map creator would have been nice, but overall this is a superb entry in the Nintendo Switch’s game library, and one you’ll likely want to bring out at parties with friends.

tl;dr – Fly Together! Is a family-friendly Arcade-style game like Flight Control, where players control the flight paths of planes as they guide them to airports to deliver passengers. It’s not a new concept, but it’s done exceptionally well here, with particularly great co-op and competitive multiplayer play. The single-player content feels like it could have been fleshed out more, but overall this is an excellent game to add to your rotation of fun multiplayer games on Nintendo Switch.

Grade: A-

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This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2021 Game Awards:

Winner:

Best Multiplayer – This year, the choices for Best Multiplayer include various kinds of multiplayer, but Fly Together is the one game out of all of the finalists that is clearly built around its multiplayer, with some truly great couch co-op and couch competitive gameplay that’s sure to make it a staple when you’re looking to play something with friends in a party setting (we do still have those, right?)

Best Arcade/Party Game – Both Fly Together and Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania are strong contenders in this category, but I give Fly Together a slight edge because it is both more accessible, and because it supports up to 8 players. However, both of these games are a welcome addition to a party.

Runner-Up: Best Game for Kids and Casual Players

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