Game of the Year 2024 Review, Test and Critique

It was the beginning of the summer holidays. I had survived a blue letter from school. Then I sat on the plane to Tenerife with my parents and this song by Reinhard May was playing in my head: “Above the Clouds” (… Freedom should be limitless. All the fears, all the fears. They say. Lie down and hide under them…). So I sat in my window seat and looked out at the clouds from above. The Sky Team sat in the front cockpit and prepared for landing. This is the background for the review. Because…

Team Sky, must have?

Perhaps that’s why the hype surrounding Luc Raymond’s flight simulator Sky Team made me sit up and take notice. A two-player game where both players have to land a plane together. Even my game agent was convinced, as I wrote in my first impressions of Sky Team. He called it a must-play!

What wasn't particularly exciting for me personally at first: you had to assemble the cockpit in advance. In this case, handcrafting meant sticking double-sided stickers to the marked surfaces so that the interior parts would attach to the cockpit panels. Once that happened, nothing stood in the way of landing.

This is how SkyTeam works

Now they both sit side by side at the cockpit controls at a virtual altitude of 6,000 feet. There’s actually a bit of a Sky Team feel to it. The left side controls the fuselage and brakes. The right side operates the landing flaps. They both keep the plane on course and tend to the engines together.

Then some radio messages are sent to the tower to clear the airspace of noisy low-cost airliners. If someone is making coffee right now, that's perfect! Zach, and the landing is successful. The passengers clap along to the rhythm in thanks (of course from “Über den Wolken”). Yes!

minute during the game

Okay, now slow down again. There are these four dice (D6). Both have a sentence. Everyone must complete their tasks using these four dice. Two of them (path and direction) are the common mandatory tasks. Oops! That's why, before we roll the dice, we talk about what's happening in the round. “You do this, and I'll do that…”.

After the dice are rolled (behind your screen), the agreements are over. Talk is forbidden. The only communication is that both of them place their chosen dice on the storage areas. By the way, this is very hard to keep up with when you are putting things together. But I can assure you that it works (more often than not).

Coffee as a dice rate

There is a lot of discussion after that. “Why didn't…” “Yes, maybe because the dice didn't give it!?” So, the person in the game. Because it allows you to change the number of dice. But you also have to make coffee first. And now I remind you again: we are in the air. This is now noticeable as follows: the machine automatically dives 1000 feet with each turn. Time is short, even for a quick coffee, because at some point the machine has to be adjusted as gently as possible…

The condition of victory requires cooperation.

If after landing there are no more planes in sight, if all landing gear and flaps are extended, if the bird is level, if the speed is less than the brake value, then… and only then…! Then the team has won. Even if this is the case after a rather bumpy landing, both of them lie in each other's arms and cheer!

Air tingling fun

But that's not all. If the team is ready, many new challenges await them. Each airport has its own characteristics. Wind, ice, kerosene and trainees are the trick of the sky. But at this point: the end, the end!

However, things don't always go well.

When Sky Team was nominated for Game of the Year 2024, I had this feeling: this “should” now be Game of the Year. But it’s a game for two. So maybe not? Syk Team became Game of the Year 2024! But as it is. The two experts who tried the two-player games for me were very enthusiastic. The conclusion was “not touched”. Even the Game of the Year doesn’t always have to be well received.

However, for me, the positive game stimuli and mechanics (already known) are well integrated into this game. Even younger and more experienced kids under 12 have a great time playing. Additionally, author Luke Raymond has taken the topic of flying very seriously and turned it into a very cooperative aerial game. All this is well and I am encouraged to try more landings.