If you're sick of high poly counts and endless shaders, and you long for days when it was gameplay over graphics, this game is definitely for you. (Or, if you've got a low-end machine and want a really fun yet cheap game to play, have a look see)

I'll start by saying this: it's fun, and I mean really fun. The controls are simple, and the gameplay only takes a few minutes to learn (thanks to an excellent tutorial), but several hours to effectively master. It's kind of like TF2, but with planes: There are 5 different planes, each somewhat customizable. Save for deathmatch, the game modes are all team-play based, and are fairly well balanced.

Though multiplayer is the main MO, it also has a skirmish option (under "Training"), and the AI is pretty good. Unfortunately, a 'net connection is required to start the game, even if you're only going to play a skirmish. Online gameplay is excellent, with no noticeable lag issues and a very fast pace.

It's available on Steam for a promotional price of $9.89USD (with paypal exchange rates I payed less than $11), or once that ends, $14.99 USD. It's also available straight from the developers for $10USD via PayPal. The Steam version integrates with Steam Achievements, the non-Steam version has it's own Achievements (and they are mapped 1:1). There's also a free demo which gives you the first 2 planes and 3 hours of gameplay. If you're also the public-bragging type, Altitude also integrates with Facebook.

I should also note that it is cross-platform. It runs on Windows, Linux, and Mac, and one license covers all. It's also fairly easy on hardware: my 2003-era media center machine runs it smoothly at max settings and high resolution, so it should run fine on a netbook.

One small flaw is that there is no joystick support as of yet, it's keyboard and mouse only. I'm used to KB/M controls for gaming anyway, but flying games just feel better with a joystick.

All in all, this game is just excellent. Definitely a worthwhile purchase at the $10USD promotional price, or even the $15USD regular price. Hours upon hours of great fun, combined with cross-platform compatibility, low hardware requirements, and an impulse-buy level price should make this game a hit.

Developer: Nimbly Games
Site: http://www.altitudegame.com
Price: $10USD Promotional, $15USD regular
Platform: WinXP/Vista/7, Linux, Mac
Hardware: 1GHz CPU, 256MB RAM, 64MB GPU