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"Just relax and enjoy flying in the air with the whimsical balloon." - Artdink on Notam of Wind
Once again, Artdink pioneers exploratory gameplay experiences with its hot air balloon sim Notam of Wind. Notam of Wind ostensibly represents the final segment of Artdink's elemental triumvirate. While Aquanaut's Holiday ventures the ocean's depths, and Wild Pure Simple Life (Tail of the Sun) mainly covers land, Notam of Wind takes to the sky.
Recalling the hang-gliding section of Pilot Wings 64, Notam of Wind emphasizes indirect control. Here, the capricious and unpredictable force of wind largely determines your balloon's flight. The game conveys a palpable sense of the wind's dynamics.
By adjusting the temperature inside your balloon, you're able to move up and down, riding wind currents at five altitudes. As these currents fluctuate constantly in direction and power, you must heed your on-screen "wind current indicator" if you wish to reach your destination. Journeys are usually circuitous, but your journeys' circuitousness depends on your ability to navigate the winds. Read the winds well, and you'll reach your destination efficiently.
You must also pay attention to your compass, fuel meter, and map. The fuel meter lends urgency to gameplay, for you have limited time to complete your task. When your fuel runs out, your balloon descends to the ground, and the game ends. The amount of fuel you get per game permits only about seven minutes of gameplay, which tends to obstruct meditative gameplay (that's to say, the capacity to "relax and enjoy flying in the air with the whimsical balloon"). A menu option for unlimited fuel would have behooved Notam of Wind.
Explore three maps, each twelve square kilometers wide: the fantastical "Breezy Earth," the pastoral, verdant "Drafty Valley" ("You feel easy when you fly in the unrealistic world like this map." - Artdink on Drafty Valley), and the skyscrapered "Windy City."
In comparison to AH and WPSL's virtual worlds, Notam of Wind's maps lack their expansiveness, and they're sparse, too, so you'll soon see every sight, turn over every stone. In a short while, there's nothing left to discover, and discovery (or perhaps the promise of discovery) is supposed to be Artdink's hallmark. The game offers less mystery than Artdink's prior efforts.
Notam of Wind's graphics are a bit sterile. Organic landscapes are made blocky, geometrical. The ground is composed of large, square tiles stitched together. Textures warp often. Although these graphics better AH and WPSL's rather primitive graphics, and they seem to be at a higher resolution, Artdink might have employed the "blurring" effect Squaresoft's Dept. 7 used for Front Mission Alternative's beautiful terrain. But, of course, "rinky-dink" Artdink lacks Squaresoft's enormous coffers and resources.
As it is, Notam of Wind attempts to mask heavy draw in with heavier depth shading. The results disappoint greatly, and almost defeat the game's premise. Real balloon rides afford distant, magnificent views. In this virtual balloon ride, you're relentlessly boxed in by a suffocating fog. At times, these ultra-fogging effects even flummox gameplay.
First, let me describe Notam of Wind's gameplay. There are three play modes - "Fly In," "Try Delta," and "Wolf Hunt." In Fly In, you must drop a marker as close as possible to a target. Here, accuracy is scored. In Try Delta, you must make a triangle by dropping three markers. The bigger the triangle you make, the higher the score you get. And in Wolf Hunt, you must chase other balloons and tag them with a marker as soon as possible. The sooner you tag the target, the higher the score you get.
Indirect control makes all three play modes much more challenging than they seem. Initially, I found all three play modes fun, but eventually, because of lack of variation, I grew bored. Two-player, split-screen gameplay, especially for Wolf Hunt, would have enhanced Notam of Wind's replayability hundredfold. Moreover, Notam of Wind's slow (not meant pejoratively) gameplay demands patience.
The graphical shortcomings I have listed not only cut against the game's immersiveness, but also impede gameplay. This is best seen in Fly In. You might be a stone's throw away from the target, but you miss it because the thick fog causes poor visibility. In Wolf Hunt, your prey might be right under your nose, but because of the fog, it's out of sight.
Two other criticisms: 1. If your balloon gets stuck on an object, such as a mountain, attempting to extricate yourself from the object can be extremely frustrating. It's as if your balloon is magnetically bound to the object, so you might as well restart the game. And, irritatingly, if your balloon bumps or scrapes against an object, you sometimes lose a chunk of precious fuel. 2. Your balloon can transgress a map's perimeter. However, if your balloon goes past the perimeter, it "leaves" you, and you must reel it in before it's lost for good (whereupon the game ends). Floating across a map's invisible boundary is a terribly easy mistake to make, and attempting to reel in your balloon is usually a hopeless endeavor, so you might as well restart the game. What gets my goat is this "danger" music kicks in after the transgression, not before. A sound cue beforehand might have solved this most irritating problem, which upsets meditative gameplay.
Audio effects are just adequate. Sounds of airplanes, birds, etc. would have enlivened the game's plain audio library, which consists mainly of wind sounds. Choose one of ten music compositions to float to. The background music is light (occasionally trippy) synth stuff - pleasant but nothing really memorable - which sets Notam of Wind's tranquil mood. Oddly, the music can't be switched off - perhaps to cover up the dearth of audio effects?
Notam of Wind gets pats on the back for including both first and third person points of view (first person is especially immersive), and for letting you customize time and weather conditions, as well as your balloon's paint job. Changes in time and weather during gameplay would have been nice.
To be plucked up like a dead leaf and carried silently and swiftly over the earth, to find solitude high above the fray of rooted life is gratifying indeed. To experience such things (to some degree) in virtuality is remarkable. In this principal capacity, Notam of Wind is ambitious, but it's inadequate in many others. Artdink aficionados should rent it.