Did you ever have one of those dreams where you're flying?  I investigated its meaning and here is a brief synopsis of what I learned:

“If you are flying with ease and enjoying the scene and landscape below, then it suggests that you are on top of a situation. You have risen above something. It may also mean that you have gained a different perspective on things. Flying dreams and the ability to control your flight is representative of your own personal sense of power.” - DreamMoods.com

I define flying dreams, or the desire to fly, as the human spirit's desire to break free of our terrestrial bonds. While all of this may sound entirely too philosophical for a gaming article, what I am trying to convey is how much most gamers enjoy games that involve flying.  In my experience, there seems to be two genres of flying games: outer space and inner space, or standard earth based flight simulators.  The two styles each have their own physics and effective strategies.

I remember back when I got my first color monitor for my PC; it was an NEC Multisync monitor and it could display 16 colors at an unheard of resolution of 640x350.  I was so excited when it arrived, because now I could actually play the game Red Baron and actually see a “Red” Baron.  I played that game for hours that evening,` and honestly, I was horrible at it.  I just couldn’t figure out how they kept killing me. I played it and played it, until I realized, like "Kahn" in the second Star Trek movie, my strategies were two-dimensional. Once I realized and corrected this, my gaming experience became a lot more enjoyable.  Three dimensional game play was still something very new, and it was easy for a veteran like me to neglect it when formulating my next move.

The list of flying games that I have played since that time is so long that I can no longer even remember the names of all the games. I can't recall one particular early flying game that used ray traced enemies and landscape, but I remember enjoying it.  Others that I have played included classics like Descent which was one of the first games to offer a demo, by allowing you to play the first three levels for free, but required you to buy the game to play the rest.  Those first levels were so good, I actually went out and bought the game.

As I recall all of these games I can actually feel my pulse start to quicken when I remember playing A-10 Tank Killer (one of my all time favorites), Wing Commander, or Slipheed.  Now I find myself reliving the old days of flight by enjoying the entire Battlefield series from Battlefield 1942, Battlefield Vietnam and Battlefield 2.

Whatever your favorite flying game is, get the joystick out and go enjoy escaping the earthly bonds for just a little while.

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