Although the saucer looks like a simple frisbee, it takes a lot of patience and effort to learn how to fly properly. Since apparently no one has flown one of these things before in real life, the designers took some liberties in imagining how the saucer might work. It feels reasonably realistic, with enough "alien" touches to add to the atmosphere. One advice from me: overcorrection means near-certain death in the game. Trust me ;)

The fun doesn't stop at flying the saucer. Inside the dull grey exterior are cool alien gadgets, including lasers, missiles, targeting equipment, and a unique control system that gives you good reason to make use of the training mission before getting your hands dirty doing what flying saucers do best: abducting rednecks. Yes, you can abduct people and other things, and the ship's computer will even analyze what you successfully abduct. The descriptions are a lot of fun, and add tremendously to the game experience. Although the game is mission-based, you have reasonable freedom to roam around nice 3D landscapes in most levels, abducting everything in sight ;)

Overall, Flying Saucer is definitely a fresh breeze in the flight sim genre. You don't have to be an aviation nut to get any enjoyment from scaring the locals with your alien presence, although aviation nuts will find some reasonable realistic touches that keep the game above being a mere shooter. Missions are nice and varied, and the cartoon intro and cut-scenes are very well done. Two thumbs up, way up!

Note: Although a CD-rip version exists when the game was "leaked" to various warez groups, the full CD version was never seen-- until now, that is. Big thanks to John, who obtained press release copy of the actual CD-ROM, and our resident ripper extraordinaire Ben for compressing this rare underdog down to a manageable size :)