Source: Computer Gaming World – Issue Number 55 – January 1989
TRACON is perhaps one of the oddest choices for games I have seen. Subtitled “Air Traffic Control Simulator”, it is just that.
From the ad:
A game? Or a reflection of a deadly reality? It looks imple – just keep every blip on your scope apart as you vector them around for approaches and departures. But they keep coming, pushing you to your limits. And you alone must prevent a dreaded crash between ariliners loaded with passengers…
TRACON truly was a simulation more than a game. It was released by Wesson International who also developed professional air traffic control simulations for training. I suppose it was a relatively low cost endeavor to turn it into a game for the public. Whether or not it is the sort of thing that would really appeal to your average gamer is another question. I doubt this ever sold millions of copies but apparently it was successful enough to develop future updated versions for Windows.
This “game” is exactly what you would expect. It puts you in the seat of an air traffic controller making sure that planes take off on time and don’t run into each other. Scenarios can be randomized or created yourself with text based input files. There are a pretty substantial variety of options including how much traffic there is, what city your are at (there are five to choose from, all major air hubs as you might imagine), weather, pilot skill level, and so on. Even pausing the game causes a substantial reduction in points as that is essentially cheating. There’s no doubt that this game can be intense…but unless this subject matter really interests you it is probably more a curiosity than anything else.
TRACON got average reviews. Basically the consensus was that it was interesting and an excellent simulation overall, but one with a very limited appeal. This ad features the original version for DOS and other than having a vintage DOS machine lying around, I imagine you could get it working in DOS Box without too much trouble. There were later versions for Windows but if anything I would expect those to be harder to get to run on modern computers. If you want to check it out you’ll probably have to track down an original copy or find it on an abandonware site somewhere. It isn’t the sort of thing to wind up on anybody’s re-release schedule or “best of” compilation.
This ad is from the January 1989 issue of Computer Gaming World.
