Leveraging the popularity of next generation party games like Rock
Band, Guitar Hero, and WarioWare, EA Sports is proud to announce their
latest release, Airline Hero.
Airline Hero is a ground
breaking simulation that allows players to experience the thrill and
excitement of being a member of a commercial airline crew on a
passenger jet. The standard game set allows you and up to five of your
friends to assume roles among the crew and passengers of three
different airliners for four different licensed airlines.
Using
the Airline Hero controllers (not compatible with Passenger Jet from
Westwood Studios) players can assume the roles of Pilot, Co-Pilot,
Navigator, Inflight Attendant, Passenger, or one of three Wild Card
positions using your extra Xbox 360 or Nintendo Wii controllers.
Pilot
The
Pilot is the primary role in the game. If you are playing in the Single
Player Career, you must play as the pilot until you reach cruising
altitude. Once at cruising altitude, you can play in any of the other
roles (except Wild Card) by pressing the D pad up or down to select the
desired role. Keep an eye on the Flight Response Indicator in the left
hand corner. If it starts to flash red and the passengers begin to
scream, you'll need to switch back to Pilot to prevent the plane from
crashing into a mountain or other landscape feature. Changing roles is
only supported in the Single Player Career.
During Multiplayer
Career or Quick Play, the Pilot seat is the only role that has to be
filled. You can't take off without a Pilot! Before the flight starts,
press the X Button in the pattern indicated on your HUD (figure 1) to
pass the breath analyzer test.
As the Pilot, it's your job to
insure the Fasten Seat Belt light is properly illuminated (Button A)
during turbulence and hostage situations. Using your head set, the
Pilot makes announcements following the prompts that run across the top
of the screen. Be careful! You'll lose points if you speak too quickly,
or don't pause often enough!
When the yellow light on your HUD
starts to flash, you have to go to the restroom. Press the B Button
until the Inflight Attendant arrives to stand between you and the First
Class passengers. Going to the bathroom (Button Y) before the Inflight
Attendant arrives will result in a terrorist running into the cockpit.
Your Xbox 360 or Wii video game system will control take off, landing and flight patch changes.
Co-Pilot
It's
the Co-Pilot's job to make inflight announcements and insure the Fasten
Safety Belt light is on in the event the Pilot is in the restroom, has
been killed by a terrorist, or has fallen asleep at the controls. When
the Inflight Attendant brings you and the Pilot your coffee or meal,
press the Left Trigger to flirt. Press the Right trigger to sexually
harass.
Your Xbox 360 or Wii video game system will control take off, landing and flight patch changes.
Navigator
As
the Navigator it's your job to tell the computer which way to fly.
Press Left on the D pad until your destination is highlighted in the
Flight Computer, then press the Y Button.
If you press Left on
the D pad while the plane is in flight, you will change the language of
the inflight radio stations between English, French and Spanish. When
the blue light on your HUD starts to blink, press the A Button to stay
away. When the Inflight Attendant forgets to bring your coffee or meal
with the Pilot and Co-Pilot's coffee and meal, press the Left Trigger
to complain bitterly about your ex-wife. Press the Right Trigger to cry.
If
the Inflight Attendant notifies you of a Pregnant Woman Giving Birth,
Push the Right and Left Button repeatedly to explain that you're not
trained for that, and then order a Scotch and Soda.
Inflight Attendant
The
Inflight Attendant is the back bone of the flight crew. Depending on
your control configuration (See diagram C in Appendix D) up to three
players can play as Inflight Attendants. During the character
customization sequence, you can change the Inflight Attendant from a
female character to a gay character.
When the hunger warning
indicator on the HUD lights up, press the Right and Left Trigger at the
same time to bring the Pilot and Co-Pilot coffee. Press the Right and
Left Trigger at the same time twice to bring them their meal. While
bringing the Pilot and Co-Pilot their meal, press the D pad right to
choose fish. If you choose fish for the meal, the Pilot and Co-Pilot
will die.
When the Co-Pilot flirts with you, or sexually
harasses you, press the X Button to giggle knowingly and wink. Press
the Y button to act like a bitch and spill his coffee or meal on
purpose.
During the flight, if the Pilot has turned on the
Fasten Safety Belt sign, use your headset to announce that the Pilot
has turned on the Fasten Safety Belt sign. When a passenger presses the
Call Button, press the A Button to ignore them and continue chatting
with your friend in the galley. Press the X Button to turn off the Call
Button as you walk by without stopping. Press the Y Button to take the
Passenger a Pillow. Press the B Button to take the passenger a $5 Bud
Light.
Passenger
Depending on your control
configuration (See diagram D in Appendix C) up to three players can
play as a Passenger. As the Passenger, it's crucial to the success of
the flight for you to use the Restroom (Left Trigger), Order $5 Bud
Lights (B Button) and request pillows during turbulence (A Button). To
make a belligerent and unreasonable demand of the Inflight Attendant,
press the Right Trigger. To press the Call Button press the X Button,
then press the appropriate button for the service you demand.
In
the event a Terrorist rushes the cockpit, press the Left and Right
trigger repeatedly to urinate on yourself. Press the start button to
attack the terrorist and be killed. Press the back button to attack the
terrorist and not be killed.
Wild Cards
One of
the exciting elements of game play in Airline Hero is the ability to
play as a Wild Card. Wild Card roles start out as normal Passengers,
but using their special controllers, the role changes at a random point
during the Flight. Each Wild Card role is selected by the use of a
special controller, and you must use the special Airline Hero Wild Card
Controller to play that Wild Card role. Your standard Airline Hero
controller set, includes three Wild Card Controllers.
Terrorist
You
begin the game playing as a Passenger, and all controls are the same.
In addition to the Passenger controls, as a Terrorist you must press
the left and right button in sequence, following the patter on the
screen (If you're playing on the Wii, you have to wave the controller
back and forth) to prevent yourself from Acting Suspicious and being
discovered as a Terrorist. As the flight continues, the pattern gets
more difficult. If you see the Pilot leave the cockpit without calling
the Inflight Attendant, Press the Start Button to kill him. The pattern
will get increasingly difficult.
Once you're discovered as a
Terrorist, press the Blow Up The Plane Button to blow up the plane.
Press the B Button repeatedly to rush the cockpit. Press the Threat
Button to make Ominous Threats In A Foreign Language. Thrust the
controller up and down to order a Scotch and Soda and decide to move to
New York and become a taxi driver. If you complete the flight without
triggering suspicion, you are killed by your comrades as a traitor when
you land.
Pregnant Woman
You begin the game
playing as a Passenger, and all controls are the same. In addition to
the Passenger controls, as a Pregnant Woman you must press the Left and
Right Button in sequence, following the pattern on the screen (if
you're playing on the Wii you have to turn the controller clock wise
and counter clockwise) to prevent yourself from Giving Birth. As the
flight continues, the pattern gets more difficult.
Once you
begin to Give Birth, begin to slowly depress the Birth Plunger on the
controller until the Giving Birth Line on the HUD turns from blue to
red. Once the Giving Birth Line on the HUD turns red, depress the Birth
Plunger rapidly to the tune of the beeping signal and speak the text
from the prompt into your head set. If the Terrorist is distracted by
your Giving Birth and is Discovered, the baby will die unless an
Inflight Attendant calls the Navigator from the cockpit to assist with
the birth. The Navigator can not assist with Giving Birth.
If
you fail to maintain the sequence of the beeping signal with the Birth
Plunger, all the Inflight Attendants will have to press the A Button to
help deliver the baby. If the Inflight Attendants press the B Button
while you are depressing the Birth Plunger, you die.
Federal Air Marshall With a Heart Problem
The
Federal Air Marshall With a Heart Problem has to push the A button
exactly once every second during the Flight to stay asleep. If he fails
to push the A Button every second, he wakes up and orders a $5 Bud
Light.
When the Terrorist is discovered, or the Pregnant Woman
begins to give Birth, the game will randomly assign one controller as
the Pistol and the other as a Bottle of Medicine and the Federal Air
Marshall With a Heart Problem will start to have a heart attack. Any
other player can then approach the Federal Air Marshall With a Heart
Problem and vigorously begin to shake one of the controllers.
If
they've selected the controller assigned as the Pistol, the gun goes
off in the Federal Air Marshall With a Heart Problem's pocket and he is
killed. If they've selected the controller assigned as the Bottle of
Medicine, the Federal Air Marshall With a Heart Problem lives and can
stop the terrorist by using the other controller to shoot him. Or the
Federal Air Marshall With a Heart Problem can assist the Pregnant Woman
in Giving Birth by moving both controllers up an down in the same
pattern as the Birth Plunger.
In the second quarter of 2008,
EA Sports will release three new Wild Card Controllers for Airline
Hero; Epileptic Passenger, Child Traveling Alone, and the special two
player Wild Card controller, Amorous Honeymoon Couple.
Airline Hero games last between two and eight hours depending on the Flight chosen.