I bought this game while in paris. read about it on some game web page. this game is fun as crap. for $10, i'd buy several. what makes this game fun is that it tests your memory on the normal and pro modes. it's like keeping the balls in the air and knowing when to put them in a slot while taking on a new ball. it's gets nerve racking at times. the fun parts are when you just know you screwed up but somehow you have one plane taking off while another is landing just a few hundred yards behind it. yeah, pull that one off in real life. it's stuff like that that makes you clench your fist and say, "yeah, baby!" as the ATC, you only have to survive for like a 3 - 4 hour shift. on pro mode, it gets hard!

this game does support the rumble pack if you have one.

buy one for a friend. it's as addictive as brain age, but one third the cost.

Air Traffic Chaos is equal parts fun and frustration. The biggest disappointment is that with a few simple game play tweaks it could have been much better.

Here's a rundown on some of my issues with the game:

- The ATC communications (in the form of scrolling text banners) are ridiculously slow, and you can't issue commands to other aircraft in the same phase of flight while the text is scrolling. If the banners were sped up and outgoing communications eliminated (you already know what command you issued) it would have been much less frustrating.

- You can't change a command once issued. This is particularly aggravating on the ground when you realize you accidentally directed a plane to the wrong gate. After you do that, a ground collision is inevitable as there is no way to tell an aircraft to hold position (and the pilots in Air Traffic Chaos are apparently not smart enough to hold position on their own when there is another plane right in front of them).

- When an aircraft is ready to "push back" from a gate a little truck must drive to it from its parking spot--which can be all the way at the other side of the airport. You then need to wait until the little truck moves the aircraft and then drives all the way back to its starting spot before the aircraft can taxi. If they had the little truck already waiting for the aircraft and you were able to taxi as soon as it was done pushing the aircraft it would have been more realistic.

- The music consists of short "loops" that become monotonous quickly. However, you can't turn it off! You can turn the sound effects off, but they provide useful game play cues. You either have to live with the repetitive music to get the sound effect cues, or turn the volume all the way down on your DS and miss out on the sound effects.

- The biggest problem--and the reason I give this game two stars instead of three--is that every game plays the same every time. There is no randomness whatsoever. There are five airports each with three levels, Rookie, Novice, and Expert. Rookie is a tutorial mode at best; Novice is a bit more of a challenge, but Expert is the only mode which is challenging once you learn the commands and flow of the game. After you get to the Expert level there are really only five different games you can play, each of which plays exactly the same every time. Once you've played each a couple of times and know what to expect, any challenge is gone.

I've always enjoyed aviation-related games, and although this game isn't a simulator it could have been a lot of fun. The fact that ATC games are few and far between (this is the only one I'm aware of on a gaming platform other than the PC), it makes it all the more disappointing that Air Traffic Chaos wasn't a better game. With a few simple fixes, it could have been.

Yes this game has maybe the worst box art ever. But still I picked this up when I saw in a retail store, hoping it would be like Aerobiz which was an awesome game back in the old days. It's not like Aerobiz and that's just fine; this is an air traffic control sim which is difficult and really a blast. A lot of $[...] games are hit or miss even when they are considered good by the big review sites, but this one is a bargain gem at $[...]. If you are interested in aviation and like challenging sims, you'll love this. A perfect DS game.