The story and puzzles are pretty average, with a bit cheesy dialogues, but it's in the arcade flying sections this game shines and it was pretty fun flying around peppering evil enemy planes with bullets.

Find a Longplay / Walkthrough here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTUmJXbB0Xw

Aeronuts draws you in with its pixelart and a bit generic but compellingly told storyline. Some funny and clever puzzles make it a nice experience, that one dialog puzzle is a bit annoying but still okay.
The 2 arcade shmup sequences are fun to play and really well balanced and a welcome addition to the otherwise way too short game.
What are you waiting for, help Elfie and defeat the evil Baron now!

Really fun game, recommended.

Overall, a nice, little game. The graphics are a bit odd, though. The characters are very skinny, and the backgrounds are very tiny. There is like only one 'full screen' room, and you can't walk in most of it. I was hoping more 'adventuring', finding out places to explore and all we got was a tiny room after all that arcade-trouble (which was really easy, though - at least with the easiest setting - I took one hit).

The proportions are quite odd - look at the desk in the background, and imagine the main character sitting in front of it - would be like a toy desk, wouldn't it?

Some of the graphics are well done though, even atmospheric - there's just not enough of them, and they are too tiny. LucasArts/Lucasfilm Games always gave us glorious, big, CLEAR graphics with characters that look believable.

I know how much work this must have been, so I can appreciate that (I have made a similar arcade game myself, and it took like 4000 lines of BASIC code, and making my own, tiny, few-room-game, although very small and humble, is proving to be quite a huge and complex effort).

The arcade music was quite bland, didn't give you an excitement or feel for it (look for old arcade vertical shooters with MAME, for example, in comparison - just listen to Truxton soundtracks etc), and the ending music was quite boring instead of 'touching', but there was nothing else really wrong with it, though (sometimes you hear really awful things that are supposed to be music, this was instead very well made).

The graphics were a bit colorless, lifeless and dull, except in the arcade sequences, where the brightly colored planes, bullets and some of the clouds were a nice delight.

Then there was the awful combination of misandry and militarism that I can't understand why people even voluntarily bring into their productions. You can create -anything- in the Universe, from dimensional or time travel adventures to mansions and underground lairs, and people choose this stuff instead.

Also, is there something that AGS users have against bottled water and vegetarianism? It seems they have been mentioned in two separate games in a similar tone. What the heck? Is there an agenda that I am aware of?

Spring water certainly has 'flavor', and it certainly tastes different than 'tap water from near nuclear facility', unlike the Dr. Lutz-game stated. Tap water is harder to swallow - you have to make your throat "gulp", whereas spring water just slides down your throat before you know it, almost without any effort on your part. It also looks, tastes and feels clear, while tap water has visible chemicals in it that sometimes color the water grey!

Having said all this, the game still ended too soon, and I wished there were more. I wanted to see insides of some exciting places, maybe even the airport offices or something, or some secret, underground facility where they test experimental propulsion systems or something.

The whole 'stanley'-bit was so typically awful that I almost stopped playing right then and there. Did we really need another example of a 'man-who-thinks-he-is-really-macho-trying-to-hit-a-woman-but-the-woman-proving-to-be-oh-too-empowered-to-be-lured-by-him' scene, where we can all laugh at the stupid MAN, and embrace the intelligent superiority of the beautiful and charming WOMAN? Did we really need another fema-fascist statement in a world that's ruled by a matriarchy, and where men are merely seen as slaves for women?

I play games for ESCAPISM, not to have to deal with the corruption that has poisoned the world. Escapism means that one can escape the pressures, stresses, frustrations, inequalities and injustices of the world and spend some time in a more wonderful place, better atmosphere, and delightful experience.

Bringing military and misandry into any entertainment simply destroys any possibility for escapism.

If some of the unnecessary dialog and the stanley-bits could be exchanged for more exploration and more interesting locations, this could be a really excellent game.

And mixing genres like this.. I don't know. I even thought the first Indy adventure game was ruined by it's awful action sequences that one had to master, not to mention the mazes, but that's another complaint (Maniac Mansion is probably the only Lucasfilm/Arts game that does not have mazes or labyrinths - just the CORE adventure with exploring different rooms etc.)

I mean, I did enjoy the arcade sequences somewhat, vertical shooters being one of my very big favorites as far as genres go, but I'd rather have more of exploration in the adventure side - I can always fire up MAME for good arcade shooters anyway.

I also didn't like the fart humor or everything being so 'greasy' and 'smelly' and whatnot. That's not a pleasant idea to bring to your players.

All in all, I think this was way better than the Indy game where you have to kill Kevin Spacey (that was pretty horrible in pretty much all senses of the word, except for the ripped stuff), but it's no DOTT.

I appreciate the work, but as a player, it would have been more pleasant to

a) Always have FULL-SIZE rooms (at least fullscreen!)
b) Have MORE rooms/locations to explore

That's pretty much what I have to say about this game.

One funny thing: when you do "use Rufus", the main character calmly replies: "I can't use that".

Overall, a nice, little game. The graphics are a bit odd, though. The characters are very skinny, and the backgrounds are very tiny. There is like only one 'full screen' room, and you can't walk in most of it. I was hoping more 'adventuring', finding out places to explore and all we got was a tiny room after all that arcade-trouble (which was really easy, though - at least with the easiest setting - I took one hit).

The proportions are quite odd - look at the desk in the background, and imagine the main character sitting in front of it - would be like a toy desk, wouldn't it?

Some of the graphics are well done though, even atmospheric - there's just not enough of them, and they are too tiny. LucasArts/Lucasfilm Games always gave us glorious, big, CLEAR graphics with characters that look believable.

I know how much work this must have been, so I can appreciate that (I have made a similar arcade game myself, and it took like 4000 lines of BASIC code, and making my own, tiny, few-room-game, although very small and humble, is proving to be quite a huge and complex effort).

The arcade music was quite bland, didn't give you an excitement or feel for it (look for old arcade vertical shooters with MAME, for example, in comparison - just listen to Truxton soundtracks etc), and the ending music was quite boring instead of 'touching', but there was nothing else really wrong with it, though (sometimes you hear really awful things that are supposed to be music, this was instead very well made).

The graphics were a bit colorless, lifeless and dull, except in the arcade sequences, where the brightly colored planes, bullets and some of the clouds were a nice delight.

Then there was the awful combination of misandry and militarism that I can't understand why people even voluntarily bring into their productions. You can create -anything- in the Universe, from dimensional or time travel adventures to mansions and underground lairs, and people choose this stuff instead.

Also, is there something that AGS users have against bottled water and vegetarianism? It seems they have been mentioned in two separate games in a similar tone. What the heck? Is there an agenda that I am aware of?

Spring water certainly has 'flavor', and it certainly tastes different than 'tap water from near nuclear facility', unlike the Dr. Lutz-game stated. Tap water is harder to swallow - you have to make your throat "gulp", whereas spring water just slides down your throat before you know it, almost without any effort on your part. It also looks, tastes and feels clear, while tap water has visible chemicals in it that sometimes color the water grey!

Having said all this, the game still ended too soon, and I wished there were more. I wanted to see insides of some exciting places, maybe even the airport offices or something, or some secret, underground facility where they test experimental propulsion systems or something.

The whole 'stanley'-bit was so typically awful that I almost stopped playing right then and there. Did we really need another example of a 'man-who-thinks-he-is-really-macho-trying-to-hit-a-woman-but-the-woman-proving-to-be-oh-too-empowered-to-be-lured-by-him' scene, where we can all laugh at the stupid MAN, and embrace the intelligent superiority of the beautiful and charming WOMAN? Did we really need another fema-fascist statement in a world that's ruled by a matriarchy, and where men are merely seen as slaves for women?

I play games for ESCAPISM, not to have to deal with the corruption that has poisoned the world. Escapism means that one can escape the pressures, stresses, frustrations, inequalities and injustices of the world and spend some time in a more wonderful place, better atmosphere, and delightful experience.

Bringing military and misandry into any entertainment simply destroys any possibility for escapism.

If some of the unnecessary dialog and the stanley-bits could be exchanged for more exploration and more interesting locations, this could be a really excellent game.

And mixing genres like this.. I don't know. I even thought the first Indy adventure game was ruined by it's awful action sequences that one had to master, not to mention the mazes, but that's another complaint (Maniac Mansion is probably the only Lucasfilm/Arts game that does not have mazes or labyrinths - just the CORE adventure with exploring different rooms etc.)

I mean, I did enjoy the arcade sequences somewhat, vertical shooters being one of my very big favorites as far as genres go, but I'd rather have more of exploration in the adventure side - I can always fire up MAME for good arcade shooters anyway.

I also didn't like the fart humor or everything being so 'greasy' and 'smelly' and whatnot. That's not a pleasant idea to bring to your players.

All in all, I think this was way better than the Indy game where you have to kill Kevin Spacey (that was pretty horrible in pretty much all senses of the word, except for the ripped stuff), but it's no DOTT.

I appreciate the work, but as a player, it would have been more pleasant to

a) Always have FULL-SIZE rooms (at least fullscreen!)
b) Have MORE rooms/locations to explore

That's pretty much what I have to say about this game.

One funny thing: when you do "use Rufus", the main character calmly replies: "I can't use that".

Fun game, I'll be stealing ideas from your graphics tute...

I really enjoyed this small funny game. I didn't need any hints for adventure part and I needed only one attempt for the arcade part. Great game for MAGS.

Amazing little MAGS game, your backgrounds are bluffing me.

I actually found the arcade part of the game to be better than the adventure, and I mean that in a good way. On hard mode, or whatever that button was at the end, the game is most challenging, and winning it felt quite rewarding.

I think this may contradict the comments made below, but I believe this to be because a newer version 1.1 has been implemented since then that has improved the arcade part.

The adventure is alright too, and well made up for a MAGS entry.

Great graphics. It's amazing this was pulled off for a MAGS entry. The music and audio effects are very well balanced and fit the game extremely well. The character portraits are well done, and their personalities, too, though the characters were too "manga-ish" for my taste.

The puzzles were OK, but I was put down by the compulsory action sequence. After several utterly boring minutes of shooting down airplanes with absolutely no challenge at all --which actually defeats the point of an action sequence-- you need to shoot down a carrier to the bottom of the sea, while the difficulty shoots up to the high sky. I put up a fight but eventually I lost. I considered replaying the arcade section looking forward to the next adventure part, but when I picked the "restart the level" option the game crashed, so I left it alone.

Still the art of the game was great, so kudos to the authors for that.