Illusion Softworks came to the PC gaming world's attention with the development of sleeper hit Hidden & Dangerous last year, and now they're back (with developers Pterodon) for some airborne multiplayer action.
Andy Smith

Cool. H&D in the sky?
Not exactly. In fact, not at all.

Oh. Why not?
Whereas H&D included a lot of stealth and tactics, Flying Heroes is all about multiplayer mayhem.

A sort of Quake in the sky!
That, simply put, is about the size of it.

Groovy. Give us the background then.
Briefly. There's this imaginary realm called Hesperia that's been the spectacular location for an air tournament called the Hesperian League (hey! They're not short of imagination in Hesperia) in which four clans battle it out at regular intervals to be crowned, er, Knights of Hesperia. Probably. Essentially, you've got four clans who are scrapping to be the best aerial combatants.

That's nice and simple
Make a refreshing change, doesn't it?

The clans then. Are they all different?
Certainly are. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses in the shape of exclusive aircraft and fighting tactics.

Such as?
Let's take the Sky Knights, shall we? These chaps fly around on armour-plated birds of massive proportions (wingspans of up to 120ft), sitting on their backs, steering them with reins and using a series of pulleys and levers to control the different weapons. The Magion, on the other hand, are a bunch of wizards who fly around on such bizarre craft as, er, teapots, and have magic weapons to chuck about. The more experienced gamers among you won't be surprised to learn that the Magion craft are lightly armoured and very nimble while the Sky Knights are tougher, slower and harder to manoeuvre, so there are pluses and minuses for each clan.