The Indian Air Force (IAF) on Friday released a teaser for an upcoming mobile game, Indian Air Force: A Cut Above, featuring a digital rendition of what appears to be Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman and the majority of the IAF's diverse fleet of aircraft.
Titled 'IAF mobile game teaser', the clip depicts a pilot with Abhinandan’s unmistakeable moustache standing next to a Mig-21. This is followed by an array of aircraft including the Su-30MKI, the Mi-17 gunship, the Dassault Rafale, the Mirage 2000, the LCA Tejas, a SEPECAT Jaguar in the background of a Su-30MKI, an AH-64 Apache gunship, a C-17 Globemaster and even an anti-air weapon.
You can watch the trailer for the IAF's new mobile game here:
The trailer features a variety of scenarios — from air combat (against what appears to be an F-16) to ground attack. There is even what looks like a boss fight against a large conceptual aircraft, similar in design to a next-generation stealth bombers like the Xian H-20 or the Lockheed Martin B-21.
The developers, Threye, also made the IAF's previous game, Guardians of the Sky which garnered over three million downloads in total. An arcade combat flight simulator in the style of titles like Ace Combat, it let you play as a pilot named ‘Razor’ in a variety of scenarios that IAF pilots have to prepare for — from protecting Indian shipping assets along India’s coastal Extended Economic Zones (EEZ) to flying deep into enemy territory with crack ‘Garud’ troops.
Threye have an array of military-related titles, each exploring different aspects of the Indian Armed Forces. In top-down shooter Ace Commando, you could play as an elite commando unit ; In Unstoppable: Endless Shooting Game, you play a naval action arcade game fighting off endless waves of enemies; in Operation: Morning Glory, you piloted a Mirage 2000 in a variety of deep strike missions.
Indian Air Force: A Cut Above is easily Threye’s most ambitious title yet with the unprecedented array of weaponry to fly in. This is also possibly also the first 3D flight combat title to feature the LCA Tejas.
The game will be available on Android and iOs, and is set to release on August 31, though it had earlier been announced for a January 26, 2019 release. If you want to get a taste of what it could play like, you could try Threye’s earlier air combat titles.