Air Hogs Connect Mission Drone

We recently tried out this upcoming combination of a physical drone and video-game. The unusual cross-over is perhaps a sign of things to come.

Players use a smartphone app to fly a small real life drone. This is then tracked by the camera so it appears in a fantastical virtual world on the screen.

As you can see our test family enjoyed both the on screen and in-the-room action. While the physical drone helped players by keeping itself steady and on target, the related smartphone app is used to explore the landscape.

By moving round the room and flying the drone carefully over the mat players can interact with the virtual surroundings as well as go on rescue missions.  After playing the game for some time there is still plenty to do in terms of upgrading your craft, hiring more crew and even equipping new power ups.

For families this all works very well because the action isn't just on the screen. Everyone can see what's happening because you control a physical drone to fly through the virtual locations.

This is a great example of Augmented Reality (as opposed to Virtual Reality) which uses real world objects in a video-game. Other recent examples have been Pokemon Go! and it's a trend that looks like it's here to stay.