Last week I returned to the UK from Brisbane – I’m sure there are a fair few travelling D’toiders who have also done similar length trips and know that, depending on the amount of Alcohol and sleeping tablets available, these 21 hour flights can be a real mind-number.

For the last few years or so the companies behind long haul flights have moved beyond movies and instead have provided video games to play, when I flew to the US a few years ago Virgin Atlantic had an awesome selection of SNES classics to pass the time.

This time I rocked Emirates, who had opted for an even more classic selection of games, ranging from some pretty sweet 1942-style vertical scrolling sh’mups to between-seat multiplayer Tetris.

So, whilst I was making my girlfriend weep with envy at my Tetris madskillz I got thinking about which current-gen titles would keep me entertained for half the circumference of the earth itself. This, in turn, made my girlfriend cry even more as she realised I was multi-tasking, and was now superior to her in every way.

Mass Effect



Pros:
The Length – If you were looking to kill a whole flight in one game, this’d do the trick nicely.

Audio – The amount of dialogue in Mass Effect is nothing short of staggering, and in terms of sound it’s not all grenade blasts and gunfire, like, say a Call of Duty game - which would really start to split my skull after a marathon stint with the headphones in.

Cons:

Graphics – Darker interior environments and on screen commands would be really tricky to see on the little screens on the back of the headrest.

Hawt Alien Secks – Lets face it, not many people like sitting next to odd strangers on planes. Absolutely no-one wants to sit next to the dude that’s watching blue bitches cop off with their on-screen avatar.

Mario Kart Wii



Pros:

Replay Value – with three classes and all those cups to win I could spend all day with any Mario Kart game, but this one offers the most tracks for my money, even if they are re-hashes of previous generations.

Bright Colours – Nice big character shapes and bright coloured tracks would make it easy to see what’s going on, even on a smaller screen - but would probably be horrifically distracting to the person trying to sleep next to you.

Cons:

Sound: I think after 21 hours of continuous ‘Ya-Hooo!’s and ‘Ahh-woh-woh-woh!’s I’d probably by ready off myself.

Controls: Of all the people on the plane you will end up next to the over-enthusiastic child who insists on throwing his elbows around the steering wheel (despite it being the clearly inferior method of control) knocking hot coffee onto your crotch. Sorry, that’s the way life is.


Saints Row 2



Pros:

Graphics: More brightly coloured than GTA4 and less repetitive than Crackdown so that’s why it’s my open world game of choice.

Sound: Most of Saints Row’s more mature themes (drug trafficking, self-prostitution) are implied by sound, so thanks to headphones the person watching you would probably be clueless to your sordid deeds.

Cons:

Stylistics: After 19 hours of Sleep-deprivation, jet-lag and unlimited booze, you will start to laugh your tits off at the fact your character is dressed as a giant Hot-dog with an amazing Guy Ritchie style ‘Lahn-dan’ accent. It’s inevitable. Enjoy being escorted off the plane upon landing; you bat-shit crazy cockney weinerman.

So, what do you think? There's plenty of games this gen that'd be great time-killers (I've completely skipped over sports, for some reason) let me know what'd keep you happy!

I've ignored the idea of multiplayer this time round, are there any games you think might make a sweet plane-spanning LAN party?

That said, maybe you think the current gen wouldn't translate until the screens on planes get bigger, or are just happy with the chance to spend some quality time kicking it old school?

Let me know - it's my first post here on Destructoid (Long time reader-commenter, even longer time procrastinator) and I'd love to get more involved in the community!