Airport Mania: First Flight Lite by Reflexive Entertainment

Wanted: Someone who can direct air traffic. Think you're up for the challenge? Then Airport Mania: First Flight Lite is the game for you! With quality graphics and a wonderful soundtrack with realistic sound effects, this game is certainly deserving of its rating. I really enjoyed this game; it was challenging, but not to the point of wanting to rip my hair out, and had elements of other games that I love (namely time management — yes, again)! It's got a lot of replay value, even with just the lite version! It made me want to purchase the full version (available for $0.99 for a limited time)— other developers could learn from ; instead of offering up a really watered down, one or two level demo, allow players to really get a taste and feel for your game by actually giving them a chance for a challenge. This is certainly the way to get people to buy your products.

There are two different ways to play: First, attend Air Traffic Controller Academy to learn the ropes before the first level of the game— or second, take school through correspondence and plunge straight into the action (which is handy if you've already been through the academy and want to just play the game). The Academy is laid back and shows players how the game works without coming across as condescending, which is a problem I've noticed in a few other games.

Through correspondence, you get control over two airports, with a few levels at each. You need to stay on your toes! A lot of planes will want to land to unload and reload their passengers, so use your time and layover spaces wisely— don't keep anyone waiting for too long, or you'll make your customers (and your planes) unhappy and they won't want to visit your airport anymore.

To play, simply tap to select a plane, then tap one of the runways to land. (Only one plane can land on one runway at a time, though you can set up a queue. There may be more than one runway in certain levels; a good tip from the game is to use one of the runways to land, and another to take-off. You gain more bonus points that way.) Once you've landed your plane, tap one of the gates (there may be more than one; once the plane has gone up to the gate, the gate will turn the same color as the plane — it will turn the color of any plane you send to the gate, but you get more bonus points for staying the same color for as long as possible) to unload your passengers. Reloading will happen automatically. Once your plane has started taking on new passengers, you're free to select one of the runways for the plane to take off. Sounds simple, right? It is and isn't at the same time— imagine having to manage upwards of ten planes at once! Planes that need to refuel and be repaired, with only so many gates to load and unload passengers. It can get very busy in these airports. Luckily, there are layover spaces— almost like a parking spot for the planes, while they wait for one of the gates to free up.

I really liked this game. It got a bit stressful at times, but it was very fun. My only quibble with the game is that it's hard to select certain planes when you've got so many on the ground— but I discovered that tapping the speech bubble over the plane will select it, you don't have to tap the plane itself. 4/5