Airport Mania Action/Simulation Game Review
Review by Araminta Matthews
Rating = 2/5 Balls
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OS: Windows 2000 Windows XP Windows Vista
Memory: 256 MB
DirectX: 7.0 or later
CPU: P 1.0GHz
Video: 16MB Video Card
As an adult gamer, I admit that it isn’t always easy for me to find games that are both suitably entertaining and challenging - especially from large game clients. At the same time, I have often found time management games to be particularly compelling. Combining the pleasant stress of can-she-do-it-in-time with increasing difficulty, games like Diner Dash, Cake Mania, and The Office all create enjoyable distractions from the not-so-good stress of the day. Airport Mania, however, is not particularly good at this.
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With vivid, bubble-gum graphics in primary colors and with Crayola-style, whistling airplanes with big eyes, Airport Mania seems like a game for kids. The player takes the role of an Air Traffic Controller who, after completing Air Traffic School in the land of Tutorial, must go to work in the real airport. Your objective? Land the plans on the runways, guide them to their terminals for the exiting and boarding of their passengers, repair and gas the planes while they are grounded, then send them off to the skies to do it all over again. And how do you complete these objectives? You point and click the airplane, then the runway, then the terminal, et cetera, et cetera.
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While this gaming format works for most time management games, for Airport Mania, however, it seems to fall a little flat. The planes have faces that remind me of the personified gadgets of Bob the Builder, while the passengers are simple shapes thrust together (a triangle with a circle on top) to look like “people”. The game’s less than mind-altering graphics coupled with the seeming eternity it takes for the “passengers” to exit and board the planes, the game ends up feeling like watching a very long Baby Einstein video. Now, there is nothing wrong with Baby Einstein videos - if you are a child. As an adult, the game becomes like the films, a bit tedious as you watch the same shapes doing the same things over and over again.
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Having said that, this game has a lot of redeeming value for children. With an appeal to the ages 6-9, this game would be perfect for children curious about airplanes and how airports work. The game’s controls are not complicated - most of the functions are point and click, and even those are often pointed out for you - and the time management could easily be handled by a youngin’. Furthermore, the graphics are very kid-friendly and could provide a youthful person hours of entertainment.
For the children in my life, I would consider purchasing this game. For the adults in my life - myself included - this game didn’t even make it through the full ninety minute free trial before it found its way to my recycle bin.
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Reflexive Entertainment Publishes Airport Mania
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