The Sky is the Limit

Airport Mania: First Flight takes the popular Diner Dash game mechanic to a whole new level. Before, you were just a simple waitress trying to start a career. Now, you're an Air Traffic Controller that is responsible for guiding countless planes! Do you think you're up for the challenge? Sure, the planes have cartoon faces on them and the passengers are all virtual, but the stress of multitasking is all too real!

At the start of a new game, you have the opportunity to attend Air Traffic Controller Academy, which I highly recommend that you do. It acts as a tutorial and it will you take you through of the steps that you'll need to know to become a master at your job. Those of you who have been playing computer games for a while will immediately recognize some of the game play. Just don't make the same mistake I did and assume that just because it seems familiar, you know what you're doing. I thought I had everything under control and this product wiped the floor with me. Let's just be thankful that I'm not in charge of real airplanes, alright?

The Basics

Now that I am a certified Air Traffic Controller (I have a virtual diploma to prove it), I feel comfortable going over some of the basics with you. As ATC, your job is to get planes in and out of the airport. This is broken down into four steps: land the plane, unload the passengers, load more passengers, and take off again. When a plane flies in, direct it to an open runway by clicking on the plane and then the runway. With the plane still highlighted, click on an open gate for it to unload its passengers into. This could take a little while. After everyone is off, passengers will immediately start loading back on. Once everyone is onboard, select the plane once more and click an open runway for take off.

Those are the basics, though every now and then a plane will need to be repaired or refueled.

Unlike other games of this type, where you'll have a goal score as well as an expert goal score, here you have a plethora of goals, all the way to supreme score. It works in pretty much the same way, but it's fun watching the score counter go up.

Combos are always your friend. You can get combos by sending identically colored planes to the same gate and having multiple planes land or take off on the same runway. When a plane lands (or takes off), a line of arrows will appear on the ground. Send another plane through before all of the arrows disappear to rack up combo points.

Finally, you can right-click or double-click a plane to clear up its queue.

You're Certified!

You're not really certified, I was just trying to get you excited. You should be excited, because Airport Mania is a blast to play. From its goofy visuals to its catchy music, this product will have a smile on your face in no time. If you think you can handle the workload, do yourself a favor and pick this one up.