Airport Mania: First Flight
Platform: Download (Mac, Windows)
Airport Mania from South Winds Games is a time management sim that drops all the trite settings and food-related themes we've grown tired of in the genre. Instead of serving cake or pizza or sandwiches, your job is to direct airplanes, load passengers, and make sure everything runs smoothly. All of this is accomplished with a simple interface and airplanes that are too cute for their own good. And unlike real airports, you can actually have flights arrive on time or even early!
Planes appear at the top of the screen, flying back and forth until you tell them which runway to land on. After touching down, direct planes to an empty gate where passengers are unloaded and new passengers boarded. Then it's back to the runway to take off once again. Sometimes a plane will need to re-fuel between groups of passengers, in which case you simply direct it to the repair station.
The basic structure of the game is simple and only a few events come along to change things around. Sometimes a plane will be carrying urgent cargo and must take priority over other flights, while other times weather conditions will alter your plans. Between each of the game's 84 levels you'll visit the store where you can buy new structures for your airport or upgrade existing ones to be faster/better.
Once you gain the ability to paint planes, a new level of complexity opens up. Each gate has a color, each plane has a color. Match like-colored crafts to gates and you'll earn a bonus. Painting allows you to change the color, forcing you to decide if a pit-stop is worth the matching bonus or if being on time is a better reward.
Analysis: The most immediate draw to Airport Mania is its visual style. Is "cute" a strong enough word? Not sugary sweet cute, but airplanes with big eyes and goofy smiles certainly qualifies as adorable. They even hum while waiting for passengers. AWWW!!!
Fuzzy wuzzy planes aside, Airport Mania is built around a very simple time management construct and rarely strays from that premise. The shop introduces a few upgrades, but these don't change the experience very dramatically. It's almost as if the game was afraid to veer too far from its established (but highly entertaining) core idea. With a solid interface, excellent visual style, and unique setting, I think the game could have afforded to take a few chances here and there. There's also a low and slow progression of difficulty, allowing you to master the game quickly but offering less challenge until later.
Airport Mania is a breath of fresh air in many ways. The only drawbacks to the experience are minor, and it's an excellent resource management sim that'll capture your afternoon with ease.
Windows:
Download the demo
Order the full version
Mac OS X:
Download the demo
Order the full version
I'm first! And am I right; is this game one of the whole series? [FIRST Flight]
Is there any "trick" to getting the launching combo? Because I feel like a big idiot sitting there, continually failing to get it!
Never mind... Got it!
I have every trophy and medal but the stingy maniac award. I have sold everything on every stage, and nothing, is there a trick to getting the stingy maniac award that I am missing?
How do you get the flying time award?
at the first stage, don't buy any airport upgrades, at the end of the stage, you will get the stingy maniac award, but how to get the flying time award?
How do you get the FLYING TIME AWARD? I have all but that one.
You get the flying time award by doing the following. First of all try doing this on the first stage as it`s easier. Land a plane or 2 but make sure you DO NOT reach your goal, when the time has run out (the red circle in the top left hand corner is flashing) you can begin to land the planes you have in the air.
At this point try to make combo's so assure you reach your goal.
Still stuck? The aim is to NOT reach your first goal until after the time has ryn out. To do this you MUST still have planes in the air when the time expires.
Hope this helps. Good luck and happy playing :D
How do you get the switch a roo medal?
I never really remembered how to switch and swap planes.
Thank you Donna for the tip about flying time first of all. But how many levels do you have to complete in order to get this award?
I tried in the first level and still has nothing? Do I have to complete at least one map?
Thanks for the further guidance
Does anyone know how to get a supreme score on stage 3-5
@Jean: For stage 3-5. I achieved the Supreme Score ($125,000 is required; I got $144,040) using the following upgrades: VIP Layover Space, New Gate C, VIP Runway, and Regional Jetliner (new plane).
So I finally this morning got my "Heavenly Assistance" award - ie, I got 3 stars for every single stage. Woooo! Having accomplished that feat, there's something I thought I'd add for folks still on the quest for stars. (It may be obvious to some, but it took me quite awhile to figure it out.)
The key to getting higher scores/goals lies in strategically choosing your upgrades. That's true in most time-management games. But what's different here is that the scores required to meet the different goals will shift depending on which upgrades you choose, and *how* they shift changes from stage to stage. So in one stage, buying the plane upgrade will raise the score needed for 3 stars (because the upgraded plane will make more money). But on another stage, upgrading the plane will actually *lower* the goal scores because the larger planes' lack of patience can put you at a disadvantage. So when you feel stuck, try different combinations of upgrades, and notice how the goals change; try to keep the goals low while giving yourself as many advantages as possible. In general, my approach was to get the maximum number of gates (not upgraded, at first), the VIP Runway, and the fog & ice removers. When you can keep the planes happy, the VIP Runway will rake in the money!
Ok, now I have a question: I understand that to get the Stingy Maniac award, I need to clear an entire level/island without buying upgrades. My question is, can I go back and do that even after I've already cleared all the levels? Or can you only get it the first time thru?
Just to show off... here's my awards room. /grin/
Well, you can go back and get it without worrying the previous record about the Stingy Award. I got my this way. But can someone help me with the Flying Time award?
Thanks for that help Becky, I'll give it a go!
I love this game. What's a cute!
Peter,your question was answer by Donna.
And my question. How do I get switch-a-roo-medal(gold Medal)?. I try to make the gold medal but my best is silver....
Some body can help me in this case?
MiDoRi, you just have to swap planes at least seven times in the same map. That should do the trick. However, I don't know for sure.
By the way, air baloons, sail boats, and zepelins.. How do I tell if there's going to appear one in a map or not? When you click on a stage, you get to see which medals you have achieved for that particular stage or sub-stage.
Thankfully I have all the labour/medic/predicent medals.
About the thumbs up award. You can loose one bar on a plane and still get a "green" land/takeoff. Make sure the three remaining bars don't turn yellow, cause then you can't get this medal.
The only thing the missing bar affects is the amount of money you get for each thing the plane does.
Have someone figured out when you get money for rerouting planes, or was it just a coincidence that I clicked just as my plane was done refueling?
Hi everyone,
I have almost every medal and the maximum amount of stars on each level, but the game wont go to level 7 and 8. How do I get into level 7 ?
Help! what stage and level is best to get the switch-a-roo gold medal?
I've managed to get all the awards and medals, and now I'm trying to get all golds. How do I know which levels the president, woman in labor, etc. will show up in? I have silvers in all of them now, and when I go back to the level I originally got the medal in, the special plane never comes.
level 6-9 is the best for a switch-a-roo medal
Heki, it WAS a coincidencde
Can someone help me? I have tried getting the switch-a-roo medal many different ways. I have had 7 planes move at once, switched planes 7 times and I am still not getting it. Any ideas? Thanks.
To JIGuest:
It's been awhile since I've played this one, but for the Switch-A-Roo medal, you have to make two planes switch places with each other. If one is in the hangar for repairs and one is at the gas pump, make them reverse take each others' spots.
I hope this is helpful. :)
Update