In reality, air traffic control is a really serious task. In casual games, however, it doesn’t have to be. What we have here is a catchy, light-hearted game even air traffic controllers wouldn’t mind playing during lunch break.

Airport Mania has the management game elements we are familiar with. You’ll be showing planes the way to the boarding terminals, the fuel pumps, the repair station and so forth. But what really adds plenty of new challenges is the sheer variety of “chains” or “combos.” Like getting aircraft to land consecutively on a runway for instance. Or, getting same-colored planes to the right-colored terminal. These are just two small combos which you’ll be juggling your planes for. Sometimes, you’ll be stuck with the tough decision of stopping a current combo in order to start a new one.

On another level, many features in the game are not just fancy gimmicks. The score works as cash, which you can use to purchase additional equipment or facilities for your airport. My personal favorite is a painting station that lets you change a plane’s color – hence helping you with those color combination chains. You can also buy new parking lots to park planes while they wait for their turn. And hey, if you need more cash, you can go ahead and replay a previous level (which I’m sure many of us gladly would).

However, one minor control issue that bugs me is the plane selection. A highlighted plane doesn’t really stand out from the rest, and there isn’t any clear indication as to when a plane is selectable either. Annoyingly, this results in the occasional misdirection of a yellow plane to a red terminal. Yes, that’s an unnecessary loss of a combo.

Overlooking that though, the polish in the game’s graphics and audio really make it shine. The animations are cute, bouncy and friendly. Honestly, when I see a plane smile and declare “woohoo!” when it leaves my airport, I feel just as happy for it too. Airport Mania is a real treat. It makes me wonder why they didn’t attempt a more unique name to give the game the more distinctive identity it really deserves. This game is fun.

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(4 votes, average: 3.75 out of 5)

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