In 2012, NimbleBit stole our hearts with the adorable game, “Tiny Tower”. After its immense success, they took the formula and applied to a much larger venue: an airline company. In “Pocket Planes”, instead of managing the day-to-day operations of a tower, you’re in full control of an entire fleet of airplanes. You buy your planes, choose your airport locations, pick your passengers, and schedule your flights. It’s a simple enough process of push some buttons and wait, utilizing the same inherently addicting formula that made “Tiny Tower” a hit; but does the fun carry over when you massively upgrade the scale?
The Fun Stuff:
“Tiny Tower” posed the question, what could possibly be more fun than owning the next Trump Tower? Well, NimbleBit found the answer: having an armada of aircrafts at your disposure! You start small with one or two passenger planes, but as you progress, you can purchase significantly larger planes, and larger airports in distant cities. There’s also the joy of mild customization, choosing each airplane’s call sign, paint scheme, and even the outfit of your pilot. There’s also the option of upgrading both your planes and airports.
Once again, NimbleBit draws from the pristine combination of micromanagement, real-time strategy, and fine-tuned wait times that allow you to play on your own time in small increments. Once again, there’s no requirement to play, but your efforts are increasingly rewarded the more you check back. If you do have a chunk of time to play, you’re not stranded if all your planes are mid-flight. You can follow your planes and collect in-game currency that flies past your airships as an extra reward, however you’re in no way required to participate in this mini-game to be able to play. Enough money is awarded by simply managing flights properly.
The greatest improvement “Pocket Planes” makes is the implementation of the “Flight Crew”. This allows you to join up with other friends who play and fight your way up the leaderboards to earn prizes that range from more in-game currency to full on planes. There’s also a new marketplace feature where you can purchase planes or just parts of planes to construct them yourself. Buying a plane piece by piece takes longer, as not all pieces are available at all times, however if you win a piece during a competition (which run every few days), it allows you to purchase the remainder of the pieces you need, and ultimately, you can get a plane for much cheaper than buying it outright.
The Frustrating Stuff:
The biggest complaint about “Pocket Planes” comes from its greatest asset: the Flight Crews. While their implementation goes a long way to extend the life of the game, it also adds an unparalleled level of frustration. There’s no rules or restrictions to who can join flight crews, which means anybody can join up with anybody, which allows for the creation of one “master crew” who always wins. In fact, that’s not just a possibility, but the reality thanks to the online community at TouchArcade. The members there banded together to create the largest flight crew in “Pocket Planes” by a long shot, with which they dominate the competition day in and day out. While the collaboration is awesome, the problem comes from the lack of restrictions granting anyone access to the flight crew. That privilege is abused and many with no connection to the community have latched on purely to reap the rewards. Because of this, the glamor of climbing the leaderboards wears off significantly faster.
The excitement wears off quick too, as the addition of new planes nowhere near matches the excitement of new floors in “Tiny Tower” due to the lack in variety in comparison. To counteract that, there’s more than just realistic planes, which are occasionally given out as rewards. You can collect everything from a starship to a hot air balloon, which are fun, although not as effective as other airplanes available on a regular basis.
Bottom Line:
“Pocket Planes” drastically improved upon the success of “Tiny Tower” and breathed new life into the formula with its exciting improvements. If you were a fan of the latter, it’s highly recommended you give their new game a try, as you’ll delight in the fresh new take. If you have yet to join the millions addicted to this style of game, “Pocket Planes” is a perfect entry point because of its simplicity and entertainment value. No matter where you stand, it’s absolutely worth the download at the appealing price of free.
“Pocket Planes” for iOS
“Pocket Planes” for Android
Pocket Planes was initially developed by NimbleBit LLC and was optimized for Android by Mobage. It was released in North America on June 14, 2012 (iOS) and September 22, 2012 (Android) and is not rated by the ESRB. This review was based on an Android copy of the game.
Anthony Ortale writes news and reviews on behalf of Examiner.com. He does so much gaming in his spare time, it’s practically a full time job! If you like what you read here, please subscribe to his articles! You can also follow Tony on Twitter, or become a fan on Facebook! If you ever have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to email Tony any time at ortale.anthony@gmail.com, he’d love to hear from you
