Just be prepared to sink an afternoon into this one. A fresh spin on time-management, you’ll be amazed at how much fun you can have flexing your flight mapping skills. Most web-games tend to lend themselves to 5 or 10 minutes diversions. Of these remaining episodes, only episode 2 can be played for free.
Built on the Adobe Air platform, the remaining four episodes are available for download in one tidy package. Episode 2 can be played right away, but much to our surprise isn’t a web-game like Episode 1. The big picture objective in Now Boarding: Episode 1 is to service 80 passengers in a month, and reaching that goal will likely take you the better part of an afternoon. Little things like this become noticeable after awhile, but again, the overall effect these things have is so minimal that it barely warrants a mention. Once you’ve boarded passengers, you can’t reroute them to a better plane. Improvements can be made at the main terminal, but terminals in other cities can’t be tweaked to ensure the happiness of patient passengers. Routes can be planned to numerous destinations with repeat trips, but making a stop at the hub always ends a route. In this sense, the game is incredibly well balanced.Ī few small design choices easily be nitpicked, but they’re hardly worth complaining about. Automating these tasks as the game grows tougher allows for a smooth transition from one style of play to another. But as the difficulty ramps up your focus will shift primarily to planning routes. When the game starts, all of these tasks are in your hands. Your ground crew will taxi your planes to and from the runway. A gate attendant will load the planes according to the routes you’ve created. A customer service rep, for example, will try to make sure everyone who is waiting is happy.
It’s a big balancing act - how many different destinations can I get each plane to cover? How many planes can I keep in the sky? How quickly can I get those planes back so that my passengers don’t get angry? It’s a new spin on time management, and it’s one that offers up a surprising amount of depth and intelligence.Īs the game progresses, employees are introduced that automate some of the gameplay. You’ll also need to pick up passengers from other airports, so you may end up wanting to let the three people off in Nashville first if it means you can pick up two people from that airport to bring to their destinations along the way. You’ll want to map it out so that the plane visits both destinations. On one plane, for example, you could have three people heading to Nashville and one to New Orleans. Every passenger is wearing a t-shirt that tells you where they’re headed, and it’ll be up to you to place them on planes and map out the best routes to get them there. You may find yourself sweating to complete a month but feel extremely rewarded when you’ve pulled it off.Managing a small airport is no easy task, so why not see if you’re up to the challenge? Turn around a struggling airport by mapping flight plans, opening new routes, buying bigger planes, and making sure all of your customers stay happy in an attempt to turn around the business woes of a little airport with a lot of personality.Īs manager, you’ll be tasked with making sure that everybody in your region of the country gets where they are going. "As far as Time Management games go, this one is designed to be a challenge but not land you in a pit of frustration. "I realised the demo version has eaten getting on for two hours of my time without me noticing it, and remained delightfully fresh." - Rock, Paper Shotgun "Now Boarding is very well done and quite entertaining, no matter what genre you place it in." - Out of Eight Reviews
It completely blew my mind." - Make Use Of "In the end, I spent the whole afternoon playing it.
Lead your team and help them learn skills. But you're not alone - employees will be working along side you. Be responsible for delivering all passengers and keep them happy. Take charge and get the airport running smooth. Their airport is going to be closed if they don't get some help quick. The employees of Airways Airlines are an interesting bunch.