As a player of these supposedly 'casual' games for some years, I was initially tricked by the visuals into thinking - "Uh oh, another Flight Control HD/Airport Madness spin-off". One word: wrong.
Yes, the Dev was kind enough to provide a free key but I write only objective reviews, and don't mind flying in the face of public opinion (pardon the pun). If there's a kink, I'll mention it.
Just a word on the visuals and how they may trick - this is not "Flight Control HD". Far from it. In fact this has more in common with "Airport Control Simulator" than the aforementioned casual and a little zany title. In fact "Miniature Golf Course HD" has more in common with "FC HD".
You begin with three tutorials, that are over far too quickly if, like me, you are slow and steady. They set you up with your basic flight and control rules and basically boot you out the door while you're still attaching your flight controller badge, wondering where you left your headset. By the fifth mission, it really is sink and swim.
So what is this game? I mentioned "Airport Control Simulator" which is a top-down flight control game, using real earth images for the maps. You control incoming aircraft coming in to land, as you do with "Airport Madness" and "Flight Control HD". Where this is more like "ACS" is that you control the speed of the aircraft, but not the height that you do in "ACS". In "Flight Control HD" you may do endless loops to slow down or 'park' aircraft in holding patters, but with "Land It!" you alter the speed by stretching the arrow leading from the plane. This affects turning circles, travelling times, and flight plans. The longer the lead you give your arrow, the faster you go in other words, the wiser your turning circle...makes sense. Easy, right....?
Nope! For a start, this is not just a "landing" game. You also control take-off and egress on some maps - no landing at all. Here, it is similar to "Airport Madness" in that you decide when to let the aircraft take off, but beware. Unlike in "Flight Control HD", "Airport Control Simulator and "Airport Madness" you are not just attempting to avoid mid-air collisions with your own controllable inbounds.
No sir!
No, here you have No-Fly Zones (over airports and taxiways) where if you stray into one you have seconds to get out and air lanes with constantly flowing traffic out of your control.
You must seamlessly merge into these flight paths, gingerly altering your lead arrow (IAS) to navigate your flightpath safely into the air lanes just ahead of, or behind NPC aircraft, matching or increasing your speed to keep a safe distance. Trouble is, speeding up will change your turn angle and instead of egressing safely off the map you might find yourself juggling your aircraft's flight path/speed to keep clear of No Fly Zones while still keeping a safe spacing between NPC traffic. It is not easy.
NOW - multiply that by 4-5 aircraft under your control. Getting the picture?
The visuals are excellent: crisp, colourful and with a depth of detail not usually seen in these small titles. Love is in this game, and it's obvious. Sound is not the tinkle, tankle you get in "Flight Control HD", where you'd swear your cutlery drawer fell when planes collide. Here you get red visuals and a "BOOM!" to go with it. There's nothing funny in a mid-air collision.
"Land It!" sticks to the overhead view, which works best in these games. Whereas "Airport Madness" has been fun I think they've over-reached with their latest title "AM 3D", and I find the myriad views are useless as an impending collision doesn't draw your attention, if say in Control Tower view. A "Snap-to" camera would work, or an alert...but these are not to be, so despite the flashy new camera angles you'll end up flying in isometric all the time just to pass each map.
Here, "And It!" sticks with the tried and true and the Dev has thrown his resources into the design and pace of the maps.
I haven't played more than a few maps past the tutorials, and will adjust my review as time goes on but a word on Difficulty.
This is NOT a casual game unless you have the hand-eye coordination of a fighter pilot. I think a "Casual" setting should be just that. The tutorials are paced well, but after that it's the Deep End....and I dog-paddle.
7/10
