There's something about this game that just works - done any other way, Airport Mania: First Flight (that's a mouthful, so we'll shorten it to AMFF for the rest of the review) would be a decent little game with great addictive qualities. However, by transforming airplanes into cute, fun little characters with their own personalities, Reflexive have won us over with their game's undeniable charm - something you couldn't get if you were purchasing just a flight control sim.

Just look at it. In fact, static screenshots don't do the game justice, so we'd advise you to go check out the website for the online flash game - you can also download it for PC/Mac too. Now, multiply that experience with the instant nature of the iPhone's touch controls. It makes for one great control scheme, with event queuing (as you would expect) - be careful though, if there's many planes on screen at once, it can get a little hectic to find targets - so the idea is to be as efficient as possible.

Airplane management is the name of the game here, and basically that boils down to landing a plane, have it drop off passengers at a terminal, refuel/repair (optional), then refill with passengers and take off. It starts slowly at first, with only one runway being available - but as you advance through the stages, you'll find bigger airports with more runways, terminals, and planes. Fortunately, you can upgrade each of these 8 airports with faster terminals, or drinks service, or VIP runways that extend the combo time.

Combos are awarded for landing/taking off in quick succession on the same runway - so if you route three planes to strip 1, you'll get a x3 multiplier. This works on the terminals too, each plane will paint the terminal in it's own colours - the idea being if you land say 2 blue planes at the same terminal you'll earn a x2 multiplier. This will reset if you land a pink or green plane there - and being savvy enough to hold multipliers will increase your score.

Planes don't like to wait around long though, they will grimace at you if you don't land them fast enough, or if you leave them waiting for servicing. Part of the fun lies in the silly expressions, and it's a good indicator of which planes you need to give your full attention to. There are four score targets on each level, and the difficulty curve is not too steep - although the top tier scores may prove tough if you're constantly sending planes off late, or breaking your combos too often.

The game looks and sounds fantastic - planes hum to themselves if they're refueling, and the music is really good. We liked the achievements room, with objectives presented to you in riddle format, but we didn't much like the upgrade page with the very tiny hit target for scrolling the list of options. And while the game is very fun and polished, we can't help but want for some more modes - such as starting off at a tiny airstrip and transforming it into a huge international.

Nevertheless, AMFF really impressed us. The appeal it has is very broad, and we think older gamers will appreciate this one as much as young ones. It's also a perfect example of time management done right on iPhone, even when it does get chaotic - but we think the planes could be made a little smaller to account for the trickier selecting on later levels. If you pick it up, 59p is a steal.

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