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It’s time for another installment of Palm Discovery’s wReview Wednesday!

Airport Mania 2: Wild Trips

Airport Mania 2: Wild Trips (iTunes Canada)

We are now in August, the month where it is officially the true month of vacation, traveling and summer for many people. Although school was out for a couple months, many people were still working during those months and it’s August that is really the month of summer for many people. And summer is not summer if it doesn’t involve traveling. And for many of us, it means flying, luggage and airport.

Last week I reviewed a fun, cute little game called Airport Mania: First Flight which involves airplanes and airport, allowing you to be the air traffic controller of an airport and dealing with the fast-paced job of controlling the skies. Today, I will continue with that theme and reviewing the follow up to that popular Airport Mania franchise called, Airport Mania 2: Wild Trips.

The game is very similar to the previous game we’ve already reviewed. We are in essence, the air traffic controller of an airport and must quickly and efficiently direct incoming airplanes to their gates and outgoing airplanes to their runways. The cute factor is still there. The airplanes are just as cute as the previous Airport Mania game with those cute, bulging eyes and their la-da-da-da singing and whistling. The main difference between this game and the previous one is that there are a few more features that this game offers that is not on the previous one.

There are few new upgrades that are now available on Airport Mania 2: Wild Trips including luggage station, painting layover space, VIP layover space, ground beverage service, wash and go station, new runway, VIP runway, in flight movies, anti-fog system, improved gas station, improved repair station, improved luggage station, as well as purchasing a commercial jetliner, troop transporter, intergalactic spacecraft and many others.

The game play is very much the same as you are still directing planes from the air to your airport via the runway, to the gates, as well as to service stations, repair hangers, luggage station, layover space and others all the while ensuring that planes arrive and depart early or on time with bonus points and star designation for point levels achieved.

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For those who want to skip over all the detailed review and just want a summary, you can jump to the review summary

Airport Mania 2: Wild Trips is a newly created game for the Airport Mania franchise, offering 9 different airports and 79 levels that spans across the globe including the Tiki islands, North Pole, Antarctic, the Serengeti and even the Moon! Upgrade your airport to new runways, improved gates, VIP layover spaces, anti-fog system, in flight movies and much more. Land your plane on the water, on a flying landing strip, and even in space! Each different stage offers something new for upgrades as well as challenges. Try to quickly and efficiently guide and direct the planes from landing to take off, dealing with the different needs of each plane such as loading luggage, refueling, repairs to taking them back up to the skies as quickly as possible.

Unlike the previous Airport Mania game, this game is much more challenging as there are more needs to deal with, more planes arriving and there’s four stars instead of three to deal with. That means, it’s that much harder to achieve the highest number of stars to unlock the stages and of course, that persuades you to play more. Plus, the different themed location stages are nice to play, giving a change of scenery to keep the game fresh. And of course, the cool upgrades is something I always enjoy checking out at the start of each game.

Plus, at half the price of the original Airport Mania: First Flight, $0.99 I guess I’m getting this game for a bargain.

More details of Airport Mania 2: Wild Trips (taken from iTunes website)

Return to the skies and visit incredible destinations in this amazing sequel to the 2009 #1 app store hit game Airport Mania!

Airport Mania 2 takes you on a journey like no other as you tackle airports from the North Pole to the Moon, and encounter a whole new set of aircraft including spaceships and military jets! You’ll also see some of your old favorites in totally new ways, like being retrofitted with pontoons for water landings!

As with the first game, Airport Mania 2 was made to make you smile! Featuring a whimsical appeal that everyone who is a child at heart can enjoy, and intensely fast and challenging game play, Airport Mania 2 is your one-way ticket to fun!

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- Zany out of this world locations!
- New Military Jets and Spaceships!
- New challenging 4-Star scores to achieve!
- Earn over 40 Awesome Awards!
- Journey through 9 Airports and 79 Levels!
- More levels coming soon!
- Different airplane color options for color-blind players

*************

What’s New in Version 1.03

- Added language support for Spanish, French, Italian, German, Swedish, Dutch, and Portuguese
- Fixed a bug that caused the sound to become muted when a notification appears
- Fixed a bug that caused options not to be saved correctly in some circumstances
- NOTE: Game Center integration is coming in the next update!!

Slideshow of Airport Mania 2: Wild Trips for the iPhone and iPod Touch

Video of Airport Mania 2: Wild Trips for the iPhone and iPod Touch

Video review of Airport Mania 2: Wild Trips for iPhone and iPod Touch at YouTube

Here are my observations:

I Liked:

Easy to play

The game is very easy to figure out and play, especially when there is a “flight academy” tutorial that shows and explains how to play the game.

Tutorial available

This game, much like the previous Airport Mania: First Flight, offers a flight academy training which demonstrates how to play the game. I always love it when a developer takes the time to create a tutorial or at least explains how the game is played.

Cute factor, animation

This game definitely scores high on the “cute” factor. The planes are small and cute with those bulging eyes and eyebrows that frown when it’s angry. Plus, they whistle and sing. The planes also look different depending on its type: military, jet, etc.

Much more challenging than Airport Mania: First Flight

The game is much more challenging than the first Airport Mania game as you are now given up to four stars instead of three for the “perfect score”. If you thought getting three stars was hard, you’ll find out that getting four stars is like next to impossible.

Great sounds effects

The sound of airplane take off, the ding ding of a service station plus many other sound effects (minus the cute la di da singing) and the whistling make it a great game play experience.

Trophies and award collection

For those who love to collect and earn awards and trophies, this game offers that. You earn special trophies for different planes that land on your airport, trophies for other special achievements and others, similar to Airport Mania: First flight. This game offers two pages of trophies and awards, with the trophies on the second page and the medals and awards on the first.

New and different airport, airplane upgrades available

At the beginning of most games, you are shown a screen that offers upgrades for the airport or the planes. You can purchase a new layover space, a VIP layover space, a plane painting space, an upgraded service station, hanger or luggage station, a new runway, or even a regional jet or military plane or many others that are not found on the first Airport Mania game.

Nine different airports, places

There are nine different airports or places or stages that the game offers with a total of 79 different games. You get an airport on an island, or in the North Pole, or Antarctica, or the Serengeti, or on a flying airstrip, or a sailing one, or even on the Moon! Each offers a different set of challenges and airport features.

Landscape mode tilt

I like how the game can be rendered in landscape mode for any which way. Unlike other games that force you to only play in landscape mode with the Home button on the right, for example, this game will tilt upside down if you flip it over, allowing you to play with the Home button on the left.

Replay a game supported

Because the game offers stars to designate the level in which a particular game is completed, you can replay a level to achieve a higher number of stars. Especially now when there’s four instead of just three stars, this is nice to be able to try to get a higher level of stars.

Volume slider

Those who know me know how much I stress on a volume slider. Thankfully, this game offers a volume slider for both the sound effects and music, without forcing me to only use the volume buttons of my device.

$0.99 half the price of the original

The price of Airport Mania 2: Wild Trips is half the price of the original, Airport Mania: First Flight yet it offers more features than the original. If you’re planning to get the Airport Mania games, I’d suggest getting this one as you’re paying half the price for the same game, except you’re getting more features.

Plane color selection

This game offers a choice of different sets of colors for the planes, so if you get bored with the current set of colors, you can change it to another one for a different look.

I Didn’t Like:

No game selection, must progress incrementally

This is a game that needs to be played incrementally, that is, you can only progress with each game. So, you can only go to 1-2 from 1-1 and can’t jump to 2-3 or anything else. Thankfully, most games are easy enough to progress through without any problems. However, the higher levels are much harder to unlock and that may be a stumbling block for some.

No background music playback support

This is something that I’m a bit surprised about. Considering that the previous Airport Mania: First Flight supported background music playback, I was very disappointed that this game doesn’t offer or support this. There’s only so much of those la-da-da-da-da-da that I can deal with and unfortunately, the only way is to turn off the sound, which means I still can’t play my music while playing the game.

May be too cute to play

The cute factor of the game may be something that may turn off some, thinking that it’s too cute and very girlish. I, too was kind of put off by the cute factor until I took a look at the game itself. I could do without the cute looking planes myself but once you get over it and start playing, it doesn’t bug me anymore.

No Facebook or Twitter integration

Surprising how the official website has a link to its Facebook page and yet there’s no link within the game itself to its Facebook page. And, there’s also no Twitter page for Airport mania either, although there is a Twitter page for the developers, Lemon Team. Why there’s no link to either or these is beyond me.

No bug submit feature

Again, similar to the previous Airport Mania, although the game works very well and no bugs I’ve found, I think there should still be some kind of bug submit feature available for gamers to contact the developers.

No Contact link

Similar to the previous point, there is no specific email link to the developers for the gamers to contact the developers. The only way to do so is to tap on the “Check out the PC/Mac version” which will take you to the mobile version of the Airport Mania website. I would prefer to be able to quickly and easily contact the developers without needing to do it this way.

No side games or bonus games

Although the game is very fun and addictive, I find that it would be much better if there were some side game or bonus games available that will break the monotony of simply playing the main game of landing planes at an airport. Perhaps, something like the actual landing of a plane from a pilot’s perspective, or going through security or something like that, with an airport theme.

No Game Center support

I am only adding this in because the current version does not yet support Game Center, although in the notes, there is the mention that Game Center will be supported in a future version.

No Lite version

Perhaps this is because the game is fairly new, but unfortunately, unlike its predecessor, Airport Mania: First Flight, there is no “lite” or free version for anyone to “try” it out before buying the game. However, at $0.99, it’s not like it’s breaking the bank either but it would be nice to have a free lite version though.

Review Summary

Airport Mania 2: Wild Trips, although being the sequel or the next new game from the Airport Mania franchise is no slouch to the original as it offers 79 games with 9 different airports ranging from the North Pole to the Moon. Plus, there are new upgrades for the airport and planes such a in-flight entertainment, new runways, and others that the original does not have. And, at half the price at $0.99 compared to $1.99 for the original Airport Mania: First Flight, I strongly recommend everyone to get this game as it offers more features than the original does. It’s a bit puzzling why the original is still priced at $1.99 when this cheaper one at half the price offers much more than the original. It’s still the same great game at half the price so if you’re getting one, get this one and you won’t regret it.

If you liked this, check out my review of Airport Mania: First Flight. You can get Airport Mania: First Flight from the iTunes store, and Airport Mania: First Flight from iTunes Canada as well as the free lite versions: Airport Mania: First Flight Lite, Airport Mania: First Flight Lite (iTunes Canada).

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