Written by Lexi Holmes (Gabbing About)
SimAirport, a top-down 2-D venture into the ever-popular simulation genre. SimAirport was created back in 2017 by LVGameDev, a small indie studio who currently only have this game and SimCasino in their portfolio. This airport simulation game was sat in early access on Steam until 2020 and was then ported over to Xbox earlier this year.
The graphics of SimAirport are reminiscent of early simulation games in its simplicity and whilst its nostalgic feel may work for some, its grey-scale tone was largely unappealing to me when my preferred simulation games are ones like Two Point series. Whilst some games such as Vampire Survivors work incredibly well with graphics like this, their gameplay is much simpler (addictive) and therefore works well. The audio in SimAirport is lacking, so make sure to pop on a playlist or stick The Office or Friends on in the background whilst playing. Although the visual and audio elements of the game are basic, the game itself certainly makes up for it in other ways.
Wait, where do I start?
Upon loading into the game, the player is thrust immediately into the tutorial, a series of bite-sized pieces designed to help understand every single aspect of building and maintaining an airport. It starts off simply enough, with guidance on building runways, amenities, staffing and balancing customer needs. However, it quickly ramps up in complexity, determined to outline every single facet of the game, which can leave the player feeling overwhelmed when it comes to more complex aspects such as heat maps, scheduling flights, purchasing fuel, and negotiating with airlines. As the tutorial sits separately from the rest of the game, it can feel quite long and tedious without any real progress made.
And remember that it was designed for PC first? Control mapping suffers here with a complete lack of consistency. Some menus require navigating via the D-Pad, others require the Left Stick. Confirmation can either be A or Right Trigger. Even much later in career mode the player may have to double check which button they need to use.
Once the tutorial ends, the player is then sent to their first airport where they can choose to build from scratch or build upon a pre-existing airport. Tip: choose the pre-existing airport. Please.
I’ve Already Forgotten It All!
The game has two options: career mode or sandbox mode. Sandbox mode includes unlimited money and can be useful to play at first until you are familiar with all aspects of running an airport. Career mode involves progressing through different airports, fulfilling incentives by airlines which will not only give a cash boost, but an increased chance of return business.
Ooooooh, boy. Let’s hope everything from the tutorial is easy to remember because now it’s time to put all of that into practice at the first airport. Once the first airport is underway, the player will very quickly become inundated with jobs to do, staff to hire, amenities to build and baggage issues.
Construction is expensive and must be planned far in advance to ensure there’s enough money to hire the staff to run it and build any other amenities needed. As the airport grows, it becomes a constant battle to balance the cost. Even the smallest decision such as building an additional café can cause the airport to fail when the fuel prices inevitably increase. It is very, very easy to fall into debt and fail at first so guides become essential to progress in the first couple of levels. However, there are so many aspects to the game that it will keep the player busy almost continuously.
Bugs, Bugs and More Bugs.
The first bug was encountered within the first two minutes when the tutorial refused to proceed despite completing the objective and it could only be fixed by restarting the entire game. Further into the game, there are numerous bugs and glitches that can be inconvenient or downright sabotage the airport. Some have customers walking through walls, which can be helpful if they take a shortcut to the bathroom. Some are visual glitches and occasionally it will be necessary to confirm two or three times before it registers an action. Others are extremely infuriating. In a game where one slight delay in reaction can cause astronomical problems, workers stuck in one spot and not being able to move can be catastrophic. Firing and rehiring costs money that the player may not have, so sometimes the best thing to do is wait in the hope that they’ll reanimate and do what they’re told like the overworked and underpaid minimum wage workers they are.
Conclusion
SimAirport is detailed, incredibly intricate and has clearly been well thought out by the developers. Everything that could possibly be imagined that would go into the running of an airport has been considered, from the excessive number of toilets needed to fuel purchasing. For hardcore simulation or plane enthusiasts (and for those select few who fall into both categories) this is a fantastic game and will be greatly enjoyed. For those who are looking for a more casual game to relax with, this isn’t it. The learning curve is steep and will put many players off. The controls are convoluted and borderline painful to navigate and the graphics leave a lot to be desired in today’s world. And let’s not forget about the bugs. Being faced with a bug that affects progression less than two minutes in didn’t endear me to the game and I found myself concerned that I would lose progress during career mode due to glitches and bugs.
A detailed simulator that tries to bring something new to the market, but falls short by being overly complicated, overly difficult, and hard to navigate.
Written by Lexi Holmes (Gabbing About)
Overall
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CX Score - 30%30%
Summary
Pros
- Very detailed
- Easy to read each zone
- Great for plane or simulation enthusiasts
- Always something to do
Cons
- Very basic graphics and minimal audio
- So many bugs
- The learning curve is too steep, and it feels designed for the player to fail
- Much better simulation games available on Xbox Game Pass