Game Stooge

REVIEW: Now Boarding (PC)

• Scribbled on August 13th, 2008 by Jonah Falcon
• Filed in Casual Gaming, PC, Reviews

Now Boarding is a new casual game in the vein of the venerable Diner Dash, in which you juggle demanding patrons who stream in and try to make your life horrible. In this case, you’re running an airline.

The main twist is that you have to plan routes efficiently because the longer your passengers have to wait, the more angry they become, til they finally “freak out”. Adding to the complications is that there’s other passengers in your other serviced cities who need to be picked up.

To aid you, you can buy food and decorations to keep the passengers happy, and hire personnel who also keep passengers occupied or speed up docking and boarding. Keep in mind these employees only work at the hub airport, so you either have to fly the passengers in remote cities to their destinations quickly, or bring them to the hub to be cheered up. As you progress, you buy bigger airplanes, more seats and more destinations.

There’s a nice progression to gameplay in the main Career mode, and the first area (Southeast region) is fairly easy - it serves mainly to get you used to the gameplay. Once you’ve bought a few cities in the Northeastern region, however, things get hectic as you find your planes are too small or you don’t have enough seating or you need more personnel. The game hooks you with the premise, and becomes a challenge later, the hallmark of a good casual strategy game.

The graphics have a cartoon-y, friendly feel to them, while the music is appropriately the usual “tah dah dah” muzak heard in 1970’s Italian films and airport elevators today. The game overall is charming, with a nice “just one more month” addiction. It features its own internal Achievements as well.

The game comes with a Career mode, a Free Play mode that allows you to build your own airport the way you like it, and a brutal Survival mode, which is exactly what the name implies: it forces you to multitask like crazy as you try to deliver as many people for as long as possible before they freak out.

If you’re looking for an inexpensive Diner Dash-styled game but want more of a challenge that allows you to feel like you’re in control of the game environment, try Now Boarding. You can download it here from the developer Gabob. The game acts as a demo til you purchase it.