The bitzens are back in business with another handheld addi(c)tion from NimbleBit; Pocket Planes. A simple yet devilishly addictive little game for iPhones and iPads alike from the guys that stormed the scene with Tiny Tower in 2012. They clearly discovered that their charming bitzens and carrot-on-a-stick advancement was the key to our hearts, and of course, our wallets.

Ready for take off
The concept is pretty basic, at its core this is an airline management simulation game with an 8-bit retro style graphics polish. You buy airports then build or buy planes in differing shapes and sizes to fly around various cargo and/or 8-bit citizens (bitzens!) making you level up and earn in-game currency to expand even further.

Now boarding…Each airport has an amount of jobs depending on the population, requiring you to deliver either cargo, bitzens or both to another airport. Depending on the plane you have at the specific airport you can stock up on a varying amount of either or both. As you level up you get access to more airports and bigger planes, which have increasingly more space to take on more jobs from each airport. After taking on jobs you then select your destination airport and take to the skies. From here you can observe your planes’ journey on a zoomed out pixelated world map or alternatively, stay up close and personal with the plane whilst being on the look out for coins/”bux” sailing by in the sky. Eventually you’ll amass a fleet of planes ranging from toy planes to starships to hot air balloons, all of which are customizable.

Bringing in the HazMat team!Pocket Planes is in itself a freemium app on the iTunes store with the option to buy in-game “bux” to progress your world dominating airline that little bit faster. It definitely isn’t necessary to open your wallets however, in-game “bux” and/or coins are rewarded for each flight at a reasonably steady rate.

Coming in to land!
All in all I’m amazed at how much fun and satisfaction I can squeeze out of painting/naming every new shiny plane and dressing up my pilot bitzens in all manners of ludicrous outfits. The only criticism I can find is that it’s too simple, but then again every time I hear the sacred notification noise dutifully informing me a plane has landed, I can’t help but drop what I’m doing and send my fleet on “just one more” flight to gain coins for “just one more” plane… Or maybe “just one more” airport.

7/10