What it's about you guide the planes in, and send them off again
You are an air traffic controller at Haneda, Tokyo's busy city airport, and your job is to stop planes meeting each other. Arrivals come in from the sky, you tell them which runway to use, clear them to land and send them along the taxiways to a gate. You also handle the takeoffs, sending planes out again. It's real time, but the pace is more a slow dance than a rush, at least at first.
The airport has four runways and the game has 16 stages that get busier as you go, plus ten DLC packs with five extra stages each. Each plane needs a few simple choices from you, and the hard part is making them in the right order while three more planes line up behind it. It's a puzzle that happens to have engines.
How I got into it an avgeek, a flight simulator search and a random demo
I'm kind of an avgeek and I love airplanes. I was actually looking for a flight simulator on Nintendo Switch, and this game turned up on the results page. I downloaded the demo, pretty much at random, and the rest is history: I wanted to keep playing. That demo is also the right way in for you, because this is a very specific kind of game and you'll know quickly if it's yours.
I play it in any setting, from chilling at home to on the go. It's very convenient: it's nice to the battery and you can pause it at any moment. I'm at 500+ hours.
How it looks low tech on the surface, better than it seems
The game can seem low tech, but the graphics aren't that bad. The planes are properly detailed, right down to the landing gear, and the airport is a perfect replica, spot on down to every detail. When you switch the camera to the airplane view, it's really enjoyable.
On a TV you get a bigger view in busy stages. In handheld, which is where I play it most, it's perfect.
How it sounds radio chatter at the centre, calm music behind it
The sound is the part that sells the mood. The centre of it is the radio chatter, pilots asking for permission and flight attendants talking to passengers somewhere in the background, in English like real pilots. Behind it, the music rotates but it's mainly the same music. It doesn't bother me. It's a good one, and it makes a really good background for the radio.
The whole sound system adds to how relaxing the game is, even when it gets really busy. It feels like sitting by the window in the departure hall, and it works fine on headphones.
The story and the people no story, just a voice on the radio
There isn't one. You're a voice on the radio, the pilots are voices on the other end, and the plot is the schedule. I don't mind, because it's what makes the game easy to dip into, but if you need characters to care about, this isn't it.
After work: effort and challenge very relaxing, with a few stages that hurt in a good way
Does it give you space to chill? For me it's the perfect game to chill. It's extremely relaxing, even when it gets really busy. The rules are few: pick the runway, clear the landing, choose the taxi route, assign a gate. Nothing carries over between stages, so you can leave it for two weeks and start again.
How hard it gets depends on the stage. Early on it's almost meditative. In the hardest ones it can get very chaotic and hurt my brain, but in a good way. Each stage also has extra challenges for extra points, which add a bit of difficulty and cool ways to play.
Not every stage is long, but on the very long ones (some can run an hour, an hour and a half or even two hours), losing can be really frustrating. Some actions are irreversible, while other mistakes can be repaired. If you lose, you start over, or from a checkpoint, but the game chooses the checkpoints. If you lose just before one or far away from one, it hurts.
Docked vs handheld handheld is perfect, docked gives a bigger view
I've mostly played it in handheld and it's perfect. It's also fine docked, because in busy stages you get a larger view, and it's really enjoyable when you switch to the airplane camera. Handheld wins for me because it's light on the battery and you can pause any time.
What gets in the way one airport, restarts after long stages and a tiny audience
- On the very long stages, losing is frustrating, because the game picks the checkpoints.
- Some actions can't be undone.
- There's only one airport. It isn't a downside for me, since the replica is perfect, but it could be for you.
- It's a very niche game. If planes don't interest you, nothing else will.
On Switch 2 no special edition, and it doesn't need one
There's no Switch 2 Edition, so it plays through backward compatibility. It's a small game, so there's nothing to fix. The game is normally €44.99 but is permanently reduced to €22.49. There are ten DLCs, each with five extra stages and a variety of scenarios. They used to cost €4.99 and are now €1.99 each. I've played them all and they're all great.
Verdict very niche, and for the right person, amazing
Air Traffic Controller Haneda is a niche game for a very specific audience, but if you're in the target, it's an amazing one. For me it's definitely in my top ten favourite games. It's extremely relaxing, it sounds wonderful, and the replica of the airport is perfect.
I thought that once I'd finished the stages I would stop, but I keep going back and redoing them randomly, and I'm having the same amount of fun. With the DLCs I have plenty of variety. It's a game you can pause any time, that doesn't drain the battery, and that can be a short stage or a long evening.
If planes get you excited, try the demo. If they don't, skip it, because there's no variety to convince you.
