Airport CEO is a strategic management simulation game developed by Apoapsis Studios. The game features a lot of functionality to build and operate a working airport.
Airport CEO provides a lot of customization from the ability to create your own CEO character with a variety of face, eyes, nose, mouth, etc., options to choose from to the name, logo, and placement of your airport. I thought it was cool how the game essentially lets you build an airport anywhere you want, even in bizarre places and provides details about the selected location.
In Airport CEO, players are presented with a toolbar that has a bunch of material necessary to build a functional airport from runways, connectors, and airplane landing stations to parking lots, airport shops, and security check-in and baggage claim stations. Players are free to build an airport however they like but must make sure to keep everyone happy, especially passengers.
In the beginning, the game does have you sign a contract to build a small functional airfield before you can scale and become a bigshot airport. This is most likely to help first-time players get a feel of the system because it was a bit overwhelming seeing all the options the first time.
As the CEO, you also have access to emails, contracts, airport analytics, staff employment, flight schedules, and basically anything you would need to operate a real airport on the business side. The ultimate goal is to craft and manage the most successful airport.
There’s also a feature where you can pause/unpause and speed up the timing of the game which I was unaware of at first because the tutorial never mentioned anything about it. Thus I was super confused and stuck waiting for the constructors to show up and build my infrastructure for a good 5 minutes before I realized I had to hit play for the simulation to start running. But after I got over that hurdle, I found the feature to be pretty useful because the lighting of the game matches the timing of the simulation so at night, you’re encased in darkness but I found that I could just pause the game during daylight and continue to build my airport.
Speaking of the tutorial, as a first-time player of this game and not an aviation or related enthusiast, I found it really hard to follow the tutorial and ultimately was only able to pass through some of the beginning steps with the help of an Airport CEO playthrough video on YouTube. I got really stuck because I was not sure where to place and connect things so all my stations ended up unable to operate and for some reason, the bulldozer, which operates like an undo of object placements, couldn’t destroy my horrendous build. Also, I accidentally placed down a single foundation piece which I guess is indestructible because I tried to bulldoze it away multiple times but the piece never disappeared and kept obstructing my path which ultimately made me quit that airport and start anew.
In the game, I saw the toolbar had a template tab and I wish that a starter airport infrastructure template was provided to help out first-time players who have no clue what they’re doing.
In the end, there’s so much to do in the game and a lot of strategy to work out in trying to solve airplane problems, budget problems, and overall trying to keep everyone happy so that money and contracts with airlines continue to roll in.
I would rate Airport CEO an 8.5 out of 10. All the graphics in the game are beautiful and the quality is extremely nice. There’s so much to do in the game, especially being able to construct different ways to build and manage a successful airport. Plus, I haven’t tried it out but there are mods available. I love the creativity associated with Airport CEO. In addition, the building and operating functionalities work well aside from my bulldozing experience. There are a lot of small details that made me smile. I was so happy when I finally could see the airplanes landing on the runway and slowly moving towards their stopping stations. Also was shocked and laughed when a cow showed up on the runway path.
On the other hand, one aspect of the game that I didn’t like is the text size which was a bit too small for me. It kind of made my head spin a bit trying to focus and read the small font. I tried going into settings to see if I could increase the text size but I wasn’t able to find that option. Coming into the game, I barely knew anything about how airports work so I relied heavily on the tutorial presented on the phone in the bottom left corner but in order to read the text on the phone I had to lean in close to my computer screen. I wish there was an option to enlarge the text or at least an option to enlarge the phone so I can have an easier time reading the text.
In addition, my bulldozer experience made me wish there was an easier way to undo placement of different structures by preferably a hotkey. I tried looking into the controls for this but I wasn’t able to find it. Also, this might just be a bug on my end but I couldn’t save my airport no matter what I tried on the menu which was a bit frustrating but the game does autosave so I wasn’t too worried about losing my progress.
Check Out the Airport CEO Steam Trailer:
After playing the game I found that I, personally, am not that interested in strategy and building games but for those that are, Airport CEO is available for PC via Steam for $24.99 and might be worthwhile to check out.
You can also find out more about the game at https://www.airportceo.com.
Shop Amazon: https://amzn.to/3dYZzmP
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
Steam Review
I'm a sophomore studying Computer Science at the University of Michigan. I'm really interested in how technology can impact lives through game development. One of the things that I really like about gaming is that, not only is it fun and relaxing, but there are so many ideas you can incorporate into games and their storylines such as meaningful lessons/messages.
More Stories
Dragon Age: The Veilguard Review for PlayStation 5
Cutting-Edge VR Interactive Experience HUMAN WITHIN Heading to Meta Quest and SteamVR January 9
No More Room in Hell 2 Review for Steam Early Access