Air Control

Four Pixels's Air Control is practically the definition of 'unpretentious'.

Despite the minimalist presentation, it does play notably tougher than other Flight Control clones like Camel Games's Flight Director, with the difficulty here increasing much faster.

But Air Control suffers for being so vanilla, and its one attempt at doing something different in the line-drawing world has been done markedly better elsewhere.

If you haven't a clue what any of the aforementioned games are, they all cast you as an air traffic controller guiding planes in to land.

Aircraft drift in from off-screen, and you need to draw a path to wherever they're permitted to land, making sure they don't collide.

The various types of plane must be diverted to their own particular runway, and likewise helicopters must be guided onto their own helipad. Air Control gets the basics right, at least.

There are only three maps, yet each layout plays noticeably differently. An aircraft carrier, for example, is much tighter on space when planes are landing.

It’s far too tricky, meanwhile, to confidently use the 'fast forward' button without instantly failing. The bonus mode 'Cargo', where you have to land the same colour or type of plane as the last one to touch down, is also too intense.

One false move can leave you frantically juggling upwards of ten craft in the air on a tiny screen.

And with the visuals lacking any real character, the action can quickly become horribly tedious.