At the start of Ava Airborne, you get propelled into the air instantly, teaching you on the go as to how to actually stay afloat. Holding down on the screen keeps you in the air, whereas letting go will force you to drift rapidly down to your death.
Along your path are a variety of both obstacles and pickups. Some will reward you with points to spend later, whereas others are obstacles to cause you death and destruction, or even give you a huge speed boost to shunt you forward.
There’s little explanation for what any of the obstacles actually do, you just need to smack into them incredibly quickly and try it for yourself. Surprisingly, this isn’t actually frustrating – there’s so much variety in the types of obstacles that it doesn’t ever really feel boring. Jump pads that also knock you back with fans if you approach from the wrong side, incredibly deadly balloons that kill you, static shock lines hanging from the sky, physical barriers with only one path through; there feels like an unending amount of destruction for you to avoid.
It’s not especially difficult to actually avoid these obstacles, it really only requires a decent amount of coordination. However, the sheer frequency with which these obstacles appear in your path, as well as the break-neck pace you fly through the clouds, forces you to constantly try to avoid everything as fast as you can.[sc name=”quote” text=”However, the sheer frequency with which these obstacles appear in your path, as well as the break-neck pace you fly through the clouds, forces you to constantly try to avoid everything as fast as you can.”]
The inclusion of positive items along the way, such as rings that you need to fly through or points to pickup, forces you to consider whether or not you should be avoiding something or deliberately smashing into it.
The most interesting aspect of Ava Airborne is the fact that flying mechanisms are different depending on what flying vehicle you use. You can purchase new types of flying machines from the shop between levels, using points you’ve gathered as currency. These flying machines are vastly different in how they play – at the start, you holding down on the screen causes you to fly upwards and forwards; however, the second vehicle you can buy allows you to slingshot Spiderman style across the map, pivoting off points in the skyline as you race past and flying through obstacles.
Though it seems incredibly cool to fly like Spiderman across the map, it isn’t intrinsically better than other methods – it’s simply different.
This ability to fly in a variety of different ways adds a great deal of variety and different styles of play, making each level of Ava Airborne feel fresh and interesting.[sc name=”quote” text=”This ability to fly in a variety of different ways adds a great deal of variety and different styles of play, making each level of Ava Airborne feel fresh and interesting.”]
Ava Airborne starts out as a seemingly simplistic flying game, smashing into things and dodging others, but with the inclusion of many different flying mechanisms, as well as lots of things to avoid and pickup, the game turns into something so much more.
Ava Airborne manages to take a simple concept and make it interesting and intriguing, keeping you coming back for more.
[review pros=”Incredible flying mechanics for such a simple game. The obstacles and objectives are varied and interesting.” cons=”It can take a little while to realize how good it is.” score=9]
[appbox appstore id1327396071]
