‘Swift Plane’ Review: Fast-Paced, High-Flying Fun

By now I’m sure everyone with an iDevice has played an endless running/flying game at some point or another. So, with that in mind, I won’t waste too much time explaining how the gameplay in Swift Plane (out now, free) works. Here’s the gist of it: As a little plane hurtles ever forwards through a hazard-strewn environment, it’s up to you, the player, to quickly and precisely swipe your touchscreen in different directions in order to avoid deadly obstacles like windmill blades and mountain ridges. The aim of the game, of course, is to fly as far as possible.

sc1024x768-1Swift Plane’s swipe-based controls are wonderfully intuitive and responsive. Which is just as well since the game moves at a fair old clip and delights in throwing truly tricky combinations of obstacles at you. I managed to wipe out pretty quickly the first few times I played, but once I got the hang of the plane’s abilities and found my rhythm, I began to really enjoy myself. As far as endless runners go, I’d say Swift Plane strikes a nice balance between being breezily fun and offering a decent level of challenge.

As you play, you earn gems that can be used to purchase new planes and additional locations. (Gems are also awarded for completing achievements and logging in daily.) There’s a total of 6 planes and 3 endless stages to work towards unlocking — which, if you ask me, is a more than generous amount of content for a free game. The stages themselves look absolutely great and boast a beautifully chunky and vibrant low poly art style.

If you hadn’t guessed, I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent with Swift Plane. In fact, the only thing I’d ding it for — aside from the fact that it’s yet another entry into the already ridiculously overcrowded endless runner genre — is that the title screen and some of the menus look weirdly low-res and blurry on my iPad mini 2. That minor complaint aside, this is a very fun and well-made little game.

Verdict

Unless you’re someone who’s totally burnt out on the endless runner genre, I think you’ll really enjoy Swift Plane. The game isn’t groundbreaking by any means, but everything it sets out to do, it does well. The gameplay is fun, thrilling and addictive, the graphics are vibrant and appealing, and there’s a very generous amount of content to unlock and explore.

Positives
Exciting and addictive gameplay
Tight, intuitive controls
Gorgeous low poly art
Lots of stuff to unlock, including extra levels and new planes
Negatives
Menu screens are blurry (at least on my iPad mini 2)
If you're sick of endless running games, this probably won't change your mind
4
Great
Download on the App Store