You won't want to walk away from Any Landing

The saying goes: "Any landing you walk away from is a good one," and that mindset is the backbone of Any Landing, a new action game from Strange Flavour. Your only goals are to get as far as possible without crashing your plane, and when you do eventually fall out of the sky, to crash as gently as possible. You are given only a button for throttle, a button for the brake and a prayer.

Any Landing starts you out with a simple aircraft and gives you a brief tutorial on the game's tilt-based controls and item gathering. From there, you're on your own, and the first few solo flights are definitely going to be shorter than you would expect. In my own experience, the first endeavor came to a close with a poorly timed dive to gain some speed, at which point my plane stalled and burst into flames. This is not unusual in Any Landing.

You see, the planes in Any Landing aren't exactly built with care -- or at least it would seem that way, given their tendency to belch fire. Using the engine button to boost your speed damages the engine, and once your engine is completely ruined, you have no way of preventing an eventual crash unless you pick up some in-air repair items.

Of course, not everything you find in your path is there to benefit you; there are flocks of birds and other obstacles, as well as bombs and planes from the nefarious "Evil Air" corporation. And whether it's on the first or last of the game's 32 levels, you're going to eventually succumb to the damage the world inflicts and have to hit the dirt.

Crashing in Any Landing is an art of its own, and there are many ways to approach it. Slamming into the ground at a steep angle will typically end in a Game Over, but if you can manage to slow your aircraft and slide into the terrain in a less-destructive manner, your crew and passengers will walk away unscathed.

It's also worth mentioning Any Landing's in-app purchase system, which I detailed in a separate article. The game allows you to purchase in-app currency called "Wings," which can be used to purchase upgrades and repairs. The twist is that each purchase you make pushes you closer to the US$9.99 "All You Can Eat" tier where you are given unlimited Wings permanently. It's a fantastic compromise for gamers who normally shy away from "pay to win" games, and I'm really hoping other developers adopt similar models.

Any Landing is free to play, and it's both a refreshing alternative to the "runner" genre and an example of a fantastic microtransaction model. Give it a shot.