Feeling like a mobile game is a statement that I’ve had to use a few times when reviewing games for ICXM. Lost Sea, Kick & Fennick, and even Coffin Dodgers to a degree all felt like games that would be more enjoyable in small bursts on a mobile device. But feeling more suited to a mobile device, while not particularly what you want from a console experience, isn’t inherently a bad thing although the experience of a mobile-esque title does bring with it some problems for a console system.
Land It does feel like a mobile game, it’s evident from the very start. Menus are simplistic and each level is a very short ordeal with an Angry Birds out-of-three-stars rating system at the end of each stage. Each stage is very short and consists of you controlling some planes from a top-down perspective with the player only needing to change the speed and direction to either land the plane (as the title would suggest) or send a plane off to its destination.
As an air traffic control simulator, Land It is also incredibly simplistic. As I previously noted, you are only ever asked to change speed and direction of which the two only slightly affect each other. Apart from that, you need to make sure that planes don’t crash into each other or the scenery and you’ll be fine. Early stages are a cakewalk and only really last about half a minute, although, later stages can be quite tricky due to the amount of planes you’ll be switching between, a task that the game likes to make particularly difficult for Xbox One players.
In later stages, to get the most amount of stars, you’ll want to get as many planes to their destination as quickly as possible. This involves quickly switching between each plane to correct their course when you notice you actually sent two planes on a path that will lead them straight into each other. . . or a cliff. Not only do Nemesys Games make this difficult due to the slightly large circular hitboxes surrounding each plane but switching from plane to plane is not easy. If this was indeed a mobile title, switching from plane to plane could be accomplished by simply tapping the plane you wish to control. Instead, switching is placed on the right stick where you have to move the stick in the direction of the plane you wish to switch to. Simple? Nah. Every flick of the stick always, and I mean always, switches to whatever plane it feels like, and while you can switch to the nearest plane on your left or right by pressing the bumper buttons, that method is far too slow when playing later levels or later stages of the game’s endless mode.
Graphically, apart from the flatulent little explosions that are made whenever you crash a plane, Land It is actually quite nice. Each environment is made up of a nice-enough voxel style with very vibrant and clear visuals, even if they are very simplistic. The in-game UI is minimal but does its job of conveying whether the plane needs to take off or if the plane is about to fly out of bounds. While the visual fidelity isn’t mind-blowing in any capacity, it is clear and pleasing to the eye. This low-poly style also means that Land It stays at a steady frame rate with zero drops which is, frankly, to be expected.
Sadly, the area where the game is extremely lacking is in the form of content. For £11.19/$13.99 all Land It gives you is 27 quick stages and three environments to play endless mode. For that price, which is only a few bucks off the price of Inside and only a dollar off the price of The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth and Shovel Knight, there is very little about Land It that is enticing at all for the average consumer unless they own every single game on the Xbox One and are looking for something new to pick up. And I really do mean it, every single other game on Xbox One.
On top of this, audio bugs are frequent and restarting a stage when a sound clip is playing often leads to the game playing that sound clip on loop which is especially annoying when it starts looping the out-of-bounds sound until you quit the level. Issues with menus are often present as the option you have highlighted is nearly the exact same color as the one you don’t which is an infuriating experience when each option randomly decides which one is highlighted by default. I’m surprised this game got made at all when there’s someone on the development team who can’t convey which option is highlighted on the damn pause menu.
Summary
Land It is not a bad game, it’s an incredibly average game that is more suited to a phone or tablet than it is on a console. It’s also overpriced with many better, more interesting and less mobile-esque titles being available for a dollar more. If for some reason Land It looks like a game that interests you, get a mobile phone and download one of the many other free alternatives that are available for that device.
Lewis is a games journalist, freelance gaming and consumer-tech journalist. They contributed 344 articles to ICXM between 2015–2017, focused on opinion pieces, game reviews, Windows and PC, and Xbox news: has since served as Editor-in-Chief at StealthOptional and Gaming Editor at MSPoweruser, with bylines at Gfinity Esports and FRVR.