Amber’s Airline: High Hopes – Review

The Snuggford Community welcomes its newest member, Amber, an aspiring flight attendant with the heart of gold. Guide Amber through intense exams on her way to become a full-time air hostess, complicated relationships, and daily challenges in Amber’s Airline: High Hopes.

Ever since Gamehouse announced the development of this game, we have been counting down the days until the release. Perhaps to some people’s surprise, one of our personal favorite Time Management games is 2008’s First Class Flurry – we indeed have a soft spot for airline-related Time Management game. To our disappointment, we were not as invested in Amber’s Airline: High Hopes as we had hoped. While the dialogue-heavy storytelling style of the Gamehouse Original Stories franchise still works to some extent, we could not get ourselves invested in Amber’s life and ridiculous day-to-day obstacles. There is also something about the lifelike animation of the characters that was first introduced in the latest Sally’s Salon that we find overly cheesy and are simply not a fan of.

Still, Amber’s Airline: High Hopes somewhat makes up for the sub-par storyline with a smart gameplay. Amber’s Airline borrows all the core game mechanics from its sister series, so Gamehouse fans should find it quite easy to get started. However, with the addition of clever airline-related tasks and a surprisingly high level of challenge, Amber’s Airline is still very enjoyable to play. Also, in contrary to our expectations, the majority of Amber’s Airline actually plays out on the ground as you help Amber works her way through check-in counter, airport security, VIP lounge and more. Since this is the only the introduction to Amber’s Airline, it is understandable that Amber only gets to spend so little time on the actual plane, but we would certainly hope to see more in-flight actions in future sequels because that is where the real fun happens!

Apart from the distracting animations and cutscenes previously mentioned, Amber’s Airline: High Hopes is a pleasant visual feat. The bright colors and upbeat music are suitable for the lively tone of the games, and the sharp quality of the graphics is impressive. Amber’s Airline: High Hopes features 60 story levels, 30 bonus challenge levels, a diary that can be decorated, achievements, and the expected hidden mouse. Weirdly, the game does not offer multiple difficult modes.

Amber’s Airline: High Hope is far from perfect, but promises better-executed sequels.