

Jordan Minor from 148Apps criticised the game for its 'slippery controls' and he noted the environment was 'ugly, muddy and blocky'. The review was weighed down by the lack of tutorials and how 'getting pieces to fit together doesn't always go as planned'. Nadia Oxford, a writer for Gamezebo gave SimplePlanes a 4/5 for its realistic flight challenges, sandbox mode and the amount of building options. The biggest issue critics had was the process of building. SimplePlanes received 'mixed or average' reviews, according to Metacritic, where it garnered a score of 67/100. The challenges involve short tutorial-type activities (such as the 'take-off tutorial' and the 'landing tutorial') but can get more advanced with missions (such as 'SAM Evasion' (a 4 stage level which gets increasingly difficult) and 'Trench Run' (a race through a canyon-like area on the game map) > There are also weapons (bombs, wing guns and miniguns, missiles, rockets and torpedoes) in the game for the player to use on their creations. SimplePlanes contains challenges which the player can do.

The game also gives players the ability to build cars, boats, trains and mechanical objects. Each island has a unique name, such as Maywar, Krakabola, Snowstone or Wright. The five islands each provide a different experience to the player, with interactive targets. When the creation or build is finished, the player can fly/drive/sail it around the map which contains 5 different islands with unique features, (4 on IOS or Android) and/or upload it to the SimplePlanes website. Planes (or other creations) created by the community can also be downloaded from the website. In SimplePlanes the player is given the freedom of building anything they want to create using the materials and objects provided, and players can additionally use XML modifications on their creation.
