Review: SkyForce for Series 80
Score:
79%
Version Reviewed: 1.21
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SkyForce has been around for a few years, first on Series 60, then UIQ. But we've never reviewed it on AAS and there's never been a version for Series 80, the interface behind the rather game-deprived Nokia 9300/9500. Until now. Due, apparently, to popular demand, Infinite Dreams have ported their shoot-em-up to Series 80, despite the landscape wide-screen being totally unsuitable for a vertically scrolling arcade game. Their solution, as shown below, was to present the game sideways, so that you have to hold your Communicator on its end in order to play. Have a look at the screenshots:
There has clearly been only a nominal port of the game to Series 80, with half of the screen not used at all, perhaps because the size of the gaming market for Series 80 wasn't thought large enough to warrant extra development effort. Having said that, I have to say that the gameplay is surprisingly addictive and I've been having a lot of fun reviewing it. The enjoyment of shoot-em-ups is in the frantic action, the explosions, the hard-to-beat gameplay, and SkyForce has all these in spades.
The presence of three difficulty levels and three different types of ship (safe, normal and fast-but-vulnerable) bodes well, ensuring that however fast (or slow) your reflexes, you'll find a SkyForce level that challenges you and yet lets you progress from level to level. Each part of the game is set over a different gorgeously drawn bitmapped terrain, with psuedo-3D effects, including shadows and weather (rain/sleet, etc). The exact storyline is fairly irrelevant, so there's no need to dwell on the mismatch of WWII aircraft/ships and spaceship-like blaster bolts and force fields, all you've got to remember is to shoot everything in sight, dodge the blue missiles, collect the stars, rescue the humans, destroy the level bosses, catch the power-ups, er... well, that's quite a lot, really. The action in SkyForce is fast and frantic and in trying to take the screenshots above I had to trust to luck that nothing untoward would happen in the vital 1 second while my hands were reaching for the usual Symbian screenshot key combination.
Mission objectives for each level vary, but collecting a certain percentage of stars is always there or thereabouts. It's easier said than done though, trying to spot and collect most stars while being shot at from all directions. Rescuing humans is also an objective, although this is even harder as you end up shooting them inadvertently before you get close enough to pick them up. Having to manually press a key to keep firing would be a real pain in this intense battle action, and thankfully the default is for your ship to auto-fire.
The graphics (despite not using all the 640 pixel screen) are terrifically impressive throughout, the sound effects and music atmospheric (both can be individually adjusted) and the gameplay faultless. When playing this title, expect total absorption in what you're doing. SkyForce on Series 80 isn't a perfect implementation, but it's about as much fun as I've had on my Communicator in an awfully long time.
As you may have gathered, the Series 80 version is the last to appear. If you own a Series 60 or 90 or UIQ smartphone, there's also a version for you. Highly recommended.
Reviewed by Steve Litchfield at