Review: Sky Force

Score:
88%

Author: Infinite Dreams

Version Reviewed: 1.22

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Ah now that’s more like it! There are times when going 3D is not the way forward, and Sky Force is a perfect example of this. Series 60 has a vertically orientated screen, a relatively small number of pixels (compared to the PSPs and Gameboys of the world), and any game should use these as features, not restrictions. Also, they should be suitable for a quick burst of play, as well as being able to hold attention for up to fifteen minutes if required. Sky Force ticks all of these boxes with ease.

What we have here, debuting on S60 v3 (yes I know Steve, I can never get the terminology right – shoot me - IT'S "S60 3RD EDITION AND YOU KNOW IT"- Ed, challenging Ewan to a Google Fight), is a classic vertical scrolling shoot-em-up. And, put simply, Infinite Dreams (the team behind Sky Force) have put together something that wouldn’t look out of place in the dark corners of a University Common Room. In Sky Force, you take the controls of a combat aircraft and your mission is to fly through some mighty dangerous territory, rescuing soldiers (by flying over them) and clearing away as many enemies as possible.

Summary… You’ve got to shoot as many things as you can.

  

Now this sounds remarkably like Destiny, which I reviewed at the start of this week, but there are a number of key differences which lead to me to choose Sky Force as a better game. Firstly, Sky Force has a top down viewpoint. This means that enemy ships, terrain and guns on the surface do not have to be 'shrunk' to appear in the distance – they simply move down the screen. This means that a lot more detail can be placed into the same area, and the developers have made sure that there is a good contrast between the different elements as you fly round a very busy screen. And it gets very busy.

But there’s no dropping of frame rate here, everything stays at a speed marked 'slightly too fast for mortals', which makes for a great arcade game. Bullets are clearly viewable, and you can fly around them. Just.  All in all, Sky Force is very reminiscent of games like '1943' and is all the better for it. 

Sky Force features a choice of skill levels, from ‘Regular player’ to ‘Ninja’ and ‘God.’ Except the developers call them 'Easy', 'Medium', and 'Hard'. Nice to see they provide a definition as you choose the skill level (it’s all to do with % of death required for a successful level, and the aggressiveness of the opponents). The other option that affects the gameplay is that you can choose which aircraft you can fly. The super-fast one has very little armour, while the one with tank like protection flies, well, like a tank. There’s an all rounder with average armour and speed, but you’re technique is going to have to adjust itself very slightly depending on your choice of craft.

Finally, having an autofire option, while being something of a culture shock to veterans like me, makes Sky Force a lot easier to play on devices with awkward key layouts – the sunken keys on the N91 aren’t particularly accessible for a bit of button mashing, for example.

Let’s be honest, I’m a sucker for games like this. Give me a halfway decent arcade shooter and I’m happy. Give me something as polished as Sky Force, and I’m going to slap a score of 88 on it and recommend it to anyone who has any interest in a classic game. It’s that good.

Reviewed by Steve Litchfield at 10:12 UTC, July 26th 2006