Review

SkyDrift

Downloadable games on consoles have taken off thanks to the inception of XBL, PSN, and Wii marketplace. A huge assortment of games ranging from first person shooters and platformers to puzzle games and varying action titles, all round out the selections nicely. Two genres lightly represented in the downloadable arena are the aerial combat and air plane racing game. Looking to appease both ends by combining the two is the new game SkyDrift. Developed by Digital Reality, SkyDrift hopes to bring all the fun elements of Mario Kart and take it to the skies, trying to find a place on gamers hard drives.

SkyDrift places heavy emphasis on arcade fun, with a variety of planes at your disposal. Featuring 8 planes each with their own unique attributes ranging from speed, acceleration, boost power, armor and maneuverability. Out of the 8 planes however only two are available with the remaining six being unlocked after certain criteria are met. Each craft feels noticeably different from the other, so making the right choice comes down to race style and preference. Further adding to the customization are 4 color schemes per plane giving you a little something extra. The game has 3 different race modes ranging from power races, speed races, and survivor. Power races involve various power-ups to give you an edge during races, while speed races have you driving through rings scattered throughout the courses giving you a slight boost in speed with each pass through rings. Lastly, survivor is a last man standing ordeal, eliminating the last place racer during each lap.

As I mentioned, Sky Drift has a couple of power-ups at your disposal to obliterate the competition during races, making each race highly enjoyable. Power-ups include missiles, shockwaves, shields, mines, machine guns, and health regeneration. During races you can carry two weapons at a time, and level up your current weapons by collecting the same power up you already have a second time. Upgrading can give you more missiles, longer shield duration and additional mines adding some offensive and defensive strategies during races. For single player enthusiast there’s a campaign mode, consisting of seven stages to put your skills to the test. Each stage has around 4 to 5 different race types that must be completed before moving on to the next one. Earlier stages are a breeze to complete, but around stage 4 the difficulty skyrockets, requiring every trick in the book to attain first place. SkyDrift comes with a total of 6 courses ranging from lush beach side scenery to dry, barren desert landscapes. Each course has unique obstacles and hazards from caves, hulls of ships and falling rocks giving you plenty to keep your eyes peeled for during fast and frantic races. None of the courses feel repetitive in design offering something different with each stage, keeping the overall experience from becoming dull.

As far as the actual flying is concerned the one aspect that ultimately determines your success on the courses regardless of what mode you are playing is boost management. There are a few ways to fill your boost meter, such as destroying other opponents, and hugging walls during turns and hovering just above the ground or water. While crushing the opposition is easy enough, it does however take a fair amount of finesse to maneuver the course to tightly hug walls and ground to recharge your boost to either propel you to the front or to maintain the lead.

Controls are tight and have a very natural feel when blazing through the multiple courses and avoiding enemies at every turn. The left and right analog sticks are used to maneuver your plane, while accelerating and decelerating are handled by R2 and L2 respectively. X controls boost, square fires weapons, circle uses any weapons equipped to convert it to your boost meter, while triangle selects between two weapons. The only customizable option is turning the pitch inversion on and off, unfortunately forcing you to adjust to the control scheme.

Graphics are bright and colorful with crisp, detailed textures. Effects such as snow, water, debris, and heat are handled nicely. Plane models look great and the framerate holds up well despite all the mayhem that happens on screen. One odd occurrence that does happen however is when dealing with the “boundaries” of the courses. Certain courses have invisible walls that when you fly towards the game automatically swings you back toward the track. This wouldn’t be too bad, but sometimes this adjustment can cause you to crash losing precious time and positioning during the race. Aside from this glitch, I was hard pressed in finding any other complaints with the physics and graphics engine.

In addition to single player Sky Drift also comes with online multiplayer allowing you to challenge up to 7 other players in any of the 3 race types offered in the game. Online races are extremely fun, with little to no lag giving you a much needed break from campaign affair. Overall SkyDrift is a very fun title and a must have addition to any fan of arcade racers looking for an out of the ordinary game.

Editor’s Note: The Deathmatch DLC (as well as a map pack) has been released for Skydrift.