Sky Gunner (PlayStation 2)

CNET editors' rating: 3.5 stars Very good
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Overall score: 7.2 (3.5 stars)
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Gamespot editors' review

• Reviewed by: Miguel Lopez
• Reviewed on: 06/19/2002
• Updated on:05/17/2006
• Released on: 06/24/2002

Sky Gunner is another example of Sony balking at a North American release of a strong game from overseas. Originally released by Sony Japan last year, Sky Gunner is a 3D flight action game featuring a cleverly stylized world and gameplay that's a modern reinterpretation of the frantic play style of classic 2D shooters. Though its visual style is soft and often flowery, the pace of the action is maddening and intense. You'll frequently fight not only throngs of small enemy fighters, but also larger, hulking warships, and you'll often fight them in huge numbers, though this is where the game starts to show its seams. During particularly intense moments, the game exhibits some pretty crippling levels of slowdown. And though some technical concessions were made to help deal with this, these problems still hurt the game. Nevertheless, it's good that Atlus picked this one up for US release, because it's got a lot going for it.

Sky Gunner's setting and story are clever and well conceived and do much to engross you in the world and endear you to its characters. The story is also told in very interesting ways--the cutscenes combine the real-time 3D graphics engine with some 2D art to great effect. The story itself focuses on the quiet, idyllic island town of Rive, whose inhabitants hold a yearly exposition to celebrate their level of cultural and mechanical achievement. But at one such expo, terror strikes--an evil genius named Ventre is aiming to steal the centerpiece of the event, the Eternal Engine. It's a sort of perpetual-motion machine, and it's very valuable. Ventre attacks with fighters and warships, and it's up to you, in the role of one of two expert flying mercenaries called gunners, to stop him.

These gunners are nowhere near as menacing as they sound, though. They're actually superdeformed, with big heads and big eyes, and adolescent, though they each have unique abilities as well as unique airships that make them formidable and distinct. You start out being able to play as Ciel and Femme, a male and female pair, with their other partner, Copain, unlockable when you play through the game and meet specific requirements. Each character has his or her own distinct scenarios throughout the game's five scenes (with several missions composing each), so playing it through more than once will give you somewhat of a different experience, though the game itself is relatively short.

Depending on which control scheme you select at the game's outset, Sky Gunner can be either simple to pick up and play or difficult to come to grips with. Choosing the basic control scheme, which is akin to choosing a similar mode in a game like Ace Combat, will allow you to control all of your plane's movements with the left stick. Most players will get more out of this control setup, as the alternative--the expert mode--is tricky, though considerably deeper. The expert mode maps pitch and roll controls to the analog sticks, with the shoulder buttons controlling your yaw. In other words, it makes the game play like a console combat flight sim. And though you can perform some trickier moves with this mode if you get the hang of it, it's also extremely sensitive, which makes it frustrating at times, especially at first. Regardless of which setup you use, you'll notice several unique things about Sky Gunner's gameplay systems. First off is the camera, which has been pulled off quite well. Essentially, it'll always point in the direction of the enemy or group of enemies that you have targeted, regardless of your own bearing. So in practice, you'll frequently see the front of your plane, speeding away from groups of enemies. This works out pretty well, especially with the basic control scheme. In the expert mode, it sometimes gets confusing to remember to adjust your yaw in the opposite direction to turn, but it eventually sinks in.

The camera system does a lot to facilitate the game's various homages to 2D shooters. Specifically, the chain combos that you can execute on enemies wouldn't be quite as feasible if the game's camera weren't so focused on your targets. The concept is simple: You basically get more points the larger the group of enemies that you destroy. Certain enemies will cause chain reactions when they explode in the vicinity of other enemies, and there are special weapons at your disposal that let you destroy many enemies at once. You rack up big points either way.

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Sky Gunner (PlayStation 2): $74.95

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