Sky Force

Sky Force from Infinite Dreams isn't a new game by any means. I remember playing it several years ago on my Windows Pocket PC. So when I saw they had ported it over to the Droid I was quite happy. I immediately downloaded a copy and it plays just as well as it did back then. Sky Force is a great mobile game.

But first, Sky Force is a vertical scrolling shoot 'em up. You control a ship and have to frantically blast away the enemy defenses as you infiltrate. Along the way you'll earn power-ups and have to capture stars for bonus points, but don't expect the enemy to wait for you to do so. There's always more on the way. The game features 3 difficulty levels and 8 stages (or levels) to work your way through. Completing a level means destroying a specific amount of the enemy's defenses. Control can be via either the accelerometer or touch screen and I've preferred the touch screen. The graphics are sharp and the audio and sound track and great.

The vertical scroller genre of games which started with Xevious back in the early 80s is an interesting shooter variant that can make for a great game. Too often though I find the games either play way too slow (shoot bad guy... wait for next bad guy... shoot it... wait some more...) or way too fast as the bullets and missiles spray and I haven't a prayer's chance of survival. Hitting it right in the middle where the action is frantic, but not invincible is a developer's challenge and Sky Force does it just right.

Some of the comments I've read state correctly that this is a port of a game from 2005 and it hasn't been upgraded. True. So is Pac Man. That doesn't mean it's not fun and not a worthwhile addition to a game library. Sky Force is a blast to play (no pun intended) and I'm glad to see another esteemed mobile developer support the Droid (and I'm sorry, but this game is specifically for the Droid). So if vertical scrollers are up your alley and you have a Droid pick this one up... you won't be sorry.