![]() ![]() See, you can buy an energy shield which costs stars, then upgrade it which also costs stars, but then to use it within a level you also have to spend stats charging it up. This is also the biggest problem I have with the game – literally everything costs stars, most notab ly the power-ups. Herein lies the main gameplay loop of Sky Force Anniversary – replaying levels to collect stars to buy upgrades, which in turn makes you more prepared for the next (more difficult level), which quickly balloons into a constant grind. ![]() To counteract the ever increasing odds, you can spend the stars dropped by downed enemies on upgrades – simple things like health upgrades to more elaborate things like lasers or a magnet that pulls in stars. Once you’ve done everything in one level you’ll unlock a harder difficulty (with new medals), which throws more foes at you which fire more often and have more health, requiring even more skill to beat. These tend to be things like destroying a certain percentage of enemies or making it to the end without being damaged so they’re no easy feat, require solid reflexes and plenty of skill to achieve. Progression forward is gated – to unlock the next level you’ll have to obtain a certain number of medals, which are awarded for completing tasks in the previous area. The goal of each level is to reach the end and beat the boss, which is made more difficult by the variety of foes you’ll come across – which range from other planes, to tanks, boats and stationary turrets, each of which requires a different strategy to take down. You have access to a front shot and can eventually unlock a missile, laser, shield and mega bomb which are upgraded using the aforementioned stars. The scrolling here felt a little slower than some other games I’ve played which isn’t a major issue, but took a little getting used to. ![]() There’s plenty to do in each level, requiring quick thinking and reactions in order to choose the best course of action. Along the way you’ll shoot down other ships (and collect the stars they drop), destroy crates and collect the loot as well as rescue humans (by hovering over them and lowering a rope, which takes a few seconds). You play as a little ship, scrolling from the bottom of the screen to the top as waves of enemies come at you – very traditional. There’s some very minor voice acting here as well as some background music – nothing special, but it gets the job done.Ī shoot ‘em up in the vein of Capcom’s 19XX series, Sky Force Anniversary does nothing to innovate the genre but it does provide a solid, polished experience that is worth checking out. The water effects in particular I thought were gorgeous (which is probably why the game uses them so much) but in general this just felt like a modern graphical take on the classic scrolling shoot ‘em ups, which I really liked. What is more impressive here is the backgrounds – which are filled with dense green jungles, beautiful glistening blue oceans and industrial factories just waiting to be fired upon. The one positive is that the developers have ensured these basic elements keep performance solid – I suffered a few minor framerate drops but 99% of the time everything was perfectly playable. Enemies are a similar mix of basic military planes and tanks, but as things go on you will come across more interesting things like submarines and gigantic warships. So you pilot a little nondescript red ship that fires all sorts of missiles and lasers, which aren’t particularly flashy but get the job done. Surprisingly, Sky Force Anniversary is a fairly visually stunning game on Vita that makes the most of its basic premise to create some gorgeous environments, even if repetition sets in a bit too quickly. The world isn’t really explored either but that’s okay – the title instead focuses on gameplay, which works very well for it. Which is pretty much all you’re given in terms of plot – other than this setup there’s no story, characters or narrative. In Sky Force Anniversary, you play as a pilot tasked with taking down the evil General Mantis. ![]()
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