I Wouldn't Consider It A Realistic Flight Simulator

Let’s talk about a flight combat game that isn’t historically based, SkyDrift. It’s a racing game, the sort where you can grab power-ups to help yourself or attack the other fliers. Mario Kart in the sky, or maybe Fatal Inertia except you fly close to the ground by choice. All the planes are prop planes, though they do have boosters, so there’s a certain resemblance in design to Crimson Skies. More than a couple of pusher-prop designs involved.

The game suffers a bit from lack of variety. There are only about a half-dozen different tracks, and 3 race modes: Power Race, which is the basic type, with power-ups. Speed, with no power-ups, but there are rings that boost speed if you fly through them. Survivor, which does have power-ups, but every 20 to 30 seconds whichever plane is in last place is eliminated. There are 7 levels of races (not counting the Tutorial), though Level 7 is a single race, which combines the other 3 modes into one. The game only has two planes available to start, and the others are unlocked by finishing in at least the top 3 on all races at a particular level. Except for the last plane, which requires winning an online match. I guess I won’t be getting that plane.

You get boost by flying close to the ground, performing barrel rolls, or destroying other planes. In a pinch, you can convert a power-up to boost, though how much you get depends on what position you’re in at the time, and doesn’t take into account how close you might actually be to first. If I’m in second place, I get the same amount whether I’m a half-second behind, or a dozen seconds behind. This is a problem, because on the higher levels, one plane has a tendency to somehow get out way ahead of the pack, and there’s basically no catching up. I should be grateful the game clearly doesn’t have the same elastic AI that drove me nuts with Burnout 3, but it’s frustrating as hell doing everything I can to catch them and making no headway, while all the other planes seem intent on killing me, rather than, you know, catching up to the guy in first place.

The planes are generally nicely varied in their strengths and weaknesses. I tend to favor the ones with the best combination of maneuverability and stability. There are certain planes that handle like rocks, and others that are too loose, where it’s easy to get out of control. I need something that can make the tight turns – because I don’t seem to handle those as well as the computer – but doesn’t set me twisting out of control (the Panther seems too responsive, for example). The planes are all very bright and colorful, and most of them tend to have contrails that are different colors. No, you can’t use the contrails as a smoke screen to make rivals crash into mountains. In the Speed races, it’s possible to break the speed of sound if you get through enough rings in a row. It’s not any big deal, outside the obvious fact it means you’re going fast in a race where that’s critical, but there is a nice distortion effect around the plane when you do it. I haven’t seen any evidence the sonic boom damages other planes nearby, which is just as well. I’d probably keep getting shoved into walls and hate the game for it.

One aspect of gameplay that bears mentioning is, there’s very little penalty for crashing or being killed. You respawn in seconds, with whatever power-ups and boost you had before. There are times I blow up a plane well ahead of me, and it respawns before I could catch up and pass it. Which seems ridiculous, but I’m sure it’s saved me in a few races. SkyDrift is fun for what it is, but a little limited in options.

Edit: I did want to add a few thoughts, after playing more over the last week. There's a certain amount of fun in the strategy element of it. What power-ups to go for will vary depending on where you're at. Missiles are not much good when in first, but mines, Shockwaves, and shields are. For the times when you're trying to catch up, there's a balance between trying to grab power-ups to use to attack the leader, and grabbing ones to convert to boost to make up ground. There are some places that are better than other to place mines, times where it's better to take the longer, safer route, things like that.

Maybe it's just my luck, but the computer-controlled planes seem very good at recognizing which power-up I'm going for, and cutting in front of me at the last second so there isn't time to alter course and grab a different one. It's really irritating, but fortunately, I'm playing a game where I'm allowed to shoot at them. You can't collide with other planes, though, which is probably for the best, or the Titan would be a real problem.