Review written by David Horn

I am in the somewhat unique position among mobile gamers in that I never played the original Sky Force on the Pocket PC. “What's so special about it?”, I thought – you fly, you shoot. What then, would I make of Sky Force: Reloaded, the sequel to Sky Force featuring “more levels, more music and more action”?

The premise of Sky Force: Reloaded is simple. It's your classic top-down arcade shooter where the player takes control of a small fighter craft and, with a few exceptions, shoots anything that moves. If you've never played this genre of game before, your enemies come at you in waves, regularly interspersed with boss characters whose defeat is essential to progression.

Graphics:

Graphically, Sky Force: Reloaded is stunning. Every level is drawn with painstaking care and you won't find anything that doesn't look top notch. Most levels include some sort of 3D structures and while you fly over the top of them (and not through them), they go a long way to making you feel involved in the game world. Even the explosions are cool. The whole game screams quality.

When the game is launched for the first time your Pocket PC is benchmarked, and I'm guessing that the standard of graphics that you'll see are based on the result. I played on a Dell Axim X51v and the graphics were buttery smooth. Unfortunately, there's no VGA enhanced version, but given the relative scarcity of VGA Pocket PCs, this can probably be overlooked.

Gameplay:

Sky Force: Reloaded doesn't disappoint in the gameplay department. Three difficulty levels determine the aggressiveness of enemies and how much of the level needs to be destroyed in order to move on. In terms of overall difficulty, I found it fairly difficult – that doesn't say much, however, as I can be easily defeated by Pong. The first level serves well as an introduction, not presenting too much of a challenge and gradually introducing enemies and tactics.

Autofire is helpful, and the game will also switch to more powerful weapons as and when you pick them up. The disadvantage, of course, with autofire is collateral damage - it's particularly easy to hit the humans scattered around the levels that you're supposed to rescue. This doesn't appear to have any effect on progress through the game, however.

You can't just blaze your way through the levels; an element of strategy is required and I struck a careful balance between targeting enemies, grabbing power-ups and stars, and running for cover. If you do die during the game, you helpfully respawn where you left off surrounded by the power-ups you lost.

Sound:

The music and sound effects in Sky Force: Reloaded are pretty good. There only appears to be the one background track but it changes when you encounter boss characters, and it doesn't get annoying to listen to. Everything seems to have a sound effect: from picking off a tank to rescuing a hostage (“Yippee!”).

Pros:

• Stunning graphics

• Fantastic gameplay

• Insanely addictive

Cons:

• No VGA support

Conclusion:

It’s hard to explain why I’m so taken with Sky Force: Reloaded. Perhaps it’s because the game appeals to the part of me that enjoys mindless destruction, or perhaps it’s because it’s just so much fun to play. When it comes down to the wire, Sky Force: Reloaded is a simple game, but it’s been put together so well it’s difficult to find faults worth mentioning.

Sky Force: Reloaded is one of the most promising games to come to the Windows Mobile platform in years, and with the addition of VGA support it can only get better. Couple that with a great price and you can’t go wrong. Highly recommended!

Overall Score: 10/10

Many thanks to Infinite Dreams for providing us with our review copy.

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