Sky Revolver Review

Sky Revolver puts players in the virtual boots of the last remaining fighter in the war against the Empire. It’s up to you to save humanity. Gear up and breakthrough the multitude waves of enemy ships to reach the fleet’s command and destroy it.

Sky Revolver is a top down vertical shoot’em up, or shump, where players need to use their skill and reflexes to destroy every enemy and their skillfully dodge every projectiles coming your way. The first thing you’ll notice that differentiates it from most shumps is the auto fire. You default weapon shoots automatically, meaning you can focus on moving to align your shots and dodge projectiles.

As with other games of the genre, you’ll also be able to find temporary power ups such as lasers and stronger weaponry. They will expire after a while, so use them wisely and efficiently. Your ship is also equipped with rockets and a shield. The rockets allows you to shoot a barrage of heat-seeking missiles for a bit of extra support whereas the shield can protect your temporarily from enemy bullets. However both have a cooldown period, so you cannot use them at will.

As you progress through levels, you’ll also come across your own base where you can pick up additional perks such as extra lives (yes, one hit death), extra rockets, temporary invincibility; among others. Once you purchase them, simply press Y to access your inventory to use whichever perk you picked up; except for extra lives or rockets. You’ll spawn automatically with temporary invincibility giving you a chance to breath.

Sky Revolver looks great as a whole. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel in terms of visuals; it’s a space shooter. There’s a decent variety of enemies and also boss battles are quite challenging and overall well thought-out. You’ll either fight directly in space or above ground. The soundtrack is a generic mash up of rock and electronic music; it’s fine. It does what’s supposed to, but let’s just say you won’t be humming it when not playing.

There’s nothing wrong with Sky Revolver per se, but more with the genre itself. By that I mean, the shmup is a hard genre to get into; and if you look away for half a second or don’t pay attention for the blink of an eye, it’s easy to get killed by a bullet that seemingly comes out of nowhere; booting your butt back at the level selection screen unless you purchased extra lives. Also some enemies mesh with the background, so it’s easy to miss them before it’s too late. Also, unlike most shump, this one has 50 levels; given its repetitive nature, it does feel a bit too long.

Sky Revolver is one of the best shmup I’ve played in recent memory. Short levels perfect for short bursts game time, decent variety of power-ups, pick ups and purchasable, and highly challenging boss fights. But as with any shmups, it’s easy to die due to lost bullets not helped by some enemies getting lost in the background. Whether you’re a long time fan of the genre or looking to give it your first shot, Sky Revolver is highly recommended.