Reach for the Sky review – A fun and free ballooning game for Windows Phone

Concluding year Windows Phone Primal's "Gorgeous" George Ponder reviewed an indie game about hot air ballooning called Reach for the Sky. Information technology came from Copenhagen-based indie developer Aemto and utilized a charging pixel art style. Sadly, that game is no longer available on the Windows Phone Store (per the developer's decision). From the ashes of the showtime Reach for the Sky comes a new Attain for the Sky sharing the same title.

Although the name has not changed, the new game is essentially a sequel. Reach for the Heaven (2014) is nevertheless all well-nigh climbing the screen in a hot air balloon, only the visuals and gameplay take inverse quite a bit. It still features a lyrical theme song from these guys that sounds tricky at offset but becomes maddening before as well long. Information technology'southward completely free (with unobtrusive ads), uniform with phones with 512 MB of RAM, and only takes upward 4 MB of storage. Just be sure you switch the controls to "Tap" earlier playing…

Reach around (your telephone)

Reach for the Sky plays a flake like Doodle Spring and other countless jumping games in that players concur the screen vertically and try to climb every bit high as possible, getting the best score they tin can along the fashion. But this game does not offer tilt controls (which we'll talk over in a bit), and at that place are no platforms to jump on. Balloons don't so much hop around as fly, after all.

You lot can move the hot air airship left or right at will, simply not up or down. Reach's unique mechanic involves hot air. The airship is constantly losing the hot stuff. It will sink off-screen if it runs out, ending the game.

Grabbing some of the orange hot air drops that constantly fall from the top of the screen will put some life back into the balloon, causing information technology to rise on-screen. But rise too high and y'all won't be able to run into the obstacles that approach, such as birds and helicopters. This creates an interesting gamble-reward mechanic. To take hold of or not to grab? It's oftentimes harder to avert the hot air than non, though. If only we had a push button to let some steam out.

Diamonds also fall from the sky in abundance. Grab them to heave your score. The more than of these you collect in a row, the college your combo multiplier climbs. Miss one and the multiplier resets. The philharmonic mechanic is actually pretty fun; I like seeing how loftier I can get my starting combo. Shame the game doesn't track the player'southward maximum philharmonic or other stats.

To infinity and beyond

Different most endless jumping games, Reach has a definite ending. The higher you get, the more the background and enemies change. You'll first encounter mortiferous ducks (whose hitboxes are too big), and then tangle with dangerous helicopters. Soon jets enter the scene, first harmlessly flying up in the groundwork and then descending forth the same path in the foreground.

To accomplish the cease of the game, you have to stay alive until the vocal ends. I haven't managed to get there yet considering things become really tough once your balloon soars into space. Asteroids start falling like crazy. They move pretty quickly, not giving players much time to react.

I'k also not quite sure how close the space section is to the end because I turn the vocal off to preserve my sanity. You can only hear someone wail "Accomplish for the Sky" and something unintelligible that sounds like "I hate the Jimmy grind, Jimmy grind" so long before information technology erodes at your very soul. The game could use an instrumental track, and maybe let usa choose between i or the other or alternating between them.

Navigating the deadly skies

The default control style for Reach for the Sky is "Swipe." Unfortunately, swiping is super awful and slow. This is a game that requires fast left and right movement, not measured swipes. Really, can you retrieve of any Doodle Jump-manner games that use swipe controls? They all use tilt, which makes the lack of tilt here conspicuous.

Then again, Reach for the Sky does offer a command style that's more precise than tilting could ever be: Tap! Afterwards switching to Tap, you just accept to hit the left or correct side of the screen to move in that direction. It's fast and authentic, similar you'd want.

But put, Tap needs to be the default command style. A swiping style in which you put your finger down once and merely drag left and right constantly to movement would work okay. But the swipe controls just aren't there however.

Room to ascension

Once you get the controls set properly, Reach for the Sky really picks upwards. I similar that players tin aim for score or distance, and the latter actually ways something since the game eventually ends. But Reach for the Heaven could withal use some side objectives, be they Jetpack Joyride-style missions or achievements. The original game had its ain achievements, then why not this one?

The game tracks the player'south high score and most contempo score. Just you have to visit the "Hi Score" screen from the main menu to see them. High scores are more compelling if displayed during gameplay or at least at the finish of the game. And the "Hi Score" screen displays the "World tape" score, but it doesn't take a existent leaderboard. World record is ameliorate than cypher, simply every score-intensive game needs a proper leaderboard.

Two other things the game needs: more sound effects and more humor. The audio effects for collecting diamonds work very well, their pitch rise as the combo grows. But there are no other sound furnishings. No sound when yous striking a bird, no sound when you run out of hot air.

Also just being a basic matter that every game needs, sounds for these events are likewise a great risk to inject some levity. Make the duck audio beautiful, make the hot air sound like a airship deflating. Make united states smile even though we just died. I wouldn't mind passing some silly things in the background (and fifty-fifty other ballooners) every at present and so, either.

Finally, Reach for the Sky needs a intermission menu. Pressing the Back button during gameplay takes y'all direct to the championship screen with no confirmation. What if we just want to accept a interruption and resume later on?

Free and fair

It's refreshing to play a gratuitous game that does not endure from obtrusive in-app purchases or free energy mechanics. Reach for the Sky has ads on the title, Options, and Hi Score screens – simply nowhere else.

Reach might not be all that circuitous, but its mechanics are really fairly unique and fun. The fine art style is also pretty unusual, relying on assuming, large polygons instead of a manus drawn look.

Hopefully Aemto swaps the default controls (which would probably brand a large deviation in Store ratings) and continues polishing the game. That's how yous reach for the sky, by making your game the best it possibly can exist. A Windows viii and RT version would exist great as well.

• Reach for the Sky – Windows Telephone eight – 4 MB – Gratis – Store Link

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Source: https://www.windowscentral.com/reach-sky-2014-review

Posted by: patrickcluat2000.blogspot.com

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