Bandango
11-28-2010, 09:50 PM
My PC is officially fubar. Until such time as I can fix it, I’m reduced to my humble, trusty netbook. Good thing indie games are totally cool with that, though. They’re like, "Hey, Mike. It’s cool that your PC shit the bed and that your netbook sucks. We don’t even need fancy specs to run. You can play us for free on your broke-ass system and we’re still totally sweet. Don’t worry about it. We’ve got you covered.”
So I’m like, “Sure, Indie games,” and downloaded Sky Scream.
http://flexapic.com/g.ashx?id=5460
Sky Scream is a minute experience that lasts no more than a quarter of an hour. It almost feels more like a working prototype than a full blown game. What it offers, though, is interesting enough to merit mention. You control a blue haired valkyrie (I say valkyrie simply because the main character is a warrior chick flying through the air) who must freefall to the surface of a future Earth that is overrun by, of course, evil robots. This freefall essentially mashes together the mechanics of a vertical shmup with those of a 360° shooter like Robotron. It’s an interesting mix, though not exactly a revolutionary one.
http://flexapic.com/g.ashx?id=5458
In a minor reversal of vertical shooter convention, your blue haired valkyrie is (because she is falling) oriented at the top of the screen, while enemies approach from the bottom. These enemies are standard fare: benign objects that float by and must be blasted; hostile thingermabobs that shoot lasers; slightly more hostile thingermabobs that fire homing missiles. These hostile thingermabobs look nice enough, and, most importantly, explode when you shoot them. As you might expect, these minor enemies are precursors to larger, slightly more challenging ones, which come in the form of a miniboss and a suitably frustrating end boss. You’ll have them beat after half a dozen tries, if that. The whole of Sky Scream is basically equal to one level of a shmup, so I feel confident in describing the whole exercise as concentrated.
Sounds pretty underwhelming so far, yes? Well, perhaps it is. But, even if you beat it in a few minutes and have an okay time, blowing things up is fun, right? You move with WASD and aim with the mouse; place the reticle over the spot you want to shoot, and your character will direct her fire there as she moves around the screen, orbiting the target in a sense. For some reason I thought this aiming mechanic was something new, but Eric (Ravenlock) reminded that it most certainly is not, and that I should get out more.
http://flexapic.com/g.ashx?id=5456
Besides this aiming mechanic which is unexceptional in every way, and the semi-hallucinatory psychedelic sky backdrop, Sky Scream doesn’t have too much else going for it. But, I liked it. I came, I saw, and I conquered, and it only took a few minutes. It's probably worth a few of yours as well.
Sky Scream is:
a jaunt.
a shmup booster shot.
an excuse for me to say, 'I scream, you scream, we all scream for Sky Scream.'
Windows only download, get it here:
http://gamejolt.com/freeware/games/sky-scream/files/sky-scream/download/3965/5155/
So I’m like, “Sure, Indie games,” and downloaded Sky Scream.
http://flexapic.com/g.ashx?id=5460
Sky Scream is a minute experience that lasts no more than a quarter of an hour. It almost feels more like a working prototype than a full blown game. What it offers, though, is interesting enough to merit mention. You control a blue haired valkyrie (I say valkyrie simply because the main character is a warrior chick flying through the air) who must freefall to the surface of a future Earth that is overrun by, of course, evil robots. This freefall essentially mashes together the mechanics of a vertical shmup with those of a 360° shooter like Robotron. It’s an interesting mix, though not exactly a revolutionary one.
http://flexapic.com/g.ashx?id=5458
In a minor reversal of vertical shooter convention, your blue haired valkyrie is (because she is falling) oriented at the top of the screen, while enemies approach from the bottom. These enemies are standard fare: benign objects that float by and must be blasted; hostile thingermabobs that shoot lasers; slightly more hostile thingermabobs that fire homing missiles. These hostile thingermabobs look nice enough, and, most importantly, explode when you shoot them. As you might expect, these minor enemies are precursors to larger, slightly more challenging ones, which come in the form of a miniboss and a suitably frustrating end boss. You’ll have them beat after half a dozen tries, if that. The whole of Sky Scream is basically equal to one level of a shmup, so I feel confident in describing the whole exercise as concentrated.
Sounds pretty underwhelming so far, yes? Well, perhaps it is. But, even if you beat it in a few minutes and have an okay time, blowing things up is fun, right? You move with WASD and aim with the mouse; place the reticle over the spot you want to shoot, and your character will direct her fire there as she moves around the screen, orbiting the target in a sense. For some reason I thought this aiming mechanic was something new, but Eric (Ravenlock) reminded that it most certainly is not, and that I should get out more.
http://flexapic.com/g.ashx?id=5456
Besides this aiming mechanic which is unexceptional in every way, and the semi-hallucinatory psychedelic sky backdrop, Sky Scream doesn’t have too much else going for it. But, I liked it. I came, I saw, and I conquered, and it only took a few minutes. It's probably worth a few of yours as well.
Sky Scream is:
a jaunt.
a shmup booster shot.
an excuse for me to say, 'I scream, you scream, we all scream for Sky Scream.'
Windows only download, get it here:
http://gamejolt.com/freeware/games/sky-scream/files/sky-scream/download/3965/5155/