Waxing poetic about nostalgia has always been pretty big in gaming, especially when it comes to indie titles. Created by fans of the ol’ golden days, perhaps because they played the classics as a kid, or for whatever other reason, it’s what drives those developers to create homages that feed on everyone’s love of the past. Sky Oceans: Wings for Hire is yet another one of those releases.
Developed by Octeto Studios from Chile and published by PQube, it’s an RPG that has you taking on the role of Glenn, a plucky soon-to-be flying ace as he picks up his missing (and presumed dead) father’s mantle as a freelancer of the skies. The premise, while not entirely original, has some steam going for it: the protagonist is very personable and charismatic, and its setting initially feels very evocative of a game I’m very fond of, Skies of Arcadia, a big plus in my book.
Surely, the game’s main draw are its colorful setting and cute cast of characters, and unique turn-based dogfighting combat, which show plenty of potential. But thanks to repetitiveness and overall lack of polish, it’s a game that only scrapes by the competition. Chief among the strikes going against it is one of its marquee features, ironically enough: the combat. Considering that it’s based on seemingly free movement that comes with flying, it’s very rigid and basic, without a whole lot of depth, not exactly what comes to mind when it comes to dogfighting, right?
There are only a limited amount of things that you can do while in the air during your turn, as in attacking and using abilities before the enemy gets their turn. If you happen to get damaged, you have to decide on healing yourself or trying to damage them enough to destroy your foes at the risk of the bullets coming your way and cutting your fight short. There’s no room for stopping and coming up with alternative strategies since bogeys tend to take away a lot of your hit points, resulting in a seemingly endless game of tug of war, even more so when your attacks tend to miss.
Outside of that, past the lovely visuals, it’s a race getting from point A to B, as you fly across long stretches or mostly empty spaces while finding and installing upgrades to your tiny little plane and engaging with your rivals. The latter, in a similar way to The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak from earlier this year, you’re able to attack them before finally engaging in the aforementioned less than exciting combat.
All of that is made even more annoying due to the bane of free moving 3D games: the camera. It’s the Red Baron, if you will, who is, surprisingly enough, rarely on your tail, but everywhere else, getting in your way like a damn mosquito during a sweaty summer day when all you’re trying to do is have a good time.
For as much as I wanted to keep going, my frustrations with Sky Oceans: Wings for Hire held me back from trying to make much headway into its story, which has all the elements that made the devs’ inspirations so lovable in the first place. For what it tries to do, it takes one step forward but stumbles back a couple soon after. Octeto’s ambitions for this game are obvious; hopefully with a few patches they can turn this airship around.
