I had the original version of this game for YEARS......and even with it's 30fps cap, and limited material, I played it ENDLESSLY. This game as far as I can tell in my run of the first 3 levels: is exactly that game, but improved graphics and more content....I mean, the new plans alone are just dope as hell. I DO wish there was a bit more to offer on the Settings, as I would like to optimize it a bit more for my particular 4k set up. but really it runs good enough that I just get lost in the game so this is one of the few times I can say I did not notice frames enough for me to care.
But yea, this is the good shit here. If you like flying games at all, you should REALLY give this a shot.
I had to use hex editor to change screen resolution to make the game playable at all...
1. Edit "Skydrift Infinity/_cloudfolder/SkyDriftInfinity.cfg" file (don't forget to make a backup)
2. Find default value: "00 00 07 80 00 00 04 38" (1920 1080)
3. Replace by calculated value: e.g.: "00 00 0A 00 00 00 05 A0" (2560 1440)
4. Save file and start having fun
It's a fast-paced arcade racing game with planes, obviously. It feels like the star-wars pod racer game, mixed with mario kart. It definitely reminds me of a good old game.
Graphics are plain (pun intended), but not bad. Framerate can be set to 30 or unlimited, but otherwise there there are basically no other graphics options which is kind of odd, but everything looks fine, so it's okay (no stupid blur or depth-of-field effects or anything like that). Maybe there's a config file or something I don't know of...
This game has split-screen. Always nice to have.
There's a decent number of planes with a couple different skins and also a good variety of courses.
There are items along the course to pick up and use against your opponents, including a homing missile, machine gun, shield, mine, electric shock and repair kit. Simple, but gets the job done.
It has online multiplayer too, but I'm not sure if this means there is matchmaking or not. There is "Quickmatch" and then you are in a lobby and can invite people, but I'm not sure, if this means there is matchmaking or not. I waited five minutes to see if someone else would join, but no, it looks like it's invite only, so you have to look for people to play with on forums/discord. Does it have cross-play with steam? Again no idea... (I will try to remember updating the review if I find out)
If you are looking for a flying sim or multiplayer with lots of active players, this is probably not the right game for you, but for something that is quick to pick up and have some fun with, you can't really go wrong with this if you like this style of racing game. It's definitely one of the better ones on gog.
5 Stars for fun game -1 star for overall simplicity and lack of online matchmaking / players.
I find it hard to find enjoyable plane games. The realistic design had me worried.
But this game surprised me because it's made by people who knew what they were doing. This game is much better than the plane racing in Diddykong Racing. It's different and much more optimized.
The flying physics, racetrack and weapon design are perfect. The game controls very solid and has many good ideas to make the game challenging and adding fair rubber banding.
You can crash your plane by hitting walls or water but you can also scratch walls. So the collision is more complex than your usual flight sim. The planes also feel fragile enough to keep the tension. And the maps I played so far are well designed so you can fly rounds at high speed without crashing. Attacks by the enemies make this of course much more difficult.
Music and sound is excellent too.
My only critique would be the lack of pilots like for example in Jet Moto/Jet Rider or F-Zero GX. Would give the game a bit more world building, character and sexappeal. But still better than badly designed characters.
And more than 4player splitscreen would be nice too. Like 6 or 8. In anyway this game is truly fun and very well made. A must have for this price for any gamer!
I'm addicted to how fun this game is actually. And I'm talking singleplayer mode alone, since I haven't tried the multiplayer mode due to the fact that I don't play this game through GOG Galaxy (which I assume the game requires you to have in order to run the multiplayer). That said, this game will not disappoint those who love racing games.
Pros:
+ There are a lot of planes to choose from, with 4 skins available for each plane.
+ The AI is really challenging, especially on hard. You can still win against them, don't worry.
+ The powerups are simple, but really add to the intensity of the races. In addition to that, based on my observation, the AI also gets better at utilizing the powerups they get in hard difficulty.
Cons:
- The lack of maps. The only variety the game offers is the reversed version of the maps.
- The lack of race configuration or the absence of it. I wish for the singleplayer mode (I don't know about the multiplayer though) would allow the players to set how many racers they want to be in a race, how many laps, etc. Unfortunately, singleplayer races are strictly limited to the campaign mode, where races in the earlier stages will be limited to two laps, and the races in the later stages get to have three laps in order to give the players more time to reach the 1st place.
Conclusion: This game is great despite the cons I've mentioned above. If you plan on buying this game, don't be hasty and try to see for yourself the reviews that the game has on the internet. That aside, almost all the reviews I've seen on the internet claim the game to be good.
