Producer: Activision
Developer: CROSS Ltd.
XAX Entertainment Inc.
Future Creates
ESRB: Everyone
Players: 1
Memory Card: 246 KB
Analog Control
Vibration Function
Da Introduction:
You strap your self in snuggly, you adjust your goggles, you check the meters, you start the ignition, you steadily throttle up as, your heart rate increases, you are up to speed, you pull back on the controls and you rocket skyward as the earth plummets out from underneath you. All from the comfort of the sofa. Sky Odyssey is a well executed, fast-paced flight simulator that will challenge you to rely on your skills, your machine, yourself, and above all, luck. The graphics are nothing to rave about, but the sound and gameplay more than make up for it. As flight simulators go, this stacks up well.
Da Graphics:
The graphics in Sky Odyssey can be described as all icing and no cake. The icing, effects such as weather and blurring are executed very well, but the cake, the actual terrain, is lacking. There are clouds, lightning strikes, ocean waves and many other weather effects that add to the game and they all look very nice. The hardwired blurring effect is used effectively also to convey speed when you use a boost or get caught in a wind current. The actual planes also look very nice, with great textures and well-defined models. The ability to change your plane's colour scheme and create a logo for your plane is another bonus.
The main problem with the game is the environments themselves. They are modeled with few polygons and the textures are very repetitive. There is very little detail in the environments; everything is big and chunky. Interactive parts of the environments are also fraught with problems; in a cave where bits of rock falls on you, the cave is a smooth surface with a different model that has a different texture lumped onto it. It doesn't look good. This is a problem because due to the nature of the game, you are looking at the terrains all the time and close up.
All the game's textures are smooth but there are a few edge-antialiasing problems between the planes and the environments, as well as the environments themselves. The game runs at a very high frame rate but it can suffer massive slowdown if there are too many polygons on screen at once. Overall, there is not much to be said about the graphics. They are nice to look at and they have great atmosphere, but they are not amazing. Still, being a flight sim, the graphics are not the game's main focus.
Da Sound:
There is also not much to say about the sound in this game, except that it is great on all fronts. The sound effects are realistic and fit well with everything they are used for. Be it a propeller engine revving up or a raging ocean storm, it's all right on the money. The voices, what few there are, sound pretty good if a little too digitized, though it seems to fit somehow. The music however is brilliant. The music completely sets the mood and is really well orchestrated. The triumphant theme when you take to the skies on a bright sunny day never ceases to please. The game also employs variable music depending on the situation. You can be flying along happily and the music will be all nice and cheery, then you fly into a storm cloud and the music changes to a thunderous theme of peril. It works quite well and ads another level to the interactivity of the game. As a whole the sound is an extremely nice aspect of the game.
Da Gameplay:
Now this is where things get wonderful. Sky Odyssey is a flight simulator, obviously, but it is different than most. It has a plot line and a story to follow. You are a pilot seeking fame and fortune by being the first pilot to make it to the lost tower of Maximus. You must find a path through the treacherous archipelago of islands. No pilots have ever navigated the harsh weather and impossible landscapes to reach the tower. You, the pilot, must maneuver your way through cave, over mountains and across channels to find all the pieces of the lost map that leads the way to Maximus. That's the Adventure Mode at least, there are many other modes, which test your skill at handling a plane.
The first, the afore mentioned Adventure Mode, is your journey to find the Tower of Maximus. You must travel through a series of levels filled with danger at every turn to work your way to the tower. There are branch points at which you can choose your route to the tower, but in the end all roads lead to Rome. The levels are very well designed with some extremely creative objectives that you must complete to continue. Generally the objective is just make it to the end of the level, however the means of getting there is the interesting part. In one level you must navigate an unstable cave to reach the other side of an island, in another you need to make use of high speed air currents so you can cross a body of water with your low fuel level, in yet another your plane is leaking fuel so you must refuel from a moving train. All the levels are interesting and while your first impression might not be one of rip-roaring excitement, you will definitely get your heart pounding if you keep going. As you play through a level you can gain Acrobatic Points for performing tricky maneuvers, and at the end of a mission you are rated on your acrobatics, speed and how many checkpoints you passed through. Earn a rank of B or above and get a new part for your fully customizable plane. Loads of fun.
The next mode is Target Mode. The goal of Target Mode is to pass through a series of numbered, coloured targets, in order and make a successful landing. While not necessarily the most interesting mode, it is decently fun, and you can unlock special items, which can be used in Adventure Mode. There are also some interesting twists to the missions, like targets that are being moved about by other planes. Not adrenaline pulsing gameplay, but fun none the less.
Following Target Mode, is Sky Canvas Mode. In this innovative mode you must follow the guides marked by floating rings in the air to make a sky drawing. You have to worry about such things as staying on the appropriate line for the drawing and making certain your plane is releasing the coloured smoke that makes the sky drawing. As with Target Mode it is not enthralling, but it is fun enough to make it worthwhile.
The only other
   | Sky OdysseyESRB: Platform: PlayStation 2 Category: Simulation |
|
|
6.5 8 9 8 7.75 | ||
Producer: Activision
Developer: CROSS Ltd.
XAX Entertainment Inc.
Future Creates
ESRB: Everyone
Players: 1
Memory Card: 246 KB
Analog Control
Vibration Function
Da Introduction:
You strap your self in snuggly, you adjust your goggles, you check the meters, you start the ignition, you steadily throttle up as, your heart rate increases, you are up to speed, you pull back on the controls and you rocket skyward as the earth plummets out from underneath you. All from the comfort of the sofa. Sky Odyssey is a well executed, fast-paced flight simulator that will challenge you to rely on your skills, your machine, yourself, and above all, luck. The graphics are nothing to rave about, but the sound and gameplay more than make up for it. As flight simulators go, this stacks up well.
Da Graphics:
The graphics in Sky Odyssey can be described as all icing and no cake. The icing, effects such as weather and blurring are executed very well, but the cake, the actual terrain, is lacking. There are clouds, lightning strikes, ocean waves and many other weather effects that add to the game and they all look very nice. The hardwired blurring effect is used effectively also to convey speed when you use a boost or get caught in a wind current. The actual planes also look very nice, with great textures and well-defined models. The ability to change your plane's colour scheme and create a logo for your plane is another bonus.
The main problem with the game is the environments themselves. They are modeled with few polygons and the textures are very repetitive. There is very little detail in the environments; everything is big and chunky. Interactive parts of the environments are also fraught with problems; in a cave where bits of rock falls on you, the cave is a smooth surface with a different model that has a different texture lumped onto it. It doesn't look good. This is a problem because due to the nature of the game, you are looking at the terrains all the time and close up.
All the game's textures are smooth but there are a few edge-antialiasing problems between the planes and the environments, as well as the environments themselves. The game runs at a very high frame rate but it can suffer massive slowdown if there are too many polygons on screen at once. Overall, there is not much to be said about the graphics. They are nice to look at and they have great atmosphere, but they are not amazing. Still, being a flight sim, the graphics are not the game's main focus.
Da Sound:
There is also not much to say about the sound in this game, except that it is great on all fronts. The sound effects are realistic and fit well with everything they are used for. Be it a propeller engine revving up or a raging ocean storm, it's all right on the money. The voices, what few there are, sound pretty good if a little too digitized, though it seems to fit somehow. The music however is brilliant. The music completely sets the mood and is really well orchestrated. The triumphant theme when you take to the skies on a bright sunny day never ceases to please. The game also employs variable music depending on the situation. You can be flying along happily and the music will be all nice and cheery, then you fly into a storm cloud and the music changes to a thunderous theme of peril. It works quite well and ads another level to the interactivity of the game. As a whole the sound is an extremely nice aspect of the game.
Da Gameplay:
Now this is where things get wonderful. Sky Odyssey is a flight simulator, obviously, but it is different than most. It has a plot line and a story to follow. You are a pilot seeking fame and fortune by being the first pilot to make it to the lost tower of Maximus. You must find a path through the treacherous archipelago of islands. No pilots have ever navigated the harsh weather and impossible landscapes to reach the tower. You, the pilot, must maneuver your way through cave, over mountains and across channels to find all the pieces of the lost map that leads the way to Maximus. That's the Adventure Mode at least, there are many other modes, which test your skill at handling a plane.
The first, the afore mentioned Adventure Mode, is your journey to find the Tower of Maximus. You must travel through a series of levels filled with danger at every turn to work your way to the tower. There are branch points at which you can choose your route to the tower, but in the end all roads lead to Rome. The levels are very well designed with some extremely creative objectives that you must complete to continue. Generally the objective is just make it to the end of the level, however the means of getting there is the interesting part. In one level you must navigate an unstable cave to reach the other side of an island, in another you need to make use of high speed air currents so you can cross a body of water with your low fuel level, in yet another your plane is leaking fuel so you must refuel from a moving train. All the levels are interesting and while your first impression might not be one of rip-roaring excitement, you will definitely get your heart pounding if you keep going. As you play through a level you can gain Acrobatic Points for performing tricky maneuvers, and at the end of a mission you are rated on your acrobatics, speed and how many checkpoints you passed through. Earn a rank of B or above and get a new part for your fully customizable plane. Loads of fun.
The next mode is Target Mode. The goal of Target Mode is to pass through a series of numbered, coloured targets, in order and make a successful landing. While not necessarily the most interesting mode, it is decently fun, and you can unlock special items, which can be used in Adventure Mode. There are also some interesting twists to the missions, like targets that are being moved about by other planes. Not adrenaline pulsing gameplay, but fun none the less.
Following Target Mode, is Sky Canvas Mode. In this innovative mode you must follow the guides marked by floating rings in the air to make a sky drawing. You have to worry about such things as staying on the appropriate line for the drawing and making certain your plane is releasing the coloured smoke that makes the sky drawing. As with Target Mode it is not enthralling, but it is fun enough to make it worthwhile.
The only other ‘Mode' as it were, is Free Flight, which is a great way to explore an environment possibly looking for those secret landing strips. Good fun.
The control is a big issue with flight sim games, but Sky Odyssey does not disappoint. There is Easy Control for those who just want to play the game and have fun. Then there is Normal Control for those who are more into flight sims. Normal Control is a lot more difficult to get used to, almost impossibly so, but if the time is taken to learn how to use it properly, then it allows for much more control of the plane. This may make things easier for some and harder for others but it is good none the less. This game puts an incredible amount of detail into weather and time. The variety of weather and time of day in the game's levels is amazing. When you choose a Free Flight level, you can watch time pass and choose to stop it at the conditions you want to fly in. Overall, this game delivers on everything. Great design, detail and fun.
Da Conclusion:
While this game will likely not be remembered as a great game, I believe it should. Granted the graphics are not up to par as far as the PS2's capabilities go, but graphics do not a good game make. The music is amazing and sets the mood brilliantly, the gameplay is well thought out and effectively conveys the feeling of flight while keeping it fun enough for a video game. There is even continuity between levels as you take off from the same strip you landed on. An all around good game. Turn that stick up and take to the skies!
Da Score
Da Graphics 6.5/10
Da Sound 9/10
Da Gameplay 8.5/10
Da Tilt 8/10
Da Score 8/10
