Sky Force Anniversary (SFA) is a prime example of how to do a proper shoot ‘em up! It’s not a super frantic, reflex driven, seizure inducing affair you find in some bullet hell shooters, rather it’s more subtle, focusing on precision & perfection.

This precision & perfection reminded me more of the older school shooters like 1942, where placement, timing & learning the waves were key. In SFA, it is implemented by several gameplay mechanics including medals for completing the level untouched & collecting 100% of the stars, or 100% civilian rescues. These offer a greater challenge than simply completing the level alive, & only when all challenges are complete will you be able to unlock the next difficulty tier (Normal, Hard, Insane). Each of the nine levels progressively unlocks as you earn more medals, with your high score being persistent between play throughs as a total of all your highest individual level scores.

SFA progression system really hit the sweet spot for me, offering good replayablity, while gradually unlocking more content & without any grind or difficulty spike to discourage you. You can purchase & unlock more power-ups & with those in hand you can go back to replay earlier levels on harder difficulties or to complete medals you may have missed. The frustration factor is also removed as you get to keep any stars you have earned up to your death, so even attempting a harder level & loosing can help you advance. Dying can also be rewarding .. umm .. well for your friends anyway, who can rescue you on the same level (Always keep an eye out!).

I also enjoyed the rescue mechanic, which forces you to remain stationary on screen for a cooldown timer before you pick-up the civilian. It creates some interesting situations where you are challenged by the need to keep killing or disengaging & rescuing first. There is also rarer VIPs to look out for to rescue & the rare card drops to collect which offering permanent boosted effects.

Boss fights were fun & fairly challenging in the earlier stages, but eventually they become a non-issue once you are equipped by a few power-ups for the battle. I never played the 2004 original to compare versions, but this release looks modern & runs well. 3D Graphics are sharp, they have depth & beautiful effects not to mention a decent soundtrack. The level of control you have with directing your ship using the analog stick is excellent, allowing you to pull off very delicate moves, or move at speed with ease. Hitbox around ship is also very precise allowing for some tight escapes at times.

Two player local coop is offered, but regrettably I cannot you offer my views on this as SFA seems to have issues identifying/mapping two wireless Xbox Controllers (users in forums also mention Logitech doesn’t work). This makes attempting to play with a friend on the couch a bit difficult (certainly no one wants to play with a keyboard on their lap), which is a shame since this is perfect for such an occasion! Another issue I experienced was the lack of controller support when using Steam In-Home Streaming. The game would run but was unable to find the Xbox Controller. Had to install locally to get it to work. There is also no button remapping in-game. When you press 'Play' in Steam, you need to hold down ALT to bring up menu to edit. Should really be in-game in my opinion.

Hope to see these issues addressed in the future. It would also be fantastic to see online two player coop offered for the times you don’t have a friend over or where you’re other friends who play the game are in another country.

For some ongoing competition, there is a weekly tournament you can enter which consists of level of increasingly difficult, randomly generated enemies to kill. You can compete against your friends and the world through separate leader boards. Once the tournament is over the scores are wiped. It’s a good distraction when you are stuck & wanting to try something different, but could benefit from an expanded roster. By this I mean different challenges other than just score based such as longest distance runs, no weapon or power-up runs, power-up only runs! Also, multiple challenges per week, records of wins/medals, highest world rank, how many entered, ability to unlock runs/sequences to play outside tournament etc. Something more enticing to keep players coming back regularly.

SFA is a top quality shoot ‘em up that ticks all the boxes for me. It’s a fine example of great replayablity & finely tuned difficulty scaling that encourages instead of discourages. There are longer term collectables & challenges, plus good competition with friends with online leader boards, friend rescues & weekly tournaments.

Highly recommended!


If you enjoyed reading this review, please follow True Blue Reviews for more recommendations!

[h1]90 / 100[/h1] [b]Sky Force Anniversary (SFA)[/b] is a prime example of how to do a proper shoot ‘em up! It’s not a super frantic, reflex driven, seizure inducing affair you find in some bullet hell shooters, rather it’s more subtle, focusing on precision & perfection. This precision & perfection reminded me more of the older school shooters like [b]1942[/b], where placement, timing & learning the waves were key. In [b]SFA[/b], it is implemented by several gameplay mechanics including medals for completing the level untouched & collecting 100% of the stars, or 100% civilian rescues. These offer a greater challenge than simply completing the level alive, & only when all challenges are complete will you be able to unlock the next difficulty tier [i](Normal, Hard, Insane)[/i]. Each of the nine levels progressively unlocks as you earn more medals, with your high score being persistent between play throughs as a total of all your highest individual level scores. [b]SFA[/b] progression system really hit the sweet spot for me, offering good replayablity, while gradually unlocking more content & without any grind or difficulty spike to discourage you. You can purchase & unlock more power-ups & with those in hand you can go back to replay earlier levels on harder difficulties or to complete medals you may have missed. The frustration factor is also removed as you get to keep any stars you have earned up to your death, so even attempting a harder level & loosing can help you advance. Dying can also be rewarding .. [i]umm[/i] .. well for your friends anyway, who can rescue you on the same level [i](Always keep an eye out!)[/i]. I also enjoyed the rescue mechanic, which forces you to remain stationary on screen for a cooldown timer before you pick-up the civilian. It creates some interesting situations where you are challenged by the need to keep killing or disengaging & rescuing first. There is also rarer VIPs to look out for to rescue & the rare card drops to collect which offering permanent boosted effects. Boss fights were fun & fairly challenging in the earlier stages, but eventually they become a non-issue once you are equipped by a few power-ups for the battle. I never played the 2004 original to compare versions, but this release looks modern & runs well. 3D Graphics are sharp, they have depth & beautiful effects not to mention a decent soundtrack. The level of control you have with directing your ship using the analog stick is excellent, allowing you to pull off very delicate moves, or move at speed with ease. Hitbox around ship is also very precise allowing for some tight escapes at times. Two player local coop is offered, but regrettably I cannot you offer my views on this as [b]SFA[/b] seems to have issues identifying/mapping two wireless Xbox Controllers [i](users in [url=http://steamcommunity.com/app/355050/discussions/0/613957600534051243/][b]forums[/b][/url] also mention Logitech doesn’t work)[/i]. This makes attempting to play with a friend on the couch a bit difficult [i](certainly no one wants to play with a keyboard on their lap)[/i], which is a shame since this is perfect for such an occasion! Another issue I experienced was the lack of controller support when using Steam In-Home Streaming. The game would run but was unable to find the Xbox Controller. Had to install locally to get it to work. There is also no button remapping in-game. When you press 'Play' in Steam, you need to hold down ALT to bring up menu to edit. Should really be in-game in my opinion. Hope to see these issues addressed in the future. It would also be fantastic to see online two player coop offered for the times you don’t have a friend over or where you’re other friends who play the game are in another country. For some ongoing competition, there is a weekly tournament you can enter which consists of level of increasingly difficult, randomly generated enemies to kill. You can compete against your friends and the world through separate leader boards. Once the tournament is over the scores are wiped. It’s a good distraction when you are stuck & wanting to try something different, but could benefit from an expanded roster. By this I mean different challenges other than just score based such as longest distance runs, no weapon or power-up runs, power-up only runs! Also, multiple challenges per week, records of wins/medals, highest world rank, how many entered, ability to unlock runs/sequences to play outside tournament etc. Something more enticing to keep players coming back regularly. [b]SFA[/b] is a top quality shoot ‘em up that ticks all the boxes for me. It’s a fine example of great replayablity & finely tuned difficulty scaling that encourages instead of discourages. There are longer term collectables & challenges, plus good competition with friends with online leader boards, friend rescues & weekly tournaments. Highly recommended! [url=http://store.steampowered.com/curator/6857016/]If you enjoyed reading this review, please follow [u]True Blue Reviews[/u] for more recommendations![/url]