The folks at Flynn’s Arcade have been publishing a number of cool indie games that resemble the arcade hits of old. So when they approached me with a review code for Skies Above, I thought I knew what to expect. But I was wrong. While the game does indeed have the soul of an arcade classic, there’s a whole lot more modern stuff going on. Here’s our review. 

Skies Above may not take place in a simple arcade game arena, but it’s not exactly set in a giant, sprawling open world either. Rather, it’s set above one. The bulk of the game takes place on the back of a giant flying whale. Yes, the game calls it a leviathan, but come on. That beautiful beast is a sky whale, and I love him. Anyway, it’s your mission to protect him from an endless wave of flying orbs that constantly shoot at him. You do this with a rather unconventional attack scheme. Your character has the ability to lock on to various targets, and you destroy them when you jump off one onto the next. Once. you've targeted something, you dart straight to it, and you can do the same with your whale to re-center yourself. Basically, the gameplay loop is all about finding the most efficient way to create chains where you bounce between a dozen or so enemies at a time in order to stop their fire from harming your whale friend. It took me a while to get the hang of the controls, and I’m still not 100% sure I have them down if I’m being perfectly honest, but once you find your groove, it’s an extremely rewarding experience. 

Thankfully, once your whale runs out of health, it doesn’t die. Instead, it lands in a nice little hub area to rest while you stock up for your next attempt to get him as far as you can. Here, you have tons of options to upgrade your weapons, your whale, learn the game’s lore, and more. The gameplay itself isn’t full of monumental surprises, and things don’t really evolve too far beyond the basics you learn at the beginning, but it still feels like the game is well fleshed out enough to be worth the price of admission. It's got an undeniable level of cool to it, with some active music to tie it all in a neat bow. That whale is super lovable, too. 

That said, there are a few drawbacks. The game’s performance isn't spectacular on the Switch, which is a bummer. It’s not doing anything the system can’t handle, but it still manages to chug pretty badly when your whale takes off. There are also some wacky grammar errors throughout the game’s text. Nothing unforgivable, but the script certainly could have used another round of editing before launch. 

I also have to admit, I have not beaten this game yet because I’m just not good enough. Not yet, anyway. I’ve made it to the third cloud layer, but I haven’t been able to properly master it to get any further. Still, I intend to keep playing it from time to time because it’s just a really fun game! I recommend it. 

Skies Above is available now on Nintendo Switch and Steam. 

NuRival Wireless Hall Effect Stick Game Controller for Switch

$39.99

NuRival Wireless Hall Effect Stick Game Controller for Switch Multi-Color RGBElevate your gaming aesthetics with vibrant multi-color RGB lighting. Customize your controller with dynamic lighting...… read more