Review of Sky Gamblers: Storm Raiders

Sky Gamblers Storm Raiders Review

I know that this is a blog for MSWM, but I also know that many of you are interested in the latest Sky Gamblers release, so here is my review of Sky Gamblers: Storm Raiders.

Namco/Bandai/Revo has released a 3^rd dogfighting game named Sky Gamblers:Storm Raiders.  This is in addition to their other offerings of Air Supremacy and Rise of Glory.  As most of you know, Air Supremacy has both modern jets with missiles along with WWII fighters.  Rise of Glory focuses on WWI bi-planes.  SGSR (as we’ll call it from now on) is strictly a WWII dogfighting game full of P-51 mustangs, Japanese Zeroes, German Stutkas along with all their relations.

Cost:  Similar to SGAS, the new SGSR costs $4.99 on the App Store.  However, similar to SGAS, once you shell out the $4.99, you really will not ever have to buy anything again if you don’t want to.   (there are some in-game purchase options to buy custom paint jobs or accelerate unlocking of planes).   This is in sharp contrast to the Metalstorm "fremium" approach where the App is free but to advance in the game you will need to pay to upgrade your plane or buy advanced weaponry which can cost upwards of $30 per plane.

Graphics:
Lets start with the graphics and terrain detail.  If you thought that SGAS had stunning graphics and landscapes, wait until you see SGSR.  It is simply stunning.  Canyons, bridges, mountain ridges, Pearl Harbor, and what particularly caught my attention were the villages – each house is rendered with great detail – you can barnstorm down a village street and see each door, window roof shingle and tree!  Similar to SGAS, there is also weather: haze, rain, twilight, flying through clouds. 

There has also been a real advance over SGAS in showing damage to your opponent’s plane.  You will see a burst of fire when you score some damage and then the plane will trail smoke (progressively more smoke as its damage increases).  Your own plane also shows much better damage than in SGAS.  Along with your own fire and smoke, pieces of metal from your plane will start to flutter and break off the further you get damaged.  There is also an amazing mode where you have full 360 view inside the cockpit, including a picture of your sweetheart taped to the instruments, floor pedals and cockpit frame.  This is a fascinating view which really gives you a great feel for what it really must have been like to fly these old beauties.  However, in my opinion, this is an interesting view but not one that you would want to use for a competitive game since the cockpit causes such obstructed views that it is much harder to see your opponents.

Graphics Verdict:  Similar to SGAS but bumped up to even more realism

Enough of my talk though, take a look for yourself:

Great rendering of trees, buildings and villages

Every building has detail

The tunnels rock - you can fly into them but watch out for the train!

This canyon is one of my favorite landscape features - especially dogfighting in it

The graphic detail of the towns is stunning

How low can you go!

Game Types:
SGSR is basically a complete copy of SGAS as far as game modes.  All the exact same game types exist:

Survival Mode
Free For All
Team Deathmatch
Capture the Flag
Defend the Base

Last Man Standing…

Game Type Verdict:  SGAS had really done it right with the variety of game play.  SGSR follows the blueprint exactly and you won’t see any surprises here.  The one criticism that I have is that SGAS and SGSR still do not have the quality of 1 VS 1 individual matches that you find in Metalstorm Wingman.  MSWM still reigns supreme in the up close and personal mano-v-mano versus matches (which are really the most fun for me) rather than the large group matches.

Campaigns:
Campaigns for SGSR are modeled after real events in WWII such as Pearl Harbor and some European conflicts.  They are action packed, as are all the Sky Gambler campaigns.  You dogfight, divebomb ships, drop torpedoes on aircraft carriers and submarines and lots more.  The campaigns are so full of action and events that I’ve pondered about writing articles about them but there are just sooo many things that happen in any given campaign that it would require a book!  Thumbs up on the campaigns!!

Flight Controls:
Flight control for SGSR again is the same as SGAS.  No surprises here.  You can go full simulation, casual simulator, with or without accelerometers…

Plane Types and Specs:
SGSR has an interesting set of planes.  They all have their “real” names, I believe, unlike SGAS and MSWM with the hokey made-up names for each plane.  There are WWII fighters, “Classics” and Bombers.  Each plane has its own set of ratings similar to SGAS. 

Plane Verdict:  Similar variety as SGAS but with some nice varieties of plane types.

A wide variety of classic WWII planes are at your disposal as you unlock the levels and progress

Early model primitive "Jets" are also available

Each weapon has its own set of specs

Weapons Types and Specs:
SGSR has really taken some good steps in the weapons aspects of the game.  There are machine guns, larger cannons and bombers that drop gravity bombs and torpedoes.  There are even planes that fire unguided missiles.  There are also modes that you can pair your 2 weapons together (machine gun and cannon) to fire both at the same time and increase the damage.

Weapons Verdict:  A nice upgrade from SGAS.  Thumbs up!

Dogfighting and Overall Game Play:
Dogfighting and overall game play in SGSR is very similar to SGAS.  I have to say that I don’t see too much difference in the physics of the dogfight in this game.  I do believe that they have made improvements on number of planes visible on your screen and it can be pretty impressive, especially when multiple planes are trailing smoke.  There is also black air bursts of flack that appear from ground fire which is pretty cool.  I have yet to fly thru one so not sure if you actually get damaged from them, but it most definitely adds to the realism.  As I said though, the actual act of chasing and circling your opponent seems very similar to SGAS.

This is supposed to be battleship row in Pearl Harbor, I believe

There are options for sunrise/sunset and night fights!

Your opponents trail smoke when hit

Flack clouds add to the realism

Fighting in the canyon is awesome!

Overall Verdict:  Overall, I have to say that I love SGSR.  The graphics alone are the best out there and a million miles above Metalstorm’s latest prelim release (Metalstorm: Aces).  The actual game play is very similar to SGAS and the structure of the game is basically a copy of SGAS, but you can tell that the developers really paid attention to detail and made some thoughtful upgrades.  I thoroughly enjoy playing it.  

However, as I mentioned, similar to SGAS, SGSR still has not dethroned Metalstorm Wingman in the 1 vs 1 matches.  MSWM still has better physics in the up close and personal dogfighting arena of 1 vs 1 matches (which amazingly, they seem to have lost in their new release, Metalstorm: ACES which I will also review soon).   SGSR is not bad in vs matches, it just does not require the skill that MSWM  demands in the 1 vs 1 mode.  Besides that though, I really enjoy everything else about SGSR and have had a great time playing it!