Sky Gunner is a wonderful shooter that brings new ideas to the genre, but is let down by one major problem...

We haven’t heard a lot about this title in Europe, so it came as something of a surprise when a package from Atlus USA turned up at the office. Sky Gunner is a unique 3D shooter, that has some very strong points but is let down by one or two major problems. <br /> <br /> The main game mode is the Story mode that is told through the use of anime sketches in a distinctly Japanese themed story. Introducing the three main protagonists, and the games villain, it’s up to you to thwart his attempts at gaining power. I’m a big fan of Japanese animation and was instantly drawn into the cute world that Pixel Arts have created; it’s bright, breezy, charming and humorous, so if you’re expecting a gritty shooter stay away. <br /> <br /> The three main characters are each playable, each with varying skills and attributes and thus affecting the way you tackle the levels. <br /> <br /> As a Sky Gunner it’s your job to patrol the airs, keeping them safe from any trouble that may arise. Standard fare, however Sky Gunner is unlike any other 3D shooter that has come before it, playing more like an old-school 2D shooter in 3D. The reason behind this is the novel use of the camera, as with most shooters its third-person and shows a view behind your craft, unlike other games instead of focussing on you, the camera focuses on your enemy, and so its possible to be flying in a completely different direction to the way the camera is pointing in. It takes a little time to get used to, however it soon becomes intuitive thanks to some clever design and an extremely responsive control system, you’ll soon find yourself performing all kinds of death-defying manoeuvres. <br /> <br /> Once you’ve gotten to grips with the controls, there’s some serious action to jump straight into, with a surprising amount of depth through the different tactics you’ll need to employ. Different strategies can be employed to destroy the varying enemies, evasive manoeuvres are superbly implemented, whilst a combo and chain attack system allow you to gain more points for purchasing power-ups. The game is also full of neat touches, instead of an energy bar, you’ll have this bar that counts how many times you’ve been hit. Get hit enough and you’ll lose control of your plane at which point you’ve got to bash your buttons and rotate your thumbstick a certain amount of times within a time limit, the next time you lose control of your plane, the number of rotations and buttons bashes increases, as you’re hectically bashing the buttons. It’s a great system, as it really portrays the feeling of losing control and yet being able to gain that control, until you’ve been hit once too often. <br /> <br /> Visually the cute world is well crafted; bright and colourful it’s the type of game world that I’d like to explore, however it’s definitely a question of personal taste. There’s also an amazing amount of attention paid to the smallest details; battleships are comprised of dozens of independently animated objects, bad guys parachuting out of their destroyed craft, it keeps your eyes alert and just made me fall in love with this all the more. Unfortunately the graphics engine highlights the one main flaw, and it’s a biggie. During hectic moments, and believe me they do happen quite frequently, the frame-rate will stutter to a grinding halt, absolute 0, it doesn’t take too long to get back up to speed but it does happen frequently. It wasn’t enough to stop my enjoyment and it doesn’t really affect the gameplay, however it’s just so noticeable. To be fair Atlus USA have implemented a fixed 30FPS mode, which eradicates the problem, however you’re stuck to 30FPS throughout the entire game. <br /> <br /> Elsewhere the game is quite short, however the three different characters offer a vastly different experience to the way you’ll play the game and the story is told differently from each person’s viewpoint. It’s a failure of it’s own success really that I just wanted more, the average gamer will go through it in a day, however it’s certainly worth making sure that you’ve played through each of the characters. <br /> <br />