Sky Force Reloaded (Nintendo Switch) Review

Moments after booting this up, the player is thrown into the fray, immediately setting up the tone for the rest of the experience, which, in one word, is 'simple.' The ship spits bullets with the simple push of a button, the analogue simply moves it around and… and that's about it, simply put. Simple! Everything works as intended, the controls let you move with ease and accuracy, and everything is visually attractive, if a little too forgettable.

While the whole thing is kind of slower than usual than is to be expected from an introductory scene, the problem is that that this actually isn't one. Similar to Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Sky Force Reloaded begins with a fully equipped vehicle that soon gets stripped of its power. From there on, the task will be to complete a bunch of levels, and gather the necessary resources along the way, in order to get upgraded, and thus be able to reach the end of this old-school shmup quest.

This leads to what this is all about: grinding. Now, this has become a buzzword of everything bad in gaming, and, to be perfectly honest, rightly so. However, this has been implemented in such a way here that's it's actually the main source of fun. You see, while this is definitely a finely-crafted, decent shooter, it's just that - decent. There are no new mechanics to be found in here. It's almost as if 1942 has gotten an HD upgrade, and that's it. In other words, grinding for upgrades feels like a blessing, as there's not much else to do.

There is literally tons of stuff to unlock: stars, which are the coins that can be used for purchasing upgrades; cards that provide permanent or temporary boosts; gems that activate co-pilots that help out in a specific way; power-ups like energy shields, bombs, and lasers; and parts that are used to craft new vehicles. Finally, each stage has four objectives, which are pretty standard stuff, like save all humans, or destroy all enemies, which in turn provide medals that are required to unlock stages to play - plus there are four difficulty settings per stage.

 The reason why all this grinding leans more to the side of getting those endorphin levels up - rather than leading to narcolepsy - is the fact that it's all very balanced. Instead of having to spend hours upon hours of replaying the same levels just to buy an update (here's looking at you, Spellspire), awards come a lot more often.

In conclusion, Sky Force Reloaded might not be a reinvention of the wheel, but it's very good at what it does. The controls are excellent, the old-school mechanics a piece of cake to grasp in a matter of milliseconds, the content that is waiting to be unlocked makes it hard to leave the gamepad down, and, if you ever get bored, just have some jolly co-op antics. Of course, make no mistake about it: those expecting something more than a simple shmup, with lasting appeal disappearing the moment 100% is hit, better look elsewhere.