Coming out next week on the PlayStation Network is SkyDrift, an aerial racing game from Digital Reality.
It’s unfortunately rare these days to see a racing game that doesn’t involve your standard cars. Wipeout is the last remaining futuristic racing franchise, and last year’s Hydro Thunder Hurricane was a fantastic breath of fresh air mixed with a dose of ‘90s arcade nostalgia, albeit only on Xbox Live Arcade. Digital Reality to the rescue, it seems, with their aircraft racing game SkyDrift.
You man a stunt plane flying around a preset course, collecting power-ups and weaving your way around obstacle courses. Obviously as you are flying, you have full control of your altitude, adding an extra element to the race in terms of maneuvering. That’s not all though; flying low affords you greater speeds at the cost of a more difficult course to navigate and being a slightly easier target to your foes.
The power-ups add an extra element to the game, collecting multiples of the same type will upgrade them, allowing you to cause more damage or defend yourself a little better. They can also be sacrificed to give yourself a small boost while flying, something you will need to learn how to use in the eight player online matches. Unfortunately, there is no split screen though.
So far everything sounds a lot like the venerable Diddy Kong Racing on the N64, or at least the flying sections. The aircraft controls are a bit more advanced, allowing you to manually roll your plane and even fly upside down to get through small sections and make tighter turns.
Luckily if this all sounds appealing to you, the wait for its release will be a short one—the game is coming out September 7 for $15.
Stay Tuned
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