Raiden Sky Force Ace: Use your uber piloting skills to fly through the alien armada and obliterate their base.
I was checking out some of the top new free games on the Android Market and I stumbled across this particular game. What caught my eye is the fact that someone seems to have made a game and used the title of an old classic. Check out our findings below…
Gameplay: It’s Raiden, so it’s a space shooter where your spaceship flies up the screen and you pretty much shoot everything that moves. Where you touch, is where the ship will move to. Any enemies which come onto the screen will throw a barrage of pellets at you which you’ll need to use your sixth sense to dodge. This Raiden copy has certainly captured the insane movement and dodging which was in the original! Each level starts with the easy weenie units, and intermittently some big bombers come along, and then at the end of the level you’ll have to defeat the warship boss.
So what’s different here? There’s a shield system so you won’t be destroyed by one measly stray bullet. In fact, this defense barrier is a godsend because otherwise this game would be impossible! On top of that, the enemies drop gems which you can collect and use to power up your spaceship. You can improve the ship’s blaster range and strength, wingside shooters and shields, or you can just max out on gem collection which will increase your special fire instead. Oh, and there’s a really badly translated dialogue/story which pops up during the beginning and ends of rounds.
Insane enemy fire: The developers have definitely copied the messy and seemingly impossible levels of bullets fired, which is great for the die hard gamers… but most likely would put off players who are new to this. Overall, the graphics have this kind of slightly pixelated feel which gives a bit of a retro old-PC game feel to things. So we’d like to say that the game theming is there… unfortunately, we couldn’t get any sound on one of our test devices… so be warned!
Some slight downers: There’s something about the touch system which isn’t great. It’s partially because the dialogue just gets in the way, and the upgrade/special fire button is so far away to press (which means you have to leave the ship uncontrolled and exposed momentarily). Oh, and the upgrades just don’t make any sense at the beginning!
Rating: 2/5 A nice little short game which can be completed in about two hours. It revives the Raiden feeling so its not an insult to the original title and it’s not insanely difficult like R-type. Having said that, it’s a particular type of game which is more for hardcore fans – so if you’ve not played Raiden before then you’ll probably think this game is ridiculous! (If you’re looking for a slightly easier alternative, then check out Star Shooter). Oh and according to the reviews, this game pushes ads out on your phone.
Raiden Sky Force Ace Promotional Youtube Video
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=O2jScmCzSu8]
Raiden Sky Force Ace tips from Android Games Review:
We managed to complete the game without losing any lives and fully upgrading the ship within an hour and a half. But that’s because we’re pro laser bullet dodgers! To be able to do the same, then try the following tips:
- The ship you pick and the wingman you select will have different shooting characteristics. The style of firing is up to you, but from our experience, the best ships will fire diagonally (so you don’t have to get in the direct vertical line of fire of enemy bosses). Interestingly, these options always tend to be at the end of the selection lists.
- There’s a pattern to each enemy’s firing style… that’ll let you predict the movement of the bullets so you can squeeze into the small gaps.
- A singular enemy most likely is no problem for you… you’re probably more interested in how to dodge when the screen is littered in bullets! So when a huge barrage is coming, stay as far away as possible – this gives the bullets space to spread out. Then you need to feel the movement of the bullets and weave around them. You’ll need to imagine swinging your ship in circular movements jumping behind the trail of a bullet (not just left and right lateral dodging).
- There’ll eventually be bosses where you must take damage. When fighting them, you still need to dodge the majority of the bullets, but make sure you avoid the laser beams as they deal huge damage to your shields.
- When collecting gems, don’t just use the upgrade immediately – the first upgrade is only a shield replenishment. Instead, store up the gems to get the wingman and cannon upgrades. The better spray of attack you have, the faster you will hit your enemies.
Raiden Sky Force Ace QR Code
(Click on the image or scan the barcode with your Android phone to goto the Android Market)
Developers: Le Tang, Inc 乐堂
