Sky Chasers for lots of enjoyment

Sky Chasers By Lucky Kat Studios

FREE download for iOS and Android.

Genre Arcade

In Sky Chasers you play as a little bug kid with a jet-powered cardboard box. It seems like an incredibly dangerous fire hazard. You’ll make your way through three different worlds floating, flying, and most likely bumping into stuff until you reach the end of the game or run out of fuel. Luckily, there are refueling stations scattered around in strategic locations to save your skin when you start getting low.

Mechanically, the game is essentially a cave flyer. It’s sort of like the fairly recent Cavernaut [$1.99], but instead of tilting your device, the game is controlled with taps. Touch the left side of the screen to fly up to the left, and touch the right side to move in the opposite direction. Later on you’ll also gain the ability to drop bombs by swiping down on the screen and fire weapons by swiping from side to side. It’s dead-simple and works pretty well for the most part. 

Don’t let the talk of coins in a free game scare you off, though, as the game’s monetization is pretty fair overall. Aside from the aforementioned Crossy-esque gumball machine mechanics, the game also employs a Retry [Free] like continue system. Each time you land on a fuel pad you’re given the option of watching a video to save your place. Unfortunately, this quickly gets pretty annoying since it doesn’t take long to run out of fuel (before you’ve unlocked more ships), and the frequent video interruptions are frustrating. Fortunately, there’s a premium unlock that removes the need to watch ads for checkpoint-saving. Unfortunately, even with the $2.99 unlock there are still ads in the game for continuing right where you last died.

Even with the premium unlock, though, the game brings up a little menu every single time you land on a pad. On the one hand it’s kind of nice that it’s there since you can quickly bank your coins and buy a new craft without exiting to the main menu, but I do wish there was a way to turn it off so you could play without any interruptions of any kind. Another gripe I have is that the game can be maddeningly difficult at random times. It feels like your craft’s hitbox is the size of Montana, and when you’re trying to fly through a small tunnel crowded with flying enemies while simultaneously swiping the screen to destroy ice blocks in your path, it can make you want to pull your hair out.

Presentation-wise, the game is absolutely fantastic. It has a quick and smooth pixel art style (as contradictory as that may sound), and all the ship designs are colorful, creative, and fun. The three environments you’ll be flying through--two forests and a snow world--look great as well. There are lots of neat little touches here and there, too, like how each ship has it’s own exhaust, and how water splashes up if your rockets get too close to a pond.

Sky Chasers isn’t the greatest cave flyer that’s ever flown through a cave, but it’s still a very good one that's worth a try.