SKyRoads

Race on space roads with this retro Arcade game

Sky Roads is a game that came out in 1993 and will probably hold a little nostalgia for at least a few people out there over 20 years later. Sky Roads is the product of Bluemoon studios taking an even earlier game, Kosmonaut, and improving upon it both graphically and conceptually. Simple in concept the game is a challenging racing game that has the player piloting a ship through a course of sky roads. Different colored roads have different characteristics, sometimes beneficial and sometimes very destructive. The goal, of course, is to make it to the finish line in a decent time frame. This simple game is harder than you think and now that its established freeware, may draw some new interested players. There is a slightly more updated version from Bluemoon, but the upgrade is marginal.

Game Play

Players don't have an option of ships, or any options at all really. The courses are segments of different colored tiles, each with their own characteristics. Dark green slows down the ships speed, light green gives a boost and so on. The player needs to be mindful of both fuel and oxygen, which are consumed as they progress, needing to find blue tiles that will replenish their supply. In an interesting twist, the ship can 'jump' and often tracks will require the player time platform their ship, jumping over gaps or even up cliff faces while trying to keep their speed high. Each track is on a planet with different gravity levels that will effect how high the ship can jump. The level resets when if any of the following happen: the ship falls off the road, the ships strike s red tile (which causes it to explode) or either fuel or oxygen runs out.

Presentation

This is a game made over twenty years ago and the graphics, while 3D are very simplistic and old looking. The game does have some retro appeal, which is probably the only reason you'll take the time to download and play it. As far as games from that decade go, however, its a pretty clean and detailed example, it's just now dated.

Pros

• Retro Appeal
• Simple controls, yet challenging game play
• Free!

Cons

• Everything about the game is dated as it was developed over 20 years ago