Should I kick myself for missing Sky Gunner?

[ManekiNeko]

I kept thinking about buying or at least renting a Playstation 2 game called Sky Gunner that was available at a nearby rental outlet. Unfortunately, by the time I had the money for the game, someone else had already purchased it.
My question is this... was this game anything special? Should I feel stupid for having missed out on it? I've heard it has serious frame rate issues but the rest of the game was very solid.

JR

[IntvGene]

I'd give it a 7 out of ten.

The frame rate issues end up killing it for me. The game is fun, and the look is interesting, but I wouldn't be laboring over the loss. Unless of course, you are a huge fan of the super-cute visual style.

[Tritoch]

I gave it a 7.9 out of 10. (http://ps.vgf.com/reviews/skygunner/index.htm) :)

[StrychNiNE]

I just purchased it myself, if you can stand the frame rate dropping painfully low at times, its an amazing game, especially if you appreciate unique interesting ship designs...and you can pick it up "on teh cheap" on ebay. If that sort of thing isn't your bag, I've seen a few used copies in EBGames for $12 and new ones @TRU for ~30, but YMMV.

[kainemaxwell]

What genre is Sky Gunner, shooter?

[ManekiNeko]

It is indeed a shooter similar to Panzer Dragoon, oh mighty slayer of Zaxxons.

JR

[Atari7800]

there is some sort of code one can use to bring the frame rate down from 60fps to 30fps, which evidently makes the game's slowdown much less noticeable but doesn't kill the game

[Achika]

I've played the demo and it's incredibly difficult, to the point of being frustrating. It's been so long that I don't remember frame rate issues. It's a free-roaming shooter where you need to complete objectives to get through the stages. It's not on a 'rail' so to speak, so you can fly back and forth any which-way you want.

There is a lot to do in it, and there is much to remember. I believe the tutorials took about an hour to get through.

I can still get a copy for around $15 sealed I believe, PM me if you decide you want it and I'll check into it.

[Kid Fenris]

I really wanted to like Sky Gunner, but the controls were just too cumbersome for my tastes, even in the "beginner" mode. It's a shame, because the game has a well-localized and uniquely lighthearted atmosphere. Like Miyazaki meets Mega Man Legends.

The gameplay is similar to Panzer Dragoon, but it reminds me even more of Veldeselba Senki, an obscure PSX shooter/RPG from Sony.

[Tritoch]

there is some sort of code one can use to bring the frame rate down from 60fps to 30fps, which evidently makes the game's slowdown much less noticeable but doesn't kill the game

From my review:

[beginselfpromotion]
This also leads to SkyGunner's only real problem, as the framerate is incredibly erratic. Whenever a large number of things appear on-screen, the framerate can dip into almost-single digit numbers. Most of the time it's merely annoying, but every once in a while it does negatively impact gameplay. It's hard to aim at something when you can barely move…if you've ever played a PC game with requirements that were a bit too steep for your machine, you know what I'm talking about. Atlus did include a "uniform processing" option that locks the game in at a steady 30fps, but the result is a HUGE loss in graphic quality. On my TV scan lines were clearly visible across the screen, resulting in a huge number of jaggies and a general degradation of graphic quality. The game also runs slower than it normally does when the framerate is steady. Finally it also has to be unlocked, meaning that by the time it's available it looks incredibly ugly after the graphic splendor the player is used to. I'm glad Atlus went the extra mile and included it (it wasn't in the Japanese version), but I definitely prefer the default variable processing mode.[/endselfpromotion]

[RJ]

Achika & Kid Fenris are right- even the DEMO was just too damn hard.

[GaijinPunch]

The 'latest' game? Man, they really took their time porting this one to the US. I played it like 1.5 years ago, and I didnt' even buy it new. I like it -- it's a fun game. I had to use a tutorial on one or two places though, b/c I couldn't figure out what the hell to do.

There are worse frame-dropping games though. Record of Lodoss War for the DC takes the all-time worst for me.

[StrychNiNE]

Bah, there is no such thing as too difficult :P Sure its hard, but I think a lot our favorite NES games were harder back in the day...Ninja Gaiden for instance. Hard twitch games are good for you, I can personally attest that they improve your reflexes.

[bargora]

SkyGunner made me realize that I'm too old for fast-twitch/constantly-changing-control-orientation games and should stick to tamer fare like RPGs and denture-insertion simulators.

Where's my Efferdent! :-D

[Ed Oscuro]

Bah, there is no such thing as too difficult :P Sure its hard, but I think a lot our favorite NES games were harder back in the day...Ninja Gaiden for instance. Hard twitch games are good for you, I can personally attest that they improve your reflexes.

If the game won't even register your key presses and you can't get feedback from the screen, what good will your uber-l337 reflexes do, huh?