Sky Odyssey (PS2)

...skies, all the piloting in Sky Odyssey takes the form of a big adventure. Just to really ram this point home, the main mode is called adventure, a fine indication of intent, you'll agree. The story centres around four desolate islands, the mysteries of which you must uncover via the gift of flight. Lost artefacts lie on each island. Coo.

Like old people's homes, the reason for the lack of visitors could well be the terrible wind. On ...
...fogging. Ignore these however and Sky Odyssey is great fun, especially with the additional skywriting mode and easier control option keeping things light. So while it's not flawless, it's definately different from the usual sports/driving/fighting games on offer. And with it's 40 missions to swoop, bank and nose-dive through, it's an awfully big adventure.  ... more

The 'Sky' bit of the title should be obvious. But you may be wondering where the 'Odyssey' comes in. It's only looning about in planes, after all - what's so epic about that? there's probably the worry that it's just some exciting word slipped in by a cabal of time serving executives to create some non-existent panache. Sort of like taking a middle of the range hatchback and writing 'Lifestyle!' on the back, just above the limited edition pastel stripes, behind the gauche plastic wheel trims and below the £500 price tag. Sort of rubbish.

But in an amazing boost for life's optimists, it actually means something. Rather than just droning about in vast, mostly empty skies, all the piloting in Sky Odyssey takes the form of a big adventure. Just to really ram this point home, the main mode is called adventure, a fine indication of intent, you'll agree. The story centres around four desolate islands, the mysteries of which you must uncover via the gift of flight. Lost artefacts lie on each island. Coo.

Like old people's homes, the reason for the lack of visitors could well be the terrible wind. On many levels, fierce jetstreams make high (and otherwise safe) altitudes untenable. It's a good way of keeping players where the game wants them - skimming through canyons, across seas, beneath arches and dodging falling blocks. All the challenges in this game come from the environment, as there are no other planes to attack you or be attacked. You may groan at this but it's not a bad thing at all.

Okay, the only explosions come from your own plane when you screw up, but the art of this game is pure daredevil flying - much more satisfying in the long run. Mission objectives are pretty varied, and they all show off the great handling of the 11 planes. Often you'll be flying in extremely confined spaces, so the responsiveness is welcome. Heading down wildly twisting canyons or even through caves is a common theme, made even tougher by the positioning of the checkpoints. While they show up clearly on the map, they can be at any altitude causing sudden panicked dives or worse, stall - inducing climbs. Some even involve flying straight at collapsing rock faces before swerving out of the way at the last moment. Tricky.

Then there are challenges such as refuelling in mid air. From a train. That goes through a tunnel. And still you must hit the checkpoints, but of course nothing else. Later you purposely dump most of your fuel to make it over a mountain range, limiting you to just three more minutes. These islands are nasty places and frequently seem to collapse around you. It's not always easy, but it is fun.

Each mission has a briefing, voiced by the most boring man in the world. Imagine a record of a heavily sedated Steve Davis, made after 4am after two days of strenuous lifting while a man on Steve's earpiece talked endlessly about turnip specifications, played back at half speed. The word I believe is monotonous.

In addition to the conspiracy-o-rama stealth planes and UFOs that can be unblocked, each craft can be customised even to the degree of adding extra wings. Why not add twenty and have so much lift that it won't come down? Because it's stupid and you can't that's why. Oh well. It would have been fun trying.

It's major downfall are bland graphics and terrible inexcusable fogging. Ignore these however and Sky Odyssey is great fun, especially with the additional skywriting mode and easier control option keeping things light. So while it's not flawless, it's definately different from the usual sports/driving/fighting games on offer. And with it's 40 missions to swoop, bank and nose-dive through, it's an awfully big adventure. 

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