Released last week on the Japanese 3DS eShop for just ¥300, SKYPEACE was described by myself in the preview as ‘high speed high scoring coin collecting game in the sky’ and that basically is how it plays. Similar to the addictive Bird Mania in that it plays somewhat like a vertical shoot-em-up without bullets, SKYPEACE shares the simple addictiveness qualities of Teyon’s bird title yet differs in many different ways.

First of all the two characters in SKYPEACE are far cuter than the one ugly bird and in-game are two cute sprites looking similar to the 3DS Ninja Jajamaru-kun game. You either choose a boy (Surf) or girl (Pure) (notice that their initials equal that of the game’s?) and begin play. The game can be controlled by either the circle-pad, d-pad or on the Super Famicom Y, X, B, A buttons with the player able to move in all 8 directions.

The difficulty curve is excellent in SKYPEACE with the early levels being somewhat handhold-y telling you where to move, to collect all of the coins and that the coloured diamonds score more points. Later levels introduce static villains, then villains that move and later ones that fire at you, a huge Salamander type creature and sharp crystals that cut you to shreds (well I imagine they would if it wasn’t a children’s game).

Also unlike Bird Mania which is one looped level, SKYPEACE is made up of much shorter levels with finishing each one unlocking the next and each scored similarly to a rhythm game. On each level you get the opportunity to meet the other player (Surf or Pure) where you create an ‘Energy core’ resulting in temporary high-scoring coin collecting and enemy ass-kicking measures. In short SKYPEACE is a whole lotta fun.

Unfortunately in its fun SKYPEACE is also all too short consisting of just ten levels which are quick to complete. The real completion comes in scoring an ’S’ in all the levels and Sonic Powered have achieved the goal of making the player want to achieve this and whilst I would recommend SKYPEACE to all and state that it is absolutely worth ¥300, I also wouldn’t be doing my job in calling it waaay too short of a gameplay experience.

6/10

Review by Bri Bri. For more information on SKYPEACE go to http://www.sonicpowered.co.jp/skypeace/