After playing the demo for a while, SkyDrift most reminds me of the old Burnout and Flatout racing series. The power ups are fun, but the act of getting boost by doing daring maneuvers like hugging the ground, doing stunts or wrecking other planes was the biggest high for me. Could I fly along the ground long enough to catch up to the plane in front of me to hit them with my double-strength burst power up? Only way to find out is to try – and the penalty for failure is minimal. Crashing is no big deal, since you respawn in next to no time. This encourages experimenting and that’s when the game is at it’s best.
This may be my favorite Xbox Live Arcade title so far. The only thing it’s missing is split screen multiplayer. I’ve not put the full game through it’s paces so I can’t give the game a full review at this time, but I’d still recommend it to flying adrenaline junkies. The sense of speed isn’t real great but the controls are tight and the racing is fun. As of this point SkyDrift gets my stamp of approval.
Alphasim out.
