Sky Force Anniversary

 PlayStation 4
Sky Force Anniversary Image
Metascore
  1. First Review
  2. Second Review
  3. Third Review
  4. Fourth Review

No score yet - based on 3 Critic Reviews Awaiting 1 more review What's this?

User Score
7.1

Mixed or average reviews- based on 41 Ratings

Your Score
0 out of 10
Rate this:
  • 10
  • 9
  • 8
  • 7
  • 6
  • 5
  • 4
  • 3
  • 2
  • 1
  • 0
  • 0
  • Summary: The classic shoot ’em up is here to celebrate its 10-year anniversary in super-destructive style. Harnessing the intensity of classic arcade games combined with modern visuals, Sky Force Anniversary offers a stunning, scrolling shooter experience with an incredible new social gameplay element.
Buy Now
Buy on

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 3
  3. Negative: 0 out of 3
  1. ZTGD
    Sep 14, 2016
    80
    The gaming world and arcades have changed a lot in the last 10 years, and the simple fact that games such as this still exist is something I treasure. Even when they don’t pan out to be exactly as good as some of their predecessors, it’s appreciated. For the price, the nostalgia, or just a really fun old school game experience to play on your PS4, I’d say Sky Force Anniversary is totally worth it.
  2. PlayStation Country
    Sep 11, 2016
    80
    A solid vertically-scrolling shoot 'em up with an authentically old school vibe. More 1942 than Dodonpachi, Sky Force focuses on classic arcade skills rather than hyper-aware bullet-hell evasion. While it can be pretty repetitive, it's addictive enough that most gamers won't care. Sky Force is, quite simply, a lot of fun.
  3. GameSpew
    Sep 19, 2016
    70
    Sky Force Anniversary is a great modern shmup that unfortunately pads its content by pushing players to the max. Not only that, but there are implementations, such as the specialties, that feel arbitrary. Detractions aside, I liked the game quite a bit and the addition of co-op and Remote Play was a godsend. Sky Force Anniversary didn’t evolve the genre, but it created something moderately pleasant in our modern architecture.

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 7
  3. Negative: 0 out of 7
  1. Lucylemonpip
    Nov 25, 2017
    10
    Love this game. Certainly keeps you on your toes; time just flies by. I am not a youngster, being in my fifties and am female, but hey, gamesLove this game. Certainly keeps you on your toes; time just flies by. I am not a youngster, being in my fifties and am female, but hey, games have no age barriers. The only thing is that my thumb pad is sore from holding down the fire button for hours on end! It can be tricky not to press the wrong button and set off the mega bomb, when you really wanted the laser. The EMP is a right pain, but I’ve watched some tips, so will try these out. This game is certainly helping with hand / eye coordination.… Expand
  2. zencube
    Oct 19, 2016
    10
    Awesome old school shooter, that kept me playing and motivating way longer then most of those AAA-Titles nowadays. Everything is very simpleAwesome old school shooter, that kept me playing and motivating way longer then most of those AAA-Titles nowadays. Everything is very simple and effective and to levelUp your ship is just fun. Whatever you do, if you make the level or die somewhere, you'll get your collected stars anyway and flushes away the frustration of failing (again ;).

    I love it! When I was in my young ages, I spent hours in bars in front of machines with games like "Sky Force", so I have my blast again. If you like simple shooters, slow and controlled actions... go for it!!!    … Expand
  4. Paulo-Lameiras
    Oct 6, 2017
    10
    It probably helps the fact i have been playing games since 8bit era and love 2D gaming, but i'm completly hooked to Sky Force.

    I was    It probably helps the fact i have been playing games since 8bit era and love 2D gaming, but i'm completly hooked to Sky Force.

    I was expecting a cool top down shooter, but not a game this deep and addicting! It's like the shoot em up version of Rogue Legacy.    … Expand
  5. Nebber
    Nov 6, 2017
    10
    At last a retro style game worthy of the genre. A full on scrolling shooter that may at first seem tedious, but grips you with its simplicity.At last a retro style game worthy of the genre. A full on scrolling shooter that may at first seem tedious, but grips you with its simplicity. Flying through the levels completing the stage is only the beginning. There are 4 dependencies to each stage, each adding a medal for achievement. Once you achieve enough medals you may move on to the next level, but you don't need to pass all 4 achievements to do so, just need enough medals.
    After completion with 4 medals however, you then have the option to attempt the same level again on HARD difficulty, Complete this level then have a go at it again on INSANE difficulty.
    Each time you complete the level your best score gets updated, and remembered so you can check the highscores table to see if you are beating your friends. Its important to grind out levels in order to level up your ships health, main cannon, side cannons, missile launcher, laser, shield or Big bomb.
    I really like this kind of game for its ease of gameplay. The levels get increasingly more difficult but thats the challenge. I would advise anyone to play this game and give it a real chance to grow on you because it will be worth it in the end.
    It also has a co-op element to it if you find yourself stuck on a level, just play with a friend and beat that game.
    I know i will be returning to this game for months to come.    … Expand
  6. kilowatt
    Jun 4, 2017
    10
    This game single-handedly rekindled my interest in shoot-em-ups. When I was young, I played plenty of games like these on the Commodore C64This game single-handedly rekindled my interest in shoot-em-ups. When I was young, I played plenty of games like these on the Commodore C64 and Amiga systems. When I saw this game on sale for really cheap, I said let me try playing this. This game is so much fun to play. There are few weapons that can be unlocked by purchasing them in the Hangar, the game's version of a store. The currency for purchasing upgrades and weapons are stars that you collect during each stage. Even when you die, the stars that were collected stay with you and can be used to further upgrade the ship. The player unlocks new stages by finishing the previous stage as well as collecting medals. Medals are awarded for destroying 70% or 100% of enemies, for saving all humans which are strewn around each stage and are collected by hovering over or near them (while trying to not get shot), or by staying unharmed. Needless to say, staying unharmed is about as difficult as it sounds with all the turrets, tanks, flying airplanes and other more advanced enemies that have multiple turrets to shoot off before they die. Once all medals for a stage are collected, the game unlocks the next tier of difficulty for the stage. So far, I have unlocked Normal, Hard, and Insane. I don't know if there is more, but it does get tougher. Enemies take more damage before going down or shoot faster.
    Some of the weapons that can be unlocked require the player to either purchase ammo right before starting the stage by spending collected stars or by collecting ammo by shooting some of the turrets or containers in the stage. Main cannon, side cannons and missiles are unlimited. The missiles fire at certain intervals automatically.
    If all of this is not enough, there are also collecting cards that are very hard to spot with all of the action going on. In the beginning I thought those cards were just yet another collectable item, but when I flipped the card around I noticed that they are, in fact, perks that get activated and are always in effect. I've only collected around 5 cards thus far, but they do affect how much upgrades in the hangar cost or how long your leash is to collect up people.
    Each stage ends with a boss fight which are mostly very large air planes or ships with lots turrets. I would say that starting with stage 7, the difficulty all of a sudden spikes considerably, which is where I am currently at.
    Overall this is a great, fun game to purchase and play in-between. If you have collecteditis like I apparently do, you will become quickly obsessed with shooting more planes, collecting more stars and humans to get more medals and to keep upgrading your ship. It's what this game does really well. It also runs really well on my PS4. My PC-trained eye thinks this is running at a solid 60fps at 1080p resolution. I also very much appreciate the fact that it uses the entire screen for the game and not just the middle section like so many other games like Ikaruga do. It is also quite beautiful to look at. The setting is mainly an island setting, so there is lots of water, trees and foliage interspersed with some streets and plenty of enemies to shoot at. The sound is done really well, and some of the turrets sound really meaty. I wish my plane would move a little faster as there were some occasions where I missed a chain of enemies because I was flying to slow. But given that I have not collected all cards yet, there might be a perk hidden there that may speed the plane up.

    I should also mention that this game is available on many platforms, which I was unaware of. In fact, I downloaded it for free on my iPhone yesterday just to try it out, and it looks just as good as the PS4 version.

    I am giving this game a 10/10 because of the sheer fun factor, things to collect and upgrade and lots of explody things happening on screen. I love it. Good times.    … Expand
  7. drlowdon
    Nov 14, 2018
    6
    Anniversary is the latest in the Sky Force video game series and, as with previous iterations, it is a vertically scrolling shoot ‘em up.Anniversary is the latest in the Sky Force video game series and, as with previous iterations, it is a vertically scrolling shoot ‘em up.

    With its 3D graphics Anniversary compares favourably in the looks department compared to many other titles in the genre and, more importantly, it is very good fun to play. Unfortunately the way in which levels are unlocked drained my enthusiasm pretty quickly. Simply completing a level, which isn’t an easy task by any stretch, isn’t enough to unlock the next one. Instead you also have to collect a set number of medals (which are awarded for avoiding damage, saving all the humans and killing every enemy) and even early on this is pretty tough to do. As a result you’ll quickly find yourself repeating levels over and over again in order to make progress. I’m sure this will appeal to some people but to me it just began to feel like too much of a grind before I’d even unlocked half of the games levels...    … Expand
  8. brendo214
    May 30, 2019
    6
    Sky Force Anniversary is a nice little game. Not much to complain or praise it for.