Don

Your eyes may have glossed right over Sky Gunner when you looked at next week’s PS Plus update. That’s understandable, as big-ticket titles Mister Mosquito and Secret Agent Clank were always going to attract greater attention. But don’t write off this PS2 gem from PixelArts, as it’s absolutely worth your time.

Published by Sony in Japan, this is another one of those classics that the platform holder didn’t bother to localise, and it was actually left up to Atlus to bring overseas. It only ever released in North America, so it’ll be making its European debut on PS5 and PS4, a bit like tactics title Jeanne d’Arc earlier in the year.

In essence, this is an arcade dogfighting game, but it’s set against a gorgeous steampunk backdrop, that’s styled a little bit like a Ghibli movie. The characters are cute and colourful, and the world’s got a kind of French nouveau artistry to it which sings under the limitations of the PS2’s hardware. It’s a gorgeous and chaotic game in motion, which is only let down by a very poor frame rate.

You can play through the campaign as three different pilots, each with their own stories and gameplay styles. While there are consistencies between all three characters, they each have unique special moves which sets them apart and gives you incentive to experience the relatively short campaign from all three perspectives.

While the gameplay does settle for a relatively straightforward dogfighting affair, it’s got a pretty neat combo system which rewards you for taking out your targets in quick succession. This adds a layer of depth beyond the core combat.

We’re really excited to see Sony bringing back games like this on modern hardware. We know its emulation efforts aren’t as good as they could be, but these are real deep-cuts it’s re-releasing, and we think the company very much deserves credit for that. Yes, it could be doing more, but getting games like Sky Gunner and Mister Mosquito on modern hardware is something we should celebrate.