{"id":103827,"date":"2019-11-16T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-11-16T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/reviews\/switch-eshop\/skybolt_zack"},"modified":"2019-11-16T18:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-11-16T18:00:00","slug":"review-skybolt-zack-fast-paced-action-that-punishes-and-delights-in-almost-equal-measure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2019\/11\/16\/review-skybolt-zack-fast-paced-action-that-punishes-and-delights-in-almost-equal-measure\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Skybolt Zack &#8211; Fast-Paced Action That Punishes And Delights In Almost Equal Measure"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><a href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/reviews\/switch-eshop\/skybolt_zack\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/reviews\/switch-eshop\/skybolt_zack\/small.jpg\" class=\"media_thumbnail\"><\/a><\/div>\n<div id>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"Skybolt Zack Review - Screenshot 1 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/100944\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/100944\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"Skybolt Zack Review - Screenshot 1 of 4\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>With <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/switch-eshop\/skybolt_zack\">Skybolt Zack<\/a><\/strong> being the first game to be published by popular online video game retailer Green Man Gaming, you could be forgiven for thinking that the e-commerce giant would play it safe and release a title with broad commercial appeal; perhaps a title that fits snugly into an obvious genre with familiar mechanics.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a credit to Green Man Gaming, then, that Skybolt Zack is most certainly <em>not<\/em> a title that plays it safe. Initially developed as a graduation project by a team of students at video game and 3D animation school Isart Digital in Paris, Skybolt Zack is a title that defies easy categorisation and most certainly isn\u2019t a game that pulls its punches from a difficulty point of view.<\/p>\n<p>Skybolt Zack starts with an animated intro, presenting us with a world seemingly under the control of malevolent machines. Kidnapped and experimented on, our eponymous protagonist is discarded by his captors when they believe they\u2019ve failed to turn him into a living weapon. Unluckily for them, Zack regains consciousness &#8211; and it turns out their experiments have been <em>very<\/em> successful indeed.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"Skybolt Zack Review - Screenshot 2 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/100942\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/100942\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"Skybolt Zack Review - Screenshot 2 of 4\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>Though Skybolt Zack is a genre-defying game with some unusual mechanics, it is reasonably easy to get your head around what\u2019s expected of you. Enemies \u2013 and many objects within stages \u2013 are colour-coded (red, green, blue or grey), and to defeat or utilise them you\u2019ll have to press the appropriate button at the right time: A for red, Y for green and X for blue, with grey objects using the jump button (B). Chaining together combos of enemies with timed button presses will see Zack zipping around the levels, with the aim being to get to the exit as fast as you can with the highest score possible.<\/p>\n<p>There are multiple paths through the game \u2013 48 levels are available in total, though these won\u2019t all be tackled on a single playthrough \u2013 and even multiple paths within each level. The higher you can get in a level, the more the challenge rises, along with a jump in the score on offer. It\u2019s possible \u2013 and definitely desirable \u2013 to get through a stage without touching the ground, rhythmically chaining together combos of coloured enemies and jumps on the way to the exit.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s definitely a unique feel to the game and though this means that \u2013 despite the simplicity of the mechanics \u2013 the learning curve can feel somewhat steep, there\u2019s great satisfaction to be had in the timing and execution of tapping the right button at the right time. There\u2019s a hypnotic quality when everything is going well; the increase in combo level intensifies the cleverly reactive soundtrack, and the visual appeal of Zack pinballing between different coloured enemies \u2013 as well as the rumble giving a very physical sense of feedback \u2013 is <em>brilliantly<\/em> done. Enemies are nicely designed, but you\u2019ll often be whizzing by them so quickly that you\u2019ll barely notice much more than their size and colour.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"Skybolt Zack Review - Screenshot 3 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/100938\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/100938\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"Skybolt Zack Review - Screenshot 3 of 4\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>However, it\u2019s a very stiff challenge to keep up unbroken chains throughout the increasingly tough stages, which can see failure arising from just one erroneous button press. Though the game flows beautifully when everything is going Zack\u2019s way, that breaks when the wrong colour is chosen or when the player\u2019s timing is <em>slightly<\/em> off. At these points, it seems that the game doesn\u2019t know what to do with the player; traversal on foot can be laborious and restarting a combo from the ground can be needlessly fiddly, given the way the game is designed for unbroken chains of airborne antics. Zack\u2019s available health can feel frustratingly limited too, with a single error sometimes causing a mini-chain of catastrophe, necessitating a level restart. The line between success and failure is a <em>very<\/em> thin one in Skybolt Zack \u2013 and it\u2019s a shame that, beyond the multiple routes through each stage, there\u2019s no adjustable difficulty.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s unfortunate, too, that the game can sometimes feel unfair. As an example, some enemies are armoured in one colour, with a hit revealing a different colour beneath their outer shell; at the accelerated pace that you\u2019ll be speeding through the stages, it\u2019s very difficult to anticipate this at some points. Likewise, the placement of certain deadly environmental obstacles can feel pretty harsh \u2013 spikes in the scenery or placed on enemies, for example \u2013 and overly restrictive. Though the game\u2019s multiple routes do give the player options about which way to progress, Zack\u2019s practically automated aiming (helped along somewhat by the player pointing him in the desired direction) and the densely-packed level design can mean that there\u2019s very little room for deviation or creativity.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"Skybolt Zack Review - Screenshot 4 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/100940\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/100940\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"Skybolt Zack Review - Screenshot 4 of 4\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>There&#8217;s a decent variety of environments on offer, but Skybolt Zack still can&#8217;t help feeling somewhat repetitive, given its narrow focus on the \u2013 admittedly compelling and well-implemented \u2013 colour-switching and combo mechanic. For the ultra-competitive player, the lure of improving level scores and scaling the leaderboards is sure to be of appeal. Though there\u2019s no official achievement system on offer for the Switch, like several other games released on the console (the most recent one that comes to mind being <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/nintendo-switch\/xeno_crisis\">Xeno Crisis<\/a><\/strong>) \u2013 and as a further addition for those players who love to chase high scores and earn themselves bragging rights \u2013 Skybolt Zack does offer a selection of achievements to unlock in-game.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"conclusion\">\n<h2 class=\"heading\">Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>With a polished, colourful visual style and an excellent, reactive soundtrack, Skybolt Zack is a game with a unique feel and rewarding gameplay for players who are up for the challenge. It can be brutally unforgiving, however \u2013 and, given the tight level design, the cost of making just one tiny mistake can often feel overly punitive. It\u2019s not for everyone, then, but for those players who do get their heads around Skybolt Zack\u2019s fast pace and colour-based mechanics, there\u2019s definitely enjoyment to be had here.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With Skybolt Zack being the first game to be published by popular online video game retailer Green Man Gaming, you could be forgiven for thinking that the e-commerce giant would play it safe and release a title with broad commercial appeal; perhaps a title that fits snugly into an obvious genre with familiar mechanics. It\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nintendo-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103827"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103827\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}