SkyRoads MS-DOS Game Review With Pics
SkyRoads
MS-DOS
1993
Bluemoon Software/Creative Dimensions
Shareware, £19 (Now freeware)
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*Pics shown in
their original 4:3 aspect ratio
While I did not grow up having played SkyRoads, I remember being
immediately attracted to it. It was stumbled upon while watching a review on
YouTube several years ago. While the review itself was not the most
complimentary of the game, their words went in one ear and out the other. The
gameplay was all the recommendation that mattered to me. It was a shareware
game released in 1993, expanding upon a previous 1990 DOS EGA game by the name
of Kosmonaut. SkyRoads was apparently popular enough as shareware that Bluemoon
Software says it had distribution deals across the world, though I've yet to
come across any disks or boxes in my searches. The original shareware release
let you play the first six levels before prompting you to order from Bluemoon
from most of the world, and Creative Dimensions in America.
^Help and main menu
The first thing you'll notice upon launching SkyRoads is the wonderful music. I don't say that lightly, as I've never been much of a fan of the Adlib soundcard. Perhaps a reason I find myself so fond of this soundtrack is that it was originally recorded as MODs on the Commodore Amiga. While what you hear is all Adlib, you certainly get an Amiga feeling listening to the twelve included songs. They are a perfect accompaniment to the gameplay, keeping you playing the game after death upon death, when you may have otherwise quit long before out of frustration. If you don't already have it playing now, I recorded most of the music to this game directly from my DOS computer, and it might make for a nice companion while reading.
The first thing you'll notice upon launching SkyRoads is the wonderful music. I don't say that lightly, as I've never been much of a fan of the Adlib soundcard. Perhaps a reason I find myself so fond of this soundtrack is that it was originally recorded as MODs on the Commodore Amiga. While what you hear is all Adlib, you certainly get an Amiga feeling listening to the twelve included songs. They are a perfect accompaniment to the gameplay, keeping you playing the game after death upon death, when you may have otherwise quit long before out of frustration. If you don't already have it playing now, I recorded most of the music to this game directly from my DOS computer, and it might make for a nice companion while reading.
On my computer I've classified SkyRoads as a puzzle game. Much like
in Lemmings; You die a lot, you try out something new, you then die some more,
and you'll eventually figure it all out. It seems to be officially classified
as a platformer, which does make sense. There are platformes galore, and you're
meant to jump from one to another with lightning fast reflexes in some cases. While
I normally find myself using a joystick with DOS games, I would recommend the
use of a gamepad to aide you on your journey here. I tried out the keyboard
controls on the free browser based version, and I can't imagine why anybody
would play this one without a quality controller.
^Beginning levels, note main menu screen now has added circle compared to previous shot
If you've played one level of this game, you have in essence played most of the others. In this case I say that as a compliment. You'll play the first level and you'll enjoy yourself. Even on that first level you will likely die a few times, as you'll have no idea what kind of obstacles and platform placements will be coming your way. In the end you will figure out those beginning levels quickly enough, and your enjoyment of those will fuel your hunger to press onto the more difficult levels the game has to offer.
If you've played one level of this game, you have in essence played most of the others. In this case I say that as a compliment. You'll play the first level and you'll enjoy yourself. Even on that first level you will likely die a few times, as you'll have no idea what kind of obstacles and platform placements will be coming your way. In the end you will figure out those beginning levels quickly enough, and your enjoyment of those will fuel your hunger to press onto the more difficult levels the game has to offer.
While every level is the same basic idea, the game has no shortage
of new ways to present that idea to you. The level design and platform
placements will of course change from level to level, but many levels will also feature tweaks in
the form of gravity. The jumping characteristics of your spaceship can vary
drastically at times. There's a middle ground in which players will likely feel
most comfortable at. At the opposite ends of the spectrum is very floaty
jumping that will have your ship reaching great heights, or a ship that can
bearly jump at all, necessitating near pixel perfect accuracy to get to another
platform.
^Some neat background image changes
Levels may also require you to pay attention to your available oxygen or fuel levels. Oxygen is a kind of built in time limit to the game, and it will always tick down slowly, causing your eventual death. During some levels it may tick down even faster, requiring you to speed up your playing style. Fuel seems to deplete at a consistent level whenever moving. It won't go gown if you're not moving, but any other speed does not seem to effect its rate of consumption. You may find yourself running out of fuel or oxygen on some levels, so you'll want to find a certain blue shade of platform to touch, and that will replenish both your oxygen as well as your fuel.
Levels may also require you to pay attention to your available oxygen or fuel levels. Oxygen is a kind of built in time limit to the game, and it will always tick down slowly, causing your eventual death. During some levels it may tick down even faster, requiring you to speed up your playing style. Fuel seems to deplete at a consistent level whenever moving. It won't go gown if you're not moving, but any other speed does not seem to effect its rate of consumption. You may find yourself running out of fuel or oxygen on some levels, so you'll want to find a certain blue shade of platform to touch, and that will replenish both your oxygen as well as your fuel.
Graphically SkyRoads is a 320x200 VGA game featuring 256 colors. The
platforms and pipes look like they might be polygon based, with some gradients
used for colors. Every level features a static background image with a space
theme. This image itself will change after every 3rd level. Some of the
backgrounds appear to be real images that the Hubble Space Telescope may have
been responsible for, while others look to be much more artistic in nature. The
gamescreen has a 2D cockpit which takes up about a third of the lower screen,
and features information such as your available fuel, oxygen, gravity, and
speed. While the game wouldn't raise any eyebrows for its graphics in 1993, I
feel the game looks very nice.
^Our return to Earth was not pleasent
Progressively the game will get more difficult, but each individual level is not necessarily harder than the last. If you ever find yourself stuck on one, you can feel free to select the next one, or any other for that matter. There's nothing stopping you from starting at the very last level to net you "The End" screen. You have unlimited lives, death will bring you back to the start of whatever level you are on. Memorization and reflexes are the major requirements for this game. While the game can certainly be classified as difficult, I do firmly believe that due to the unlimited lives and the shortness of the games levels, most gamers should get quite far in this game, and more importantly they will enjoy the act of mastering most of these levels.
Progressively the game will get more difficult, but each individual level is not necessarily harder than the last. If you ever find yourself stuck on one, you can feel free to select the next one, or any other for that matter. There's nothing stopping you from starting at the very last level to net you "The End" screen. You have unlimited lives, death will bring you back to the start of whatever level you are on. Memorization and reflexes are the major requirements for this game. While the game can certainly be classified as difficult, I do firmly believe that due to the unlimited lives and the shortness of the games levels, most gamers should get quite far in this game, and more importantly they will enjoy the act of mastering most of these levels.
I say "most" for a very good reason, of course. There are
a select few levels that will certainly drive you mad. The most frustrating
level for me personally was a level with Earth as the background. The gravity
in this stage was set very high, along with your oxygen level constantly
running out. Here, you're forced to jump from left to right and back again in
order to get more oxygen pickups. The platforms in between these pickups seem poorly
placed, given the jumping mechanics in this level. I knew from the start what
the level wanted from me, but I strongly feel that the design of the entire
level was not well thought out given the quite terrible controls there.
I'd call that the only "poorly designed" level in the
game. A handful of other levels will drive you crazy, but they're less about
bad design and more about the pixel perfect jumping required. That wouldn't be
bad design, that would be good, but sadistic design. The final level itself is
by far the most difficult in the entire game. It's also very frustrating, but
here it's because they have easily increased the difficulty of the final level
by three or four times compared to any level in the rest of the game.
^The final level
It took me three days to beat every level in the game excluding the final level, while it took me another three days just to beat that final level. While I've beaten harder games, it simply felt like an unfair jump in difficulty compared to what the rest of the game had to offer. The final level itself ranks up with any of the hardest games I've ever played in its design. Everything has to go right, every jump must be perfect, every aspect must be memorized. Jumps must be so perfect that upon reaching later areas of the level and dying, just going back to the beginning again will likely cause you death trying to re-memorize what you had already seen. Upon finally defeating this last level I can't say I was exactly thrilled with "The End" reward... Which is literally a couple seconds of "The End" being displayed, and then you're back to the main menu. To increase the difficulty of the final level by that degree, and then to not even give the person playing some kind of reward, well... I certainly can not recommend people do their best to win this game.
It took me three days to beat every level in the game excluding the final level, while it took me another three days just to beat that final level. While I've beaten harder games, it simply felt like an unfair jump in difficulty compared to what the rest of the game had to offer. The final level itself ranks up with any of the hardest games I've ever played in its design. Everything has to go right, every jump must be perfect, every aspect must be memorized. Jumps must be so perfect that upon reaching later areas of the level and dying, just going back to the beginning again will likely cause you death trying to re-memorize what you had already seen. Upon finally defeating this last level I can't say I was exactly thrilled with "The End" reward... Which is literally a couple seconds of "The End" being displayed, and then you're back to the main menu. To increase the difficulty of the final level by that degree, and then to not even give the person playing some kind of reward, well... I certainly can not recommend people do their best to win this game.
I can, however, recommend people play this game. Play it for however
long you can manage before feeling a bit too frustrated. Before that point
you're guaranteed to have a blast of fun. There's no excuse not to give it a
try yourself. The full game is available for download, or you can have some fun
right in your browser and play it online. If you dig the music, check out the soundtrack I recorded directly from my DOS computer, and be sure to check out
my video review. It's a game about motion/reflexes/memorization, words can only
do it so much justice, so I hope you'll check out my video.
^The end
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