Captain Skyhawk

"OMG WTF BBQ? River Raid DX?"

Way back when, we really didn't need stellar graphics or much else to keep us afloat in a game. There was no stunning CG, gorgeous environments, and enthralling stories only applied to books and movies. The first time I ever noticed a graphical shift in anyway was going from Atari 2600 to NES, and even then I wasn't completely blown away. It wasn't until the advent of Captain Skyhawk did we finally say, “Wow, we actually don't need drugs to make this look good.” It literally was visual video game art. This actually made some of us wonder what other generations would have in store graphically. Of course, games like Star Fox weren't very far off from being born, either.

Captain Skyhawk has a basic storyline. A pilot accepts the duty of wiping out an alien presence that threatens Earth. We weren't expecting Shakespeare at the time, not that he would ever do a story about a fighter pilot against a legion of aliens, so this was adequate. Even still, it was well on its way to becoming one of the most over used storylines in the history of gaming.

Naturally, being a fighter pilot, you can imagine what kind of game this is: flight action. The game actually works in three different phases: vertical scroller, dogfighting, and Space Station docking.

The vertical scroller, which opens up the game, is almost what you would expect from a classic game these days. However, back when we were little squirts, this game was like a summoner. It summoned saliva from our maws as we actually beheld excellent graphical design. This was the first taste of pseudo-3D that we would get on a console, at least that I could remember. Many of the environments below you are rendered with simple polygons. The trade-off being that the environment, trees, mountains and all are one color. All the same, we really didn't analyze the color that much; it was worth it for a glimmer of possible 3D allusions. As the screen scrolls, enemies pop up and attempt to send you a nice slew of presents in the form of flashing bullets. The enemies are usually helicopters, tanks, and strange UFO's. It almost calls to mind River Raid. Effectively, you must blast these poor saps out of the sky. At the end of the level, you challenge a boss. Oddly enough, you challenge this same boss four times in the game (more or less) with a little increased difficulty each time. Other scrollers in the game ask you to drop off supplies . Nothing much different, except that you have to drop little objects into designated holes in the ground. It adds a little variety, anyway.

After having completed that mission, it's on to dogfighting. This takes the standard flight/action route by putting you in the 3rd person view as you move your up and down along the screen like the old Top Gun game. From here, other planes will fly at or away from you and it is your duty to unceremoniously blast them from the sky. You can also use special homing missiles to do the work for you. Strangely, in the first mission the planes do absolutely nothing but fly around. After a while, they finally decide you're worth killing. Here, the game shows more prowess in graphical coloration than it did before. There isn't much for environment, but the planes are very nicely rendered and show some complex texturing.

One unfortunate setback to all the previously listed gameplay is the control. While it is simplistic, as only NES can be, the controls are also very loose. This takes quite a bit of getting used to. For a while, you may fly like you just left a frat house on a Saturday night. This results in loads of crashing and flying into bullets/enemies.

After dogfighting, you are asked to dock with a space station, where you will receive some upgrades. This takes a little patience, positioning, and timing. You have to line yourself up with the entrance, which is strangely spinning around, and then time your button pressing just right to fly towards the spinning slot. Failure to do so results in death. Any questions? Of course not! The upgrade factor seems tantalizing, but it doesn't seem you can upgrade enough. You can make your cannons faster a bit more powerful, or you can add special weapons like homing missiles. Since one hit kills you, you really can't add shields (although that would have been very nice). All in all, it's still appreciated and a very astute feature added to the game.

The game's sounds, unfortunately, are its weakest point. There isn't much of a soundtrack at all beyond about three or so songs: one when you begin the game, one when you fight a boss, and one when you beat the game. This causes a little lack of enthusiasm at some points of the game, where music surely could amp you up in the heat of battle. The sounds effects, while nicely utilized, become irritating quite fast. For instance, when you drop a supply, you hear a high pitched squeal like a mockery of that which you hear in Loony Toons cartoons when someone falls off a cliff. However, it grates your ears enough to make you thankful that it only happens once in a while. Nailing enemies sounds something like a rock being banged around in an empty garbage can, but still could be much worse.

For its time, the game offers a bit of variety from your typical shooting game. Rather than just shoot shoot shoot, you have to perform other special tasks. Unlike another game from the same system that boasted “great variety” (Bayou Billy, if you will), this one is actually loads of fun. The simplicity and sheer difficulty of the game can keep a player interested enough to try and try again to finish it. Games like this, as you can tell, are the product of companies asking what they could possibly do with an old game formula. It also supports my philosophy on reusing such formulas, that it doesn't matter if the game type and approach are old, it's how the game is developed and the conventions that make the difference.

Sadly, it seems that Captain Skyhawk has faded into obscurity. A lot of this may be due to the fact that Milton Bradley simply doesn't develop games anymore, and thus hasn't done a new Captain Skyhawk game since the first one. It's a shame, because back when this came out I was looking forward to a sequel. Could you imagine what a CS game would have been like on the SNES with the FX Microchip? Rest easy, Captain. You have not been forgotten by me! Okay, so I play Crimson Skies a little more nowadays, but you're still number.... something... in my heart... [runs away quickly]

FINAL JUDGMENT
Graphics: Even despite the lack of color in most levels, the showing of what seemed like polygons was nice to behold in the earlier years 10/10
Sounds: Lack of music does little to inspire 6/10
Controls: Take some getting used to 6/10
Plot/Storyline: Adequate, but unimportant 5/10
Gamplay: Makes up for the lacking controls and sounds greatly 9/10
All Together: 8/10

Perks
*Awesome gameplay
*A little variety in gameplay
*Nice upgrade system
*Great graphics

Downers
*Blah controls
*Lack of sound

Recommendations
For anyone looking to experience NES, this is for you. Give it a try, you might not regret it!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/08/01, Updated 05/14/06