Shooty Skies Overdrive

One of the most natural translations to VR is the first-person-shooter. Not only because it's already in the correct perspective, but also because the basic gameplay of aiming and shooting couldn't be simpler. Mighty Games recognized this and released a spin-off of their mobile arcade shooter, Shooty Skies, for virtual reality. While it is fairly simple and has about as much content as a mobile arcade-style game, there's plenty to enjoy here.

To play, you grab hold of a tiny animal piloting a tiny fighter jet, and guide them as they take down hordes of strange enemies while avoiding incoming projectiles. With your other hand, you can catch secondary weapons that fly out of defeated enemies, providing support to your little buddy for a short time. Amongst this secondary arsenal is a chainsaw that extends about a yard to hack your foes to pieces, an energy shield that splits your main attack into two while deflecting enemy projectiles, and, my personal favorite, a buddy plane that effectively lets you dual-wield and shoot in two directions at once. All of that makes the game fun and engaging, but there's only a few levels before it's over. Fortunately, those few levels can still be fun to replay since the real reason Shooty Skies Overdrive stands out amongst the crowd is its aesthetic.

Mighty Games utilized a timeless voxel style for the graphics of the original, and carried it over to this game too. While making sure that the graphics will look great for as long as people are still playing the game, it also gives the designers room to make everything super lively and colorful without it feeling overwhelming, which greatly aids in immersion, especially on the relatively underpowered Quest. Even with the arenas all being the same shape, and most enemies just being re-skins, the lively aesthetic ensures that each level feels unique, and all of the little details in the background help to make the game even more interesting.

Despite the limited number of levels, Shooty Skies Overdrive offers a solid, enjoyable arcade-shooter experience. While you may get even more engaging gameplay from a pricier VR shooter, you'll be hard-pressed to find a game that looks as good as this, at least on the Quest. The voxel graphics, while simple, are colorful and attractive, making every stage look great. Overall, especially for its price, Shooty Skies Overdrive is a great little VR title, ready to offer short bursts of destructive fun whenever you need it.

The game is available for Steam here (as of 2/6/22): https://store.steampowered.com/app/1300490/Shooty_Skies_Overdrive/
The game is available for Meta Quest here (as of 2/6/22): https://www.oculus.com/experiences/quest/2632963266829659/

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