The thing about Skyland Rush – Air Raid Attack that grabbed my attention was how much it shamelessly borrows/steals from Rayman Origins. Like, look at these screenshots. I can?t be the only one who sees those pictures and instantly thinks of some of Rayman?s flying levels.
And yet, even going in with that mindset, I still wasn?t expecting just how thoroughly this game rips off Rayman, right down to some pretty small details. There?s the way the bad guys inflate and explode as you shoot them. Or the way you have to free little creatures from cages, who then get inserted into a medallion. Or the fact that many of the characters here — particularly the enemies — look like they were lifted straight from that other game and given a palette swap.
Mind you, not everything in Skyland Rush is lifted from Rayman Origins. No, the game also borrows its general concept from Jetpack Joyride, since the whole point here is to fly around all those enemies and obstacles and collect as many coins as possible. You then use the coins for upgrades — though it?s worth noting that the upgrades and charms (not to mention the continues) are all so expensive that they tend to be out of reach for a long time.
Because there?s so few things in Skyland Rush that are original, it?s hard to figure out how much credit to give the game. It looks great, but seeing as this game didn?t really come up with the designs here, that?s hardly surprising. Likewise, it works as it should, which is undoubtedly a point in its favour, but again, it?s not as if anything here was really designed from scratch, so that?s not a huge achievement by itself either.
Basically, it all comes down to how much you miss the flying levels in Rayman Origins and/or Jetpack Joyride, and how okay you are with seeing their core mechanics resurrected with little of the charm and none of the originality. Skyland Rush – Air Raid Attack imitates those games pretty well, but doesn?t add anything of its own in the process.
Forsaken Games provided us with a Skyland Rush – Air Raid Attack Switch code for review purposes.
We're curious to find out what the conversion rate is when the dust has settled.
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